COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT TURKEY 31 DECEMBER 2007 Border & Immigration Agency COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION SERVICE TURKEY 31 DECEMBER 2007 Contents NB: this COI Report was reissued on 8 February 2008 to reinstate information about illegal political parties in Annex B, which was omitted from the original version of the December 2007 edition. Preface Latest News EVENTS IN TURKEY FROM 1 DECEMBER TO 31 DECEMBER 2007 Paragraphs Background Information 1. GEOGRAPHY ........................................................................................1.01 Map.................................................................................................1.05 Population .....................................................................................1.06 2. ECONOMY ............................................................................................2.01 3. HISTORY ..............................................................................................3.01 Recent History ..............................................................................3.01 General Elections 2007 ................................................................3.04 Presidential Election 2007 ...........................................................3.07 European Union Reforms 2007 ...................................................3.11 4. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS .....................................................................4.01 Terrorism in 2006-07.....................................................................4.01 5. CONSTITUTION .....................................................................................5.01 6. POLITICAL SYSTEM ..............................................................................6.01 Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA).................................6.01 National Security Council (MGK) or (NSC).................................6.03 Local Government ........................................................................6.06 Human Rights 7. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................7.01 8. SECURITY FORCES...............................................................................8.01 Intelligence Agency (MIT) ............................................................8.03 Police .............................................................................................8.06 Other government forces.............................................................8.14 Jandarma/Gendarmerie .............................................................8.14 Village Guard .............................................................................8.17 Torture........................................................................................8.24 Turkish Armed Forces..................................................................8.36 Discrimination in armed forces...................................................8.39 Extra-judicial killings...................................................................8.47 9. MILITARY SERVICE ...............................................................................9.01 Deferring Military Service ............................................................9.05 Evasion of Military Service and Punishment .............................9.08 Conscientious Objectors (vicdani retci).....................................9.10 Posting after completion of basic training.................................9.18 2 This Country of Origin Information Report contains the most up-to-date publicly available information as at 31 December 2007. Older source material has been included where it contains relevant information not available in more recent documents. 31 DECEMBER 2007 TURKEY 10. JUDICIARY ..........................................................................................10.01 Organisation..................................................................................10.01 Independence................................................................................10.04 The Court System .........................................................................10.09 Courts ............................................................................................10.10 Military Courts...............................................................................10.11 Military Criminal Courts (Askeri Ceza Mahkernesi)....................10.11 The Military Criminal Court of Cassation (Askeri Yargitay) ........10.14 State Security Courts (DGM) .......................................................10.15 The Constitutional Court (Anayasa Mahkemesi) .......................10.19 Fair trial..........................................................................................10.23 Penal code.....................................................................................10.28 Code of criminal procedure .........................................................10.30 11. ARREST AND DETENTION – LEGAL RIGHTS..........................................11.01 Detention for questioning prior to formal arrest........................11.07 Warrant and Court Summonses..................................................11.10 Right to legal advice.....................................................................11.12 12. PRISON CONDITIONS...........................................................................12.01 E and F-Type Pri ons ....................................................................12.06 Military Prisons .............................................................................12.15 Monitoring of prison conditions..................................................12.16 13. DEATH PENALTY.................................................................................13.01 14. POLITICAL AFFILIATION.......................................................................14.01 Freedom of political expression..................................................14.01 Freedom of association and assembly.......................................14.07 15. FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND MEDIA .......................................................15.01 Journalists.....................................................................................15.04 Media and Press ...........................................................................15.11 The High Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) ......................15.18 Internet...........................................................................................15.24 16. HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS, ORGANISATIONS AND ACTIVISTS...........16.01 Human Rights Advisory Board (IHDK)........................................16.07 Reform Monitoring Group............................................................16.12 Human Rights Presidency and Human Rights Boards/Councils.......................................................................16.14 Parliamentary Human Rights Commission/Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Committee ................................16.20 Ministry of Interior’s Investigation Office...................................16.24 Prison Inspection Committees/Prison Monitoring Board.........16.26 The Gendarmes Investigation and Evaluation Centre for Human Rights Abuse Issues (JIHIDEM).................................16.30 European Court of Human Rights (ECTHR) ...............................16.36 17. CORRUPTION .....................................................................................17.01 18. FREEDOM OF RELIGION.......................................................................18.01 Headscarves..................................................................................18.09 Alevis including Alevi Kurds .......................................................18.14 Beliefs and Practices of Alevis....................................................18.16 Difficulties and Problems.............................................................18.22 Mystical Sufi and other religious social orders and lodges .....18.25 Non Muslim minorities .................................................................18.26 Christians ......................................................................................18.30 This Country of Origin Information Report contains the most up-to-date publicly available information as at 31 December 2007. 3 Older source material has been included where it contains relevant information not available in more recent documents. TURKEY 31 DECEMBER 2007 Jews ...............................................................................................18.35 19. ETHNIC GROUPS.................................................................................19.01 Kurds .............................................................................................19.06 Kurdish language .........................................................................19.11 Teaching in Kurdish .....................................................................19.16 Pro Kurdish political parties........................................................19.21 Hadep.............................................................................................19.22 Hadeep membership cards..........................................................19.24 Relatives of Hadep........................................................................19.26 Dehap.............................................................................................19.28 Democratic Society Movement (DTH)/ Democratic Society Party (DTP) .............................................19.33