https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_in_Turkey   
      
   Torture in Turkey   
      
   From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   
      
   The widespread and systematic use of torture in Turkey was first observed by   
   Amnesty International (AI) after the 1971 Turkish coup d'état.   
      
      
   PICTURE: Palestinian hanging (Filistin askısı) is the term used in Turkey   
   when the victim is suspended by the arms tied on the back   
      
   History[edit]   
      
   The history of torture goes back to the Ottoman Empire.[2] The Committee of   
   Union and Progress used the place known as the Bekirağa Bölüğü (Military   
   Company of Bekir Agha) situated in the building that now houses the Istanbul   
   University as a special    
   torture place.[2][3] Almost all dissident people came here once.[2] Deputy   
   Rıza Nur was tortured here in 1910. He raised torture allegations in   
   parliament. The demand to establish a commission to investigate the torture   
   allegations was turned down by 96    
   against 73 votes.[2]   
      
   After the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923 Sansaryan Han and the   
   Harbiye Military Prison became the symbols for torture. Having been built in   
   Sirkeci in 1895 Sansaryan Han became the police headquarters of Istanbul in   
   1944.[4] People that were    
   tortured here include poet and writer Attilâ İlhan, Nihat Sargın, former   
   chair of the Workers Party of Turkey and poet Nâzım Hikmet.[4] In 1945 the   
   military prison in Istanbul moved from Tophane to Harbiye. In one section 40   
   cells were built    
   measuring 1,5 by 2 metres.[5]    
      
   Alleged members of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) were held here as well   
   as the 40 of 49 Kurds that had been detained in 1959 (de:Prozess der 49). They   
   were held here for 195 days.[5] Twenty-four prisoners allegedly died because   
   of the bad    
   conditions they had been held in.[5] In Harbiye Military Prison members of the   
   extreme right Grey Wolves (ülkücü) were tortured after the 1980 Turkish   
   coup d'état.[6] Besides bastinado (falaka) and rough beatings, prisoners   
   would be held in narrow    
   dark cells often called "coffin" (tabutluk) or isolation (tecrit).[7]   
      
   Torture after March 12[edit]   
      
   After the 1971 Turkish coup d'état torture was applied in police centres and   
   centres of the Counter-Guerrilla that were jointly used by the secret service   
   called National Intelligence Organization and the Special Warfare Department   
   (Turkish: Özel Harp    
   Dairesi, ÖHD).[5] The torture methods included electric shocks applied by   
   field telephones[7] various forms of hanging, falaka, rape, sleep and food   
   deprivation and torturing relatives in the presence of the suspect.[5]   
      
   The military applied torture to political prisoners as a matter of policy.[8]   
   Affidavits confirmed that martial law commanders, military prosecutors and   
   judicial advisors gave order to torture political prisoners, sometime   
   supervising it.[8]   
      
   The Ziverbey Estate[edit]   
      
   The Ziverbey Estate (Ziverbey Köşkü) is a place in İstanbul-Erenköy. It   
   was used as a torture centre especially during the 12 March period.[9] At the   
   Ziverbey Estate well known people such as the journalists İlhan Selçuk,   
   Doğan Avcıoğlu, Uğur    
   Mumcu and İlhami Soysal were tortured.[10]   
      
   See alsoReport of Talat Turhan to the CHP / First published on 1 May 1976   
   Serdar Çelik: Turkey's Killing Machine: The Contra-Guerrilla Force   
      
   Torture after the 1980 coup[edit]   
      
   Over a quarter of a million people were arrested in Turkey on political   
   grounds since 1980 and almost all of them were tortured.[11] The Human Rights   
   Association (HRA), founded in 1986 put the figure at 650,000[12] and in 2008   
   the Human Rights Foundation    
   of Turkey (HRFT) spoke of one million victims of torture in Turkey.[13]   
      
   One of the first measures after the 1980 coup d'état was to extend the   
   maximum period of detention from 15 to 30 and then to 90 days.[7] (see the   
   relevant section below). Amnesty International has repeatedly documented that,   
   in practice, incommunicado    
   detention is often longer than legally permitted.[14] Specialized teams in   
   İstanbul, Ankara and Diyarbakır were responsible for the interrogation of   
   specific organizations and groups. İsmail Hakkı, for instance, said that   
   between 1979 and 1985 he    
   worked in the place called political department (at the time "first   
   department") of Istanbul Police HQ in the "K" section (which may be the   
   abbreviation of komünist = communist), the "group for interrogation and   
   operations against illegal organizations"    
   and later at the same place in Erzurum. All people in that wing were   
   professionals. They could guess what organization had carried out which action   
   just because of the way it was carried out and the way the militants had   
   escaped.[15]   
      
   In the 1980s particularly Amnesty International issued many reports and urgent   
   actions related to allegations of torture in Turkey. Some quotes are:   
   May 1984, File on Torture: The Turkish authorities have persisted in the   
   torture of prisoners during the present decade."   
      
   July 1985, Testimony on Torture: "Torture is widespread and systematic in   
   Turkey."   
      
   February 1986, Violations of Human Rights in Turkey: Political prisoners and   
   common criminals are tortured or subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading   
   treatment or punishment, while in police custody."   
      
   July 1987, Continuing Violations of Human Rights in Turkey: "AI continues to   
   be concerned about the imprisonment of prisoners of conscience, systematic   
   torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners..."[1]   
      
   Besides Amnesty International NGOs such as the International Commission of   
   Jurists and the International Federation of Human Rights and international   
   bodies like the Council of Europe sent delegations to Turkey to investigate   
   the torture claims.[16] On 1    
   July 1982 five States (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France and the Netherlands)   
   filed an application against Turkey with the European Commission of Human   
   Rights. They complained in particular about torture, unfair trials and   
   restriction of freedom of    
   expression. In December 1985 a friendly settlement was reached that asked   
   Turkey to shorten the detention period, lift martial law and present periodic   
   reports.[17] Turkey had shortened the maximum length of detention in May and   
   June 1985 from 45 days to    
   30 days in areas under emergency legislation and to 15 days in areas not under   
   extraordinary rule.[18] Later the European Committee for the Prevention of   
   Torture (CPT) became the main body to monitor the situation, but other bodies   
   such as the UN Special    
   Rapporteur on Torture (see the section on reports) also visited Turkey in   
   order to evaluate the risk of torture in Turkey.   
      
      
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