Report - Asker Hakları

Transkript

RIGHTS OF CONSCRIPTS INITIATIVE
Executive Summary of the report;
VIOLATIONS of the RIGHTS of
CONSCRIPTS IN TURKEY
Report on applications made to
“www.askerhaklari.com”
in the period of April 2011-April 2012
VIOLATIONS of the RIGHTS of CONSCRIPTS in TURKEY
Report on applications made to “www.askerhaklari.com” in the period of April 2011-April 2012
Report prepared by,
www.askerhaklari.com
twitter.com/askerhaklari
facebook/askerhaklari
[email protected]
Note 1: The report will be announced with a Turkish and English Press Conference on 12 October 2012 between
11:00-13:00 at Taksim Hill Hotel, Istanbul
Note 2: The original Turkish title of the report is: “ZORUNLU ASKERLİK SIRASINDA YAŞANAN HAK
İHLALLERİ: www.askerhaklari.com sitesine Nisan 2011—Nisan 2012 döneminde gelen başvurular”.
ISBN : 978-605-86669-0-0
For more information email: [email protected]
I. ABOUT ASKERHAKLARI.COM
AND THE REPORT
Although the treatment of military conscripts in Turkey is a very
problematic rights issue, it sadly remains one of the country’s most
neglected. Ill-treatment and human rights abuses that young men
experience during their military service, especially those who do
not hold a university degree and serve as privates, are widely known
in Turkey, but are not frequently discussed by the public or the
press. For this reason, ill-treatment, torture and systematized abuse
have remained part of military culture for decades without noticeable improvement. Our organization believes that by avoiding the
problem, civil society is as responsible for the ill treatment that conscripts encounter as the military perpetrators themselves.
In order to respond to the need to better document and confront
conscript abuses, the website askerhaklari.com was established as a
civil initiative at the beginning of April 2011. askerhaklari.com created a mechanism to provide support to victims of ill treatment and
abuse during their military service and raise awareness/sensibility
about the issue by making cases of ill treatment and abuse publicly
visible.
askerhaklari.com has become an interface for victims of ill treatment and abuse during their military service and to provide an
online platform to tell their stories and seek support in claiming
their rights. The applicants tell their stories by filling in a form on
the website. After consulting with the applicant, the complaints are
transformed into petitions and are submitted to the Human Rights
Investigation Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA). During the period of April 2011 and 2012, 46 petitions
were submitted to the Commission.1
askerhaklari.com received its first application the day after the site
was first featured in a newspaper article on military abuse, on 25
April 2011. In a year’s time since the first application, the website
has received 432 applications which document cases of ill treatment and abuses faced during compulsory military service.2
This report is based on the applications that askerhaklari.com has
received between April 2011 and April 2012. Critically, the report
has been prepared to bring to light a problem which we believe directly or indirectly affects all in Turkey without exception. We consequently hope to contribute to the prevention of ill treatment and
abuses of individuals who serve as conscripts. The Turkish version
of the report documents, with no added interpretation, conscripts’
descriptions of the ill treatments and abuses which they experienced in their own words.3
After askerhaklari.com was established in April 2011, the public visibility of ill treatment during military service and methods of prevention have increased and
therefore direct applications to the Human Rights Investigation Commission of the Parliament have increased significantly.
1
Askerhaklari.com has received 568 applications in one year between 25.04.2011 and 24.04.2012. 136 applications were out of the scope of this report since they were
not directly linked to violation of rights during compulsory military service, therefore were not includedin the report. Nearly half of the applications were made by
either regular officers (active or resigned) or people who have quit military schools. The other half of the applications didn’t include complaints of ill treatment.
2
Incidents expressed in the Turkish version of the report, some of which have also been exposed in the press, are statements of the applicants toaskerhaklari.com. A
significant number of these claims were brought to the attention of the Human Rights Investigation Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
3
II. ILL TREATMENT IN NUMBERS
TYPES OF ILL-TREATMENT
There have been 432 applications to askerhaklari.com for alleged
violations of rights during compulsory military service in the period
between when the first application arrived on 25 April 2011 and 24
April 2012.
The following chapter classifies the alleged cases of ill treatment according to their types, location and dates.
Classification of applications were made through the determination of most frequent types of ill treatment and covers the following nine types: insults, beatings, involuntary excessive physical
activity,denial of access to proper healthcare, threats, disproportionate punishment, being forced to run errands for superiors, sleep
deprivation and institutionalised bullying. 432 applications were
analysed to determine the types of ill treatment.
–– 48% of applications included complaints of insults (206)
–– 39% of applications included complaints of beatings (169)
–– 16% of applications included complaints of forced
excessive physical activity (67)
–– 15% of applications included complaints of denial of
access to proper health care (65)
–– 13% of applications included complaints of threats (57)
–– 9% of applications included complaints of
disproportionate punishment (40)
–– 5% of applications included complaints of being forced
to run errands for superiors (23)
–– 4% of applications included complaints of sleep
deprivation (19)
–– 4% of applications included complaints of
institutionalised bullying (19)
CASES OF ILL-TREATMENT BY YEAR
Among the 378 applications which specify the year the ill treatment
occurred, three quarters of them took place between 2011 and 2012
(281 applications, 65%). More than half of the applications which
specified dates described cases of ill treatment that took place in
2011 (219 applications, 58%) and 16% of them (62 applications)
in 2012. One fifth of the applications (71 applications, 19%) were
related to alleged cases of ill treatment that took place between
2000 and 2010, and 7% (26 applications) were from before the year
2000. There are two applications regarding incidents that took
place in the 1970’s. The oldest incident among the applications to
askerhaklari.com dates back to 1946.
LOCATION OF ILL-TREATMENT CASES
The compiled applications were received from a total of 63 different
locations within Turkey and northern Cyprus. Excluding applications from Ankara and Cyprus, we observe that most of the applications refer to either the western most or the eastern most cities of
the country. Most of the applications are from Ankara (37). These
are followed by applications from Cyprus (26), Izmir (25), Istanbul
(23) and Çanakkale (17). Insult is the most common complaint received from Ankara, Izmir and Istanbul; complaints including beating are most common in Cyprus and Çanakkale. The first five cities
where applications were the highest in number constitute one-third
(36%) of all applications, whereas the first ten cities constitute half
of all applications (49%).
III. TYPES OF ILL-TREATMENT
DURING MILITARY SERVICE
INSULTS
Nearly half of the applicants indicate that they were the target of insults. In 201 of 432 applications (47%), the applicants refer to cases
of insults describing the abuse with words such as “castigation”,
“scolding”, “cursing”, “insulting” and “humiliation.” A significant
portion of these 201 applications indicates that conscripts were also
exposed to other kinds of violations aside from insults. Applications
for insults also included beating (121 applications, 59%), intimidation (48 applications, 23%), forced excessive physical activity (42
applications, 20%), impeding the right to access to health care (33
applications, 16%), disproportionate/inadequate allegations/punishments (27 applications, 13%), forced personal errand-running
(18 applications, 9%), sleep deprivation (14 applications, 7%) and
institutionalised bullying (11 applications, 5%).
Excerpt from application no: 119
Çankırı, 2011
“Our company commander swore each and every day.
Beat us every day. I don’t know if we were animals or
human beings.”
Bingöl, 2011
“Here, we are being subjected to beatings, various
insults and curses. I have to listen to things,
which assault our manhood.”
BEATINGS
169 applications out of 432 (39%) described episodes of physical violence using words such as “beating”, “slap on the face”, “choking”,
“kicking”, “being trampled on” and “punching”. Most of the applications that include physical violence include other abuses as well.
Applications about beating include, insult (121 application 72%),
intimidation (37 applications 22%), forced excessive physical activity (31 applications 18%), impeding the right to access to health care
(25 applications 15%), disproportionate/inadequate allegations/
punishments (16 applications 9%), institutionalised bullying (11
applications 7%), sleep deprivation (11 applications, 7%) and forced
personal errand-running (9 applications, 5%).
Diyarbakır, 2011
“The soldier’s nose and mouth bled, when he beat him.
He was crawling on the ground, shouting:
'I am dying, save me.' I can’t forget that moment.”
Ağrı, 2007
“He started beating and cursing me, once I hailed him.
Then he threatened and continued beating me.”
FORCED EXCESSIVE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
67 applications out of 432 (16%) mention forced excessive physical activity. In applications from this category, the applicants tell of
guard-duties that surpass the standard and required hours, forced
and exhausting physical labor without break, and being punished
through extremely demanding physical exercises which were
termed as “training,” but deliberately exceeded the physical limits of
conscripts. The applications also include incidences of forced heavy
exercises in which superiors disregarded conscript’s health problems.
Hatay, 2011
“We get up at 6 am, and work, without rest, until 11 pm.
On the top of that, we guardduty for two more hours,
with no sleep. My psychology has badly affected due to
that. Our commander swears, too. I only sleep four hours
a day, my body is deprived.”
Mardin, 2012
“For fifteen days, I did my duty without even taking my
shoes off. I did not sleep in my bad and no commander
made an explanation for that. In the service,
I got a slipped disc, and I am still being treated.”
DENIAL OF ACCESS TO PROPER HEALTHCARE
65 applications out of 432 (15%) were related to impeding the right
to access proper health care. Within this category, applications
mention superiors disregarding complaints related to health problems, delaying any intervention of activities for health related problems, forced physical duties and sports activities that go against the
individual’s documented health problems or disability, impeding
access to doctor visits and hospitals, and not providing medication
on time for those who have a chronic disease.
Ağrı, 2011
“We had to leave the wards at nights and wait outside
at minus 22 degrees celcius, under the pretense of
training, We had to exercise while coughing at the same
time. If we told them that we were sick, they would
treat us as a poser.”
THREATS
57 applications out of 432 (13%) told of being intimidated by their
superiors. Applicants wrote that threats issued by their superiors
made use of words such as “killing”, “forced desertion”, “extension
of the duration of military service” and “physical violence.” The
most common incident of intimidation that the applicants experience takes place when they place a complaint to a higher-ranking official within the military hierarchy, as the allowed rank of a superior
who receives a complaint cannot be more than two ranks above the
accused perpetrator.
“I was told to serve submissively. Otherwise, they
thretaned me that my military service would last longer
and I was to suffer.”
İzmir, 2005
“He was beaten like a dead meat. The commander was
shouting “I’ll kill you” while he was punching him.”
DISPROPORTIONATE PUNISHMENT
40 applications out of 432 (9%) stated that they were unjustly accused or had received disproportionate punishment for their faults.
The most repeated complaint concerns the officers deciding to imprison a conscript without a court decision (imprisonment in disciplinary cells, or DISKO as it is known in military slang). In cases
where the conscript deserts the military compound, especially for
cases longer than seven days, the higher-ranking official issues arbitrary imprisonment decisions that can last up to five months, in
which the conscript has no right either to appeal or to convert jail
time into a fine.
Van, 1995
“I was imprisoned for 11 months and 20 days, because
I extended my leave (without permission) for 18 days.”
Elazığ, 2003
“An officer approached me. Although I was freshly shaved,
he told me that I wasn’t. I said I was. He swore me, kicked
me and then left. I an week, I found myself in “disko”
(solitary confinement)”
BEING FORCED TO RUN ERRANDS FOR
SUPERIORS
23 applications out of 432 (5%) told of being forced to run personal
errands unrelated to military purposes for officers or their acquaintances.
Trabzon, 2011
“He used to use his soldiers as servants: cooking food,
shopping, delivery, grading the papers of his “national
security” course. When he went to the toilet, someone had to
wait outside with a napkin and cologne.”
Ankara, 2012
“We do all their private jobs. We do their laundry, cook
privately f or them, we carry their clean clothes when
they take a shower and wait for them. We then help them
getting dressed.”
SLEEP DEPRIVATION
19 applications out of 432 (4%) stated that they were held without
sleep arbitrarily for long hours or that they were been waken up for
no reason. The applicants stated that this kind of ill treatment is
used both by officers and senior conscripts against juniors.
Şanlıurfa, 2011
“So much tormenting. They don’t let us sleep on a whim
for 3-4 days. If they caught someone sleeping, they would
beat him hard.”
Ankara, 2011
“I was in “disko ” (solitary confinement) for 7 days.
We were allowed to sleep for 4 hours with lamps on.
They would split that four hours into two.”
INSTITUTIONALISED BULLYING
19 applications out of 432 (4%) state that they were subjected to
bullying by senior conscripts. Bullying by senior conscripts is often
allowed consciously or is disregarded by the officers as a policy to
keep the conscripts under control.
Kayseri, 2011
“There were cliques (based on the service terms) in my
company. They broke my friend’s nose the other day.
Company sergeant kissed the forehead of the guy who did this
and congragulated him.”
Edirne, 2011
“Every night, new recruitments are beaten by senior
soldiers. Commanders love such cliques.”
IV. RESULTS OF ILL-TREATMENT
In this chapter, we discuss the irreversible results of alleged cases
of ill-treatment documented in the report. Based on the applications made to www.askerhaklari.com, there are three main results
that occur after the aforementioned alleged cases of ill treatment:
1- Suicide,
2- Permanent psychiatric damage,
3- Disability or permanent physical damage including death.
SUICIDE
Based on the number that was announced in May 2012, in the last
22 years, 2221 conscripts have committed suicide.4 This equals 100
conscripts per year, or 1 conscript for every 3 to 4 days. We believe
that only a portion of these suicides are made known to the public.
Based on media analyses undertaken by askerhaklari.com in 2012,
in the first six months of the year, 22 conscripts committed suicide.
However, based on the annual average of suicides, (100 conscripts per
year) we estimate that this number should be closer to 50.
No explanation on the reasons of these suicides is shared with the
public. Therefore it is not possible to provide an explanation on the
relationship between cases of ill treatment and contemplating suicide or actually committing it. One aim of Askerhaklari.com is to be
a resource for explaining the connection between ill-treatment and
suicide, on which the side has been collecting data since its launch
in April 2011. There are many examples among the 432 applications
that depict the correlation between the ill treatment and contemplation of suicide.
There are around 40 applications to the site that include contemplation of suicide, attempting suicide, witnessing suicide or suspicious deaths that are claimed to be cases of suicide. We can divide
these applications under three headings: 1- those who contemplate
or attempt to commit suicide, 2- those who know someone closely
who has contemplated or has attempted to commit suicide, 3- those
that find the claimed suicide cases as suspicious.
4
http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?aType=RadikalDetayV3&ArticleID=1088073&CategoryID=77
İzmir, 2011
“In five months of my military service, I thought of committing
suicide for ten times.”
İstanbul, 2011
“In my guard duty, I was just about to commit suicide.
But then I said to myself, why should I just shoot myself.
The blameworthy people will continue doing what they
have been doing to others.”
Adana, 2011
“I can’t stand it anymore. I want to hang myself. I love my
country, I don’t want doing my service this way. Why should
I live, if I cannot keep my honour, my dignity. Curses,
punishments and beatings: that’s what military service is.”
PERMANENT PSYCHIATRIC DAMAGE
One of the irreversible results of being subjected to long term illtreatment is permanent psychiatric damage. During last year, askerhaklari.com received more than 50 applicants claiming to have
psychological problems and/or having tendencies to inflict damage
on themselves or others. There are three groups under this heading: 1- psychological problems experienced only during compulsory
military service, 2- psychological problems that begin with military
service and continue after completion and 3- permanent psychiatric damage.
Ankara, 2011
“These are the hardest days of my life, please help me. I am
about to kill myself. I beg you. I am losing it; I will lose it. I can’t
recognise myself.”
Bitlis, 2011
“As if he was not my son anymore, but someone else. I was
ruined when I saw him like this. Ferdi was a very active
and vivacious young man, before his military service. Now,
he is incapable of continuing his studies. He is like a baby,
in need of care. He cannot move alone. He is even afraid of
going to toilet alone, so I am going with him. He is afraid
all the time. He sleeps in my room, and tells me: ‘don’t
leave me mother!’”
PERMANENT PHYSICAL DAMAGE
One of the irreversible results of the ill treatment during conscription is permanent physical damage that decreases an individual’s
quality of life and sometimes results in death. We have analysed
two such cases in depth in the report. One of them is the case of
Orhan Abravcı, who became disabled after being beaten harshly by
his commander. The other one is the case of Uğur Kantar, who died
after being subject to days of torture in the disciplinary cell he was
sent to during his military service.
Erzincan, 2009
“Sergeant Ersoy came across Abravcı in the
headquarter’s garden and started beating him with no
apparent reason. Abravcı fell down, but he continued
hitting him with a 4 cm thick stick. He dragged him
inside and beat him there, too.”
Cyprus
“Uğur Kantar, one of the soldiers of our battalion, has been
sentenced to solitary imprisonement. During that time, he was
subjected to inhumane practices and went into a coma. He was
transferred to GATA. We don’t have any information about his
present condition but everyone knows he only has a slim chance
of survival.”
V. THEREFORE WE DEMAND…
We, as activists gathered under Rights of Conscripts Initiative
(Asker Hakları), are demanding the following urgent matters to
be taken into consideration by the government of Turkey and the
members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly:
–– Close down military disciplinary cells immediately
–– Ensure that the ombudsman law (number 6328) is fully
applicable to all activities of the armed forces
–– Ensure effective and timely investigation by civilian
prosecutors of allegations of ill treatment during
military service (fulfil opcat requirements)
–– Ensure that the military personnel get human rights
training periodically
www.askerhaklari.com
twitter.com/askerhaklari
facebook/askerhaklari
[email protected]

Report - Asker Hakları

Transkript

Benzer belgeler

YDS Reading Vocabulary Test 18: Suicide

PUBLICATIONS “Love as a Metonymy for National Mourning

REST BANK

Babamın bürokrat olması sebebiyle Diyarbakır ilinde doğdum

Turkey: Protect men from further ill-treatment