220

ALLEGATIONS OF TORTURE IN TURKEY

SIR,-All Dr Turner and his colleagues’ statements are invalid(June 10, p 1319). Their letter is based on the claims of just a fewKurds seeking asylum in the UK. All four references cited shouldbe regarded with caution. The first is to Turner himself; none of ushas heard of "the Committee for the Defence of Democratic Rightsin Turkey" (the second reference), though we can imagine whatthey stand for; and the third and fourth references are to AmnestyInternational, an organisation well known for its political activity.

Torture is a crime. We condemn it but it is everywhere : Everycountry faces different challenges--sociopolitical ones in theMiddle East or high unemployment and drugs in the West. Do wehave the right to claim that a cocaine smuggler from South Americagets tortured when caught trying to enter the UK? Obviously not,unless we can prove it.

Many people, including Kurds, who seek asylum in the UK do solargely for economic reasons. They offer a fake history of havingbeen subjected to organised state violence. The government of WestGermany has lately recognised this and is now sceptical about thenumber of real political refugees among immigrants. We hope thatBritish officials will follow the same route.The Kurds have co-existed with local people in Turkey for

hundreds of years with no major social conflicts. Indeed a visit toKurdish refugee camps would show how Turkey has offered hervery limited facilities to survivors of the massacre of Kurds in the

Iran-Iraq war. Medical and social services have been developedwhich are sensitive to the cultural and life-style patterns of theKurds living in the area, with no help from western countries. Apercentage of the pay of every Turkish employee working for thegovernment is transferred for such services, and the man on thestreet is willing to provide more. Turner would be welcome as ourguest in Turkey to visit Kurdish refugees in their camps. Manyscientists, journalists, and others have done so over the past fewmonths, including the wife of the French president.By publishing that letter The Lancet lends credibility to a claim

for which there is no proof.Does anybody in the western world, including Amnesty

International, care about the Bulgarian government’s handling ofthe Turksih population living in Bulgaria, which includes inhumanmethods such as deportation overnight?

Department of Paediatric Neurology,Hacettepe Children’s Hospital,Ankara, Turkey

YAVUZ RENDAKALBIYE YALAZHALUK TOPALOGLUMERAL TOPCUKIVILCIM GUCUYENER

SIR,-Dr Turner and colleagues’ letter has no basis in fact. A linedrawing cannot be regarded as documentary evidence, especiallysince the artist was of very doubtful origin. As in the past, minoritiesin Turkey are being supported, trained, and armed by certainforeign powers to cause internal unrest. When these terrorists arebrought to trial, the foreign press publishes the news, as aninfringement of human rights. Some human rights organisationsseem more concerned with defence of criminals rather than withtheir innocent victims.

In every country there is a risk of mistreatment of suspects,especially when there is an emotionally charged situation, as withterrorist activities. This does not mean that there is a nationallyorganised policy for torture of minorities, but rather individualdeviation from the strict international rules of behaviour laid downfor police interrogations. On Turner’s line of argument the policeforces of every country could be charged with having such a policy.

Haceteppe University,Ankara, Turkey

A. YUKSEL BOZER,President

SIR,-Dr Turner and colleagues’ letter alleging the torture inTurkey has upset us. No country tortures its citizens unless theycome up against its laws. The Turkish Kurds referred to must beKurdist (not Kurdish): if Turkey did not want them she would havedeported them to Iran, Iraq, and Syria, not Europe. Why do thesepeople seek asylum in the UK? Why not France, Germany, or anyother country? In our opinion they want to live in the UK and tell

lies. Halkevi (Public House), sponsored by Hackney Council inLondon, has helped people (including members of illegal groupssuch as the Irish Republican Army) to enter the UK, and when anyproblem over immigration arises they fetch a Labour MP to sort itout at the point of entry.1 These people are telling lies about torturein Turkey to facilitate their entry into the UK. Perhaps AmnestyInternational should look into the torture of Turks in China, theUSSR, Kirkuk, and Bulgaria.

Gevher Nesibe Hastanesi,Kayseri, 38001 Turkey

ATALAY SAHINMEHMET TUNCELZEKI SOYPAÇACISABIT SAHINTANER TATLISÜLEYMAN SS GÖKALPHASAN YILMAZILHAN DEMIRYILMAZFATMA UZUN

1. Aydin Y. Turks in London. Bayrak 1989 (May); no 1004: 5.

*** These letters and others in similar vein have been shown to DrTurner and his colleagues, whose reply follows. Among the letterswas an unsigned comment from the executive committee of theGazi University Medical Faculty, Ankara, making the followingadditional points. Of the 26 people allegedly subjected to "organisedstate violence" all seem to be male. "How has such organisedviolence missed out the female population?" Dr Turner andcolleagues refer to "a massacre of a Kurdish community and thevictims of recent harassment". The executive committee would

change this to "massacres and harassments of the Kurdish

community by illegal Kurdish terrorist groups". Since Aug 15,1984, the letter claims, "541 Turkish Kurds have been killed byKurdish terrorist groups; 138 were children and of the adults 78were women."-ED.L

SiR,—We reported medical evidence of torture and other formsof organised violence in 26 Turkish Kurds, who had recentlypresented to the Medical Foundation. We appreciate that news oftorture is hard to receive but this cannot justify attacks upon ourprofessional competence. We stand firmly behind the conclusionexpressed in our letter that these 26 Kurds had been exposed toorganised violence, including torture.We made no reference to the scale of the problem. However, since

this issue has been raised, your readers may be interested to learnthat Amnesty International reports that over a quarter of a millionpeople have been arrested for political reasons in Turkey since 1980and most have been tortured. 1

The Medical Foundation has also seen and examined manyTurkish people over a number of years, and an indisputable patternof torture and its consequent scars and injuries has emerged. Ourrecently published evidence is entirely consistent with that pattern.We warmly welcome any affirmations of concern for human

rights in Turkey. However, the evidence of our own experiencesand professional judgments gives us absolutely no reason to agreewith the complacent attitudes expressed in these letters.

Since our letter to The Lancet we have seen a further 77 cases. The

following is a summary of the clinical examination by a consultantsurgeon (E. G.) of one recent case. The examination revealed clearmedical evidence of torture in this man, and his account extended a

history of torture to four other members of his family, 3 female and 1male.On July 13, 1989, a medical examination was carried out on a

27-year-old Kurdish man from Turkey.He gave a history of arrests in 1981, 1984, 1988, and 1989, for a

total of 28 days. On all four occasions he had been taken to

Gayrettepe (First Branch Political Police), Istanbul. At other timeshe had been taken to local police stations and questioned about thepolitical activities of another sister and had been beaten, butallegations of torture are confined to the longer periods of

221

, Scars on lower back

of 27-year-old man. z

imprisonment, including the last one. In 1981 he and his mother,

brother, and two sisters (aged 12 and 15) were detained in

Gayrettepe, where they were all tortured. At the Gayrettepe policestation the two brothers were put in a tiny cell measuring about1.5 x 2 m.while being held at Gayrettepe the tortures he experienced

included the following:(a) He was blindfolded and his brother was tortured within

earshot.

(b) He was dragged by his hair upstairs and assaulted.(c) He was beaten on his feet (falaka) with truncheons, a very

thin flexible stick (possibly the Cornelian cherry, traditionally usedas a whip in Turkey), and then a heavier stick. He was then forced tocarry a policeman on his shoulders whilst walking about, beingbeaten the while. When he was returned to the cell he saw that hisbrother had also been tortured, and that there was bruising on hisface and that his moustache had been partly pulled out.

(d) Interrogations continued daily with frequent beatings andfalaka.

(e) On one day he was subject to electrical torture applied tofingers, toes, lips, and face, but not genitalia or teeth.

(f)His hands were tied behind his back and he was

semisuspended, causing hyperextension of the arms and shoulderjoints and spine.

(g) On one occasion a guard pressed a lighted cigarette on thedorsum of his left hand.

(h) On another occasion he was blindfolded, stripped naked, andmade to lie face down. He felt someone jump over his back and hewas struck with a gun butt. He was then beaten with a narrow rod.

This was repeated several times.(i) During one day he was not tortured but for eight hours heard

the screams of others undergoing torture-an experience he feltmore painful than undergoing torture himself.His brother experienced similar tortures although the electrical

torture was more severe. His 12-year-old sister was also tortured,including electrical torture. The mother and the 15-year-old sisterwere also tortured.Of the other prisoners from his sister’s political group one had a

cardiac condition and tried to avoid torture by presenting a

certificate of her state of health. A doctor took her blood pressureand listened to her chest and told the police officers that it was quitein order to continue with the torture. Whilst there the doctorchecked the other detainees, including the patient described. On hisdischarge from Gayrettepe this patient went to a hospital but thedoctors seemed afraid and summoned the police, who threatenedhim with further detention.

On physical examination in London this man appeared fit buthad several scars on his limbs and back, all well healed and of similarage.Over the left anterior deltoid there were irregular, linear, pale

scars 2-5 cm and 4-0 cm long, consistent with healed injuries fromblows. One the dorsum of the left hand he had a 0-8 cm circular scar,typical of a cigarette burn. A mixed scar on the web between twofingers was attributed to an indiscriminate blow when his arms werestretched out, and over the head of the index metacarpal a 0-6 cmscar was attributable to the same episode of beating.On his back he had a series of long horizontal scars about 04 cm

wide and 15-25 cm long. The scars on both sides of the lowerthoracic region were too many to count. In the lumbosacral regionthere were about 15 such scars.On the posterior fold of each axilla and extending towards the

arms were two pale linear scars of about 4 cm.A L5x LO cm scar over the right superior iliac crest was

attributed to a blow from a rifle butt.On the dorsum of the right foot was a 2 cm scar with evidence of

two sutures. This was attributed to an episode when he lost hisbalance whilst blindfolded when a blow hit him and he fell strikinghis foot against the edge of a steel table. He had been taken to amedical centre where sutures were inserted.

This patient did not attribute all the scars on his body to hisperiods in detention-for example, hand injuries claimed to beoccupational-and he denied experiencing certain modes of torture.The scars on his back could not have been self-inflicted and areconsistent with blows from a whip. The scars are consistent with thepatient’s view that he was flogged with a wand of Cornelian cherry(kizilcik). The minor scars lend support to his story of repeatedepisodes of beating and assault but they pale into insignificancewhen compared with the scars on his back, which are evidence of asavage flogging.

Photography by department of medical illustrations, Charing CrossHospital, London.

Medical Foundationfor the Care of Victims of Torture,

National Temperance Hospital,London NW1 2LT

ELIZABETH GORDONSTUART TURNERTOM LANDAU

JILL HINSHELWOODHELEN BAMBER

1 Staunton M. Turkey and the Kurds. Times June 23, 1989.

BOYCOTTING JOURNALS

SiR,—Publication of that letter from Dr Corey (July 1, p 50),attacking The Lancet for allegedly "becoming a mouthpiece ofantisemitic propaganda", is an effective rebuttal of this crude

attempt at intimidation by boycott and external censorship. Ratherthan directly address the issues outlined in Dr Pauline Cutting’sletter (April 8, p 788), Corey dismisses the cited references as mere"propaganda publications" and confuses the role of contributorwith that of editor. My country’s objectivity regarding the MiddleEast is evidenced by the continuing presence of Irish troops in theUN peacekeeping force (UNIFIL).On the weekend of July 8/9,1989, the Jerusalem Post said "Jews,

the victims of racist prejudice throughout the ages, are now

committing the worst kind of racism themselves and are meting outcollective punishment. The spectre of hatred is raging throughoutthe land, while passive bystanders allow the outrages to take place."Corey should inquire into the true behaviour of the Israeli securityforces and withdraw his intemperate attack on The Lancet.

Beaumont Hospital,Dublin 9, Ireland W. P. TORMEY

SIR,-I read Dr Corey’s letter with dismay. I agree that, onoccasions, The Lancet’s medicopolitical reporting on Israel haslacked balance-indeed, you published a letter from me

condemning an attempt to represent unverified opinion andcomment on the actions of the medical and military authorities inthe occupied territories as fact. I am sure I am not alone among your