New Istanbul Police Chief Should Not Make Same Mistakes

The person to fill the post of Istanbul Chief of Police now that Celalettin Cerrah has been given the post of governor of Osmaniye province in the south of Turkey, needs to avoid making the same mistakes.

For one, s/he must not make erroneous statements about the human rights violations carried out by police officers. This is particularly important as a step towards preventing police violence.

Emma Sinclair, Turkey rapporteur for  Human Rights Watch (HRW), wrote a report about Turkey last year and shared the data with government representatives. She remembers statements on the Istanbul Police Force website.

She said that these statements always denied claims of human rights violations by the police in the strongest terms, using hostile language. They put forward their own versions of events even while investigations were continuing and targeted those making the claims.

"Thus claims of torture and maltreatment were covered up. Evidence was manufactured. In addition the statements about controversial events were always produced very fast. The new Chief of Police should not repeat this. The police as an institution has to be more careful."

"Culture of impunity"

In an HRW report on police violence published in December 2008 , she had written,

"There are [...] signs of continuing problems of police violence, and a reported rise in overall complaints of torture and police violence since the beginning of 2007. At the core of the persistence of these phenomena is the culture of impunity. Historically, law enforcement officials were rarely if ever held to account, and still less often in a manner that reflected the gravity of the violations committed. Today, despite increased legal safeguards, law enforcement officers who flout them can still enjoy effective impunity when they are alleged to have abused or even unlawfully killed victims."

Some have termed the Police Departments website the "Cerrah News Agency". Some examples of statements made in the past are:

When people experienced police violence during forced house demolitions, the person recording and broadcasting the violence was termed the "provocator of the Altınşehir riots."

When Nigerian refugee Festus (Fastos) Okey was shot dead in the Beyoğlu police station in central Isatabul, the statement on the website tried to conjure up an image of a "potential criminal" in order to indirectly legitimise his death.

When Engin Çeber died in prison and doctor reports and witnesses showed that he and his friends had been tortured at the police station, Cerrah said, "He was not beaten by us."

After a police operation in Bostancı, Istanbul, where police officer Semih Balaban was shot by militant Orhan Yılmazkaya, and Yılmazkaya was later shot, too, Cerrah said at the police officer's funeral: "We revenged our friend's death."

When cars were set on fire in December 2007, Cerrah targeted Kurds in his statement, and talked of "perpetrators" rather than "suspects". He also advised people to install cameras at home and at work "if they want security."

Following the request of the governor's office, the Istanbul Police Force carried the investigation into the police violence used on 1 May 2008. Not surprisingly, the report found that "proportionate force" had been used. The investigation was led by deputy police chief Mehmet Kızılgüneş, who had been taken off duty as the head of the riot police following violence against women protesters on 6 March 2005 as they were demonstrating for International Women's Day.

When events of people wearing police uniforms and committing violent acts emerged, Cerrah warned the public to ask plain clothes police officers for ID. However, he did not mention that all officers, whether in uniform or plain clothes, need to show their ID and give an explanation when stopping someone and give those who request it a report.

After protesters tried to open a pancard reading "We will not become Israeli soldiers" on 30 August 2006, and others attact them, Cerrah praised the lynching attempt, saying: "Citizens interfered and showed the appropriate reaction. It was a good reaction."

Hours after the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, Istanbul governor Muammer Güler and Cerrah appeared on TV together. Cerrah, for whose questioning in the matter the governor has never given permission, said, "It was a murder committed with nationalist feelings." Although reports have pointed to police negligence, he is not facing prosecution. (TK/AG)