Academics Criticize Government Over Human Rights Liabilities

17 human rights academics have written an open letter to Turkey's Head of State, Prime Minister, Interior Minister, Minister of Justice, and Turkey Human Rights Institution.

Subject of the letter is the strong suspicions as to gross human rights violations arising from the operations launched on many cities of Turkey within the scope of counter terrorism operations against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) members.

The academics have reminded conditions for the security forces to use force in seizure and detention operations against armed groups, and state's duty in investigating allegations of death, torture and maltreatment.

The letter is as follows:

Dear Head of State, Prime Minister, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and the Turkey Human Rights Institution,
We are writing to you with respect to serious concerns regarding the perpetration of human rights violations within the context of the counter terrorism operations carried out against the members of the PKK since 25 July 2015.

According to Article 15 of the Constitution of the Turkish Republic fundamental rights and freedoms can only be suspended in cases of war and state of emergency provided that international law obligations of Turkey are not violated and such suspension is proportionate to the exigencies of the specific situation. Whilst the executive branch has taken a number of measures that can only be taken in a state of emergency, there currently exists no constitutional state of emergency in Turkey.

For this reason, no institution or person can take any action that limits rights more than the rights limitation framework provided for in the Constitution set out for peacetime state of affairs. Thus, every single counter-terrorism operation must be planned and implemented in accordance with Turkey's obligations under Turkish domestic law and international human rights law.

Human rights law imposes state authorities legal obligations to respect the right to life and physical integrity of individuals beyond and above any political objective. Security forces have a duty and a right to use force when carrying out capture and arrest operations against armed groups provided that such use of force is proportionate in the light of the facts of each and every concrete situation and the use of force is employed with the purpose of self-defense, defense of other security forces or defense of the civilian population. This duty and right must be exercised in accordance with human rights law at all times:

The purpose of counter-terrorism operations against armed groups in peace-time is not to kill the members of the armed groups, but to capture them alive and bring them to justice;

Counter terrorism operations against armed groups must never be planned in ways that risk the lives of the civilian population;

Security forces must not use weapons that do not discriminate civilian populations from the members of armed groups;

Those who are captured, charged and detained have the right to physical bodily integrity. They shall not be subject to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment;

All forms of inhuman or degrading treatment to dead bodies is unlawful.

All organs of the Turkish Republic further have obligations to effectively investigate all killings, and torture, inhuman or degrading treatment allegations, regardless of the identity of perpetrators:

State authorities must investigate effectively all deaths or suspected deaths of individuals, be they deaths of members of security forces, civilians or members of armed groups, and must ensure that all identified perpetrators are brought to justice;

Investigations of such crimes must strictly respect the independence and impartiality standards, and must make use of experts in cases where technical knowledge is of paramount importance to establish the commission, aiding or abetting of crimes;

Deaths must be carried out in accordance with the United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions (Minnesota Protocol). Investigations of allegations of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment must be carried out in accordance with the United Nations The Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol);

All public officials who have committed or suspected to have committed crimes must face administrative alongside criminal investigations and must be removed from duty for the duration of the investigation;

All investigations, whilst observing the standard of fairness, must also respect the rights of next of kin of the deceased and the right to truth of the public, and must be concluded speedily and effectively.

Respect for human rights law obligations is a sine qua non of democratic rule of law regimes. This obligation cannot be suspended in the context of operations against armed groups. It is well known that in a significant number of judgments delivered against Turkey the European Court of Human Rights found grave human rights violations in relation to the actions of the Turkish security forces in the context of counter-terrorism operations. The ensuing human tragedy and the lack of trust in state institutions due to these violations are still with us today. To avoid such similar violations is at the hands of the state authorities.

As human rights lawyers, we regard it as our historic responsibility to remind our shared humane, ethical and legal responsibilities and call on the state authorities to take all necessary measures to respect human rights in the context of ongoing operations. (BK/TK)

Respectfully yours,

Doç. Dr. Başak Çalı,
Yard. Doç Dr. Kerem Altıparmak
Prof. Dr. Gökçen Alpkaya
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Ahmet Murat Aytaç
Profesör Dr. Osman Doğru,
Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı
Prof. Dr. Ümit Biçer
Prof. Dr. Melek Göregenli
Dr. Esra Demir-Gürsel
Profesör Dr. İbrahim Kabaoğlu
Prof. Dr. Türkan Yalçın Sancar
Dr. Cavidan Soykan
Dr Tolga Şirin
Prof. Dr. Nilgün Toker
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Kıvılcım Turanlı
Dr. Mine Yıldırım
Dr. Cenk Yiğiter

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