452 Claims of Torture in 2007, Says TIHV

The Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) has branches in Adana, Ankara, Diyarbakir, Istanbul and Izmir. According to its 2007 annual report, there has been a drastic increase in people claiming to have been tortured or maltreated, as well as an increase in people saying that they were abused in the same year, i.e. 2007.

An increase compared to 2006 

According to a statement by the foundation, there were 337 applications to TIHV in 2006, and 252 of them said they had been abused in that year; in 2007, the number of applicants rose to 452, of whom 320 said that the relevant incident happened in the same year.

In 2007, 293 of the applicants were men, 159 were women and 33 were children.

Serious physical and psychological traumas 

The most frequently cited methods of torture in 2007 were serious beatings, humiliations and insults. They caused physical as well as psychological damage.

Other abuse which was reported included death threats, being forced to watch or listen to torture, being tortured in front of relatives, being forced to obey meaningless orders, continuously being hit on the same part of the body, tearing at hair, beards and moustaches, being forced to do extremely strenuous activity, being left in the cold, being sprayed with tear gas, sexual abuse, and violent acts carried out on sexual organs.

According to TIHV, there were many physical symptoms of torture and abuse, such as broken bones, injury to and loss of organs, rupturing of ear drums, etc. In addition, many of the applicants displayed acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as other psychological damage.

Four of the applicants had been wounded by plastic bulltes which are frequently used by security forces and are claimed to be “harmless.”

In police stations, in public... 

Of the 320 people saying they had been tortured in the year 2007, 98 said it happened in police offices, 61 in police stations, 17 in gendarmerie stations or headquarters, 112 in open spaces or in vehicles, and 32 in other places. (NZ/AG)