‘We gladly observe that there is no torture in Turkey’s prisons’

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Kocaeli MP and a member of the Parliament's Human Rights Inquiry Committee Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu previously appealed to the Human Rights Inquiry Committee, the Committee on Equality of Opportunity for Women and Men and Petition Committee and requested information regarding their works in the 24th, 25th, 26th and current terms of Parliament.

While Gergerlioğlu asked the Petition Committee about the subjects of complaints, he asked the Human Rights Inquiry Committee about the most frequent violations of rights handled by the Committee and the Committee on Equality of Opportunity about the applications that they received. Gergerlioğlu has received detailed answers to all three questions.

According to the answer of the Petition Committee, to which citizens are entitled to apply individually, the most frequent demand raised by citizens is justice. While the Committee received 13 thousand 910 applications in the current term, 86 of these applications came from MPs.

In his question addressed to the Parliamentary Speaker Mustafa Şentop, Gergerlioğlu previously asked about the Human Rights Inquiry Committee's works in the 24th, 25th, 26th and the current 27th terms.

According to the answer given to this question, the applications to the Committee in the 24th term (June 2011 - April 2015) and their distribution by types of rights violations were as follows:

Rights of arrestees and convicts: 2,949

Right to a fair trial: 1765

Right to personal liberty and security: 280

Ill treatment: 240

Right of property: 225

Right to life: 187

Prohibition of discrimination: 117

Freedom of labor and contract: 116

Right to education and training: 88

In the 24th term, the fewest applications were made in the fields of freedom of science and arts, right to vote and to be elected, women's rights and freedom of communication and press.

As for the 26th term, which covers the period from November 2015 to May 2018, it was the term with the highest number of complaints about human rights violations. These violations and their distribution were as follows:

Freedom of labor and contract: 3,955

Rights of arrestees and convicts: 3,861

Right to a fair trial: 2,116

Right to personal liberty and security: 464

Ill treatment: 204

Right to health and rights of patients: 147

Freedom of science and arts: 1

'No torture in prisons'

While the answer given to HDP MP Gergerlioğlu also covers the situation in Turkey's prisons, one of the mostly debated issues about them is allegations of torture. Addressing this issue, Human Rights Inquiry Committee Chair Hakan Çavuşoğlu has said, "It is gladly observed that there are no complaints about torture or physical battery in penal institutions."

Gergerlioğlu also asked a question to the Committee on Equality of Opportunity for Women and Men about their works and the applications that they received. While 87 individual applications were submitted to the committee in the 24 term, this number was 67 in the 26th term. As of May 29, 2020, 32 individual applications have been made in the current term.

The most frequently complained issues were as follows:

* Gender-based discrimination in entering public institutions

* Gender-based discrimination in getting promoted in public institutions

* Violence against women

* Crimes committed against women's sexual inviolability

* Suicides and murders of women

* Sexual abuse of children

* Forced marriage at an early age

* Victims of alimony

* The applications of women whose spouses were arrested or convicted for having committed crimes against sexual inviolability

According to the answer of the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, none of the individual applications made in the 27th term have been rejected, they have all been taken into examination, the related public institutions have been contacted and the applicants have been informed about the issue. (RT/SD)