34 Torture Investigations in Diyarbakir

Diyarbakir Bar Association Children Rights Center lawyer Cengiz Analay welcomed the investigations and told Bianet that "even if with a delay it appears for now that what should be done against torture and mistreatment, is being done. But the 24 torture files that have been opened should not end up inconclusive like the others".

Analay said that as the city Bar Association they are following this issue closely and are waiting for the result of the 34 investigations with interest. He said they insisted that torturers not be left unpunished.

"No reason can justify torture" Analay said, stressing that torture is banned by the Turkish constitution as well as international conventions to which Turkey is a part of, and is a crime against humanity.

"We see it as unacceptable that the crime of torture which is regarded as a crime against all human beings, has been widely committed during the March 28 incidents" he said.

Zero-Tolerance not sincere

Analay said that although officials previously promised zero tolerance against torture and there was a decrease in torture incidents with the European Union accession period, "it has come out in the open with the incidents on March 28 in Diyarbakir that this was a temporary situation and that the promises made by officials on all platforms were not sincere".

"Many people were detained and arrested in the incidents that on March 28 started off from the province of Diyarbakir and spread to nearby provinces and districts. In interviews we conducted with those detained, they told us that they were subjected to many inhuman treatments and that they were tortured in detention centers. Doctor reports, their statements to the prosecutors and photographs taken by ourselves confirms this," Analay explained.

Law change not enough

Analay added that amendments in the law would not be enough to change the position on torture and said that in order to prevent torture, preventative measures should be effectively taken but where torture was recorded, the culprits should be punished in the most severe way.

The Diyarbakir Bar Association had applied to the provincial Governor's Office and requested investigations to be launched in 72 separate instances of torture under custody claims.

During the incidents in Diyarbakir between March 28 and April 1, 2006, a total of 10 people including five children were killed as result of disproportional force used by the police and hundreds of others were wounded. 213 children and 364 adults were placed under custody where they were subjected to mistreatment and torture. (KO/II/YE)