A committe with the European Council and Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) have visited Turkey between 11-25 January 2021. The delegation included CPT Delegation Head Mykola Gnatovskyy, CPT 2nd Vice President Therese Rytter, Djordje Alempijevic, Nico Hirsch, Julia Kozma, Ceyhun Qaracayev, Hans Wolff, Hugh Chetwynd (Head of Department) and Elvin Aliyev from the CPT Secretary. During the visit, the delegation was accompanied by Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül, Deputy Minister of Interior Muhterem İnce, Deputy Minister of Justice Uğurhan Kuş and General Director of Prisons and Detention Centers Yunus Alkaç, as well as the Ministry of Interior (including the Gendarmerie General Command), the Ministry of Justice and Foreign Affairs. The committee also met with Human Rights Association (IHD) and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey(TIHV).

 

It was stated that the previous recommendations regarding the situation of the prisoners staying in the Imrali F-Type High Security Prison came to the fore in the meetings. However, the failure of CPT to visit İmralı, where severe isolation conditions were imposed, and the failure to meet with the Asrın Law Office lawyers caused reactions. İbrahim Bilmez,one of the lawyer with the Asrın Law Firm, evaluated the visit of the CPT and the fact that it's failure to visit İmralı.

 

VISITS MUST INCREASED

 

Stating that they think the visits of CPT is important, Bilmez said: "We attach importance to the visits of CPT to Turkey where there is no more rule of law. Moreover, we think CPT should visit Turkey more often. In a country where the law has been completely shelved, it is necessary and useful to examine the conditions in places of closure such as prisons, detention centers and police stations on site by an international institution and to listen and record the complaints, at least in terms of documenting and displaying the practices of ill-treatment and torture.

 

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE REPORT

 

Emphasizing that things got worse after the release of the CPT report on the contrary to what was expected, Bilmez said: "The conditions of isolation in Imrali have been further aggravated. As if to challenge the CPT, our clients were banned from phone calls and family calls, with unfounded and completely arbitrary disciplinary penalties, right after the report was released in August. The CPT's last report stated that these disciplinary penalties based on banning family and telephone calls were in no way credible and persuasive. Likewise, the lawyer ban, which was abolished during the hunger strikes in 2019 with a completely unlawful decision of the Bursa Enforcement Judge, was restored exactly as if nothing had changed."