- 34 7.
Other on-site observations in police establishments visited (relating in particular to the often extremely
poor material conditions of detention, the interrogation facilities and the general attitude and demeanour of
police officers) did nothing to reassure the CPT's delegation about the fate of persons taken into custody. The
same can be said of the circumstances under which certain of the visits took place, in particular at Ankara
Police Headquarters, where the delegation was subjected to a series of delays and diversions (and on several
occasions given false information) and a number of detainees were removed in order to prevent the delegation
from meeting them.
8.
In its report the CPT recommended a series of measures to the Turkish authorities designed to combat
the problem of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. These measures related in part to the introduction or
reinforcement of formal safeguards against such methods (shortening of the maximum periods of custody by
the police or gendarmerie; notification of a person's custody to his next of kin or a third party of his choice;
access to a lawyer; medical examination of detained persons; a code of practice for the conduct of
interrogations).
The Committee also placed considerable emphasis on the need for a major and sustained effort by the
Turkish authorities in the areas of education on human rights matters and professional training for law
enforcement officials. It is axiomatic that the best possible guarantee against ill-treatment of persons deprived
of their liberty is for its use to be unequivocally rejected by such officials.
As for the Anti-Terror Departments of the Ankara and Diyarbakır Police, the Committee recommended
that appropriate steps be taken immediately to remedy the situation identified in those services.
9.
The implementation of these recommendations was the subject of numerous exchanges between the
Turkish authorities and the CPT during 1991. However, by the time of the Committee's second visit, few
tangible results had been achieved, with the exception of the drawing up and subsequent revision of
Regulations for the conduct of interrogations.
b)
second visit
10.
In the course of its second visit to Turkey in the Autumn of 1991, the CPT found that no progress had
been made in eliminating torture and ill-treatment by the police. Many persons alleged that they had received
such treatment during the previous twelve months. The types of ill-treatment alleged remained much the same;
however, an increasing number of allegations were heard of forcible penetration of bodily orifices with a stick
or truncheon. Once again, a number of the persons who claimed to have been ill-treated were found, on medical
examination, to display marks or conditions consistent with their allegations. The delegation also had access to
a considerable number of reports drawn up during the previous twelve months, at the end of periods of police
custody, by doctors belonging to Forensic Institutes; many of them contained findings consistent with particular
forms of torture or severe ill-treatment. As regards more specifically the Anti-Terror Departments of the
Ankara and Diyarbakır Police, the only conclusion that could be reached in the light of all the information
gathered was that torture and other forms of severe ill-treatment continued unabated in those services.
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