E/CN.4/1999/61/Add.1 page 16 54. According to the Minister of State in Charge of Human Rights, forensic doctors are accountable both to their own association and to the Ministry of Health. However, this professional association, the Council of Forensic Medicine (CFM), is not independent but operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice. The Minister for Justice is responsible for the appointment of the president of the CFM, as well as the chairpersons of specialist boards, such as that responsible for torture-related issues. According to one non-governmental source, the close ties between forensic doctors and the justice system are exemplified by the location of the premises of forensic doctors in courthouses. Also active in the forensic field are the Forensic Medicine Institute, whose members serve part-time with the CFM as expert witnesses, often at the request of the Government, and the departments of forensic medicine in medical schools, including specialist bodies such as the Forensic Association (FA) based in Istanbul University medical school. 55. Government-appointed general practitioners, answerable to the Ministry of Health, as well as other medical personnel, have their own professional association, the Turkish Medical Association (TMA). Membership of this professional body is not compulsory for civil servants, although they may join, whereas military doctors cannot become members. This makes the effective supervision of professional misconduct for such categories of physicians potentially problematic. The TMA has the power to implement disciplinary measures, often in conjunction with independent regional medical chambers, including for the issuing of false medical reports. It is the only body which can ban physicians for up to six months, and it may initiate court proceedings to obtain a longer ban. According to the President of the TMA, and as exemplified by the case of Dr. Nur Birgen which will be discussed below, government officials are very reluctant to implement such decisions. The TMA has also been involved in the production of “alternative medical reports” in a number of cases where official reports failed to document manifest signs of torture. 56. Finally, in a group of their own, prison doctors are direct employees of the Ministry of Justice, and are therefore hierarchically inferior to the director of the prison in which they work, which, as will be seen, raises inevitable queries regarding their independence. 1. Lack of expertise and equipment 57. Concern was raised by both official and non-official interlocutors, including the Minister of Health, with regard to the lack of expertise of many doctors exercising forensic duties. This hinged both on deficiencies in the training of general practitioners and on a shortage of doctors wishing to specialize in the field of forensic medicine. 58. Estimates as to the number of forensic specialists practising in Turkey ranged from 175 to 200 for the entire country. According to the President of the FA, only 20 out of 40 medical schools in Turkey offer forensic medicine as a field of specialization. Even in those schools which do offer it, the Minister of Health reported, many choose not to study it. The resulting shortage of specialists means that, particularly in rural areas, general practitioners must often carry out the duties of forensic doctors. However, as forensic medicine does not form part of their general training, they do not