What really happens inside a Turkish Prison? human rights groups have used Turkeys desire to join the EU to heighten scrutiny. Human rights organisations representing political prisoners were campaigning in force on the weekend.
Female political activist: a member of the human rights organisation representing political prisoners.
Prisoners who talk, sing loudly or do not answer the guards can be punished with solitary confinement, restrictions on access to their mail or on their visiting rights.
The revolutionaries refuse to be silenced ", chant the demonstrators, but the truth is that they are. Police powers were curbed this summer. But there is still plenty of room for abuse in high security jails because prison management enforce only very vague guidelines on their guards.
0:54 the lawyer Ahmet Tamer visits his clients regularly in prison. Many are there for non-violent political activism. The prospect of many long years in prison breeds depression amongst inmates .
0:1:08 Tamer is only too familiar with this reality. The police maintain they found illegal flyers in his chambers in 1994. Ahmet Tater claims he was set up. One day he was simply arrested and tortured severely. He spent seven long years there before his case came to trial.
Tamer, lawyer of the Turkish human right association (IHD)
0:01:28 "They forced me to confess to have belonged an illegal organization. Because of the torture I could not move my arms for four months. In prison I was dependent on the assistance of my fellow prisoners. Today I still have pain, in my left arm, numbness and loss of movement, although ten years have passed." The last six months of his seven year sentence Tamer spent in this new high security wing.
0:01:54. Since 2001, modern model prisons have been created in response to the problems of the old, overcrowded prisons. In the past prisoners crowded in large cells had repeatedly rioted and begun hunger strikes.
2'15 "Clean, functional cells like this are viewed by the European Union as an improvement. But since 2001, 100 prisoners in 11 Turkish security wings died through hunger strike or suicide.
0:02:31 "For me these high security wings are modern torture centres. Psychological torture tactics are used, and solitary confinement is used as a form of punishment. The prisoners are not beaten everyday although beatings do occur. These things are nothing compared with the physical abuse meted out in the past. Psychological abuse has replaced physical abuse. Prisoners are purposefully punished with isolation. That is for me also a form of torture, it also leaves scars. In the past week again a prisoner took his life in the high security wing. He was a harmless activist who was only in custody awaiting trial.
0:03:20 Political activists are still treated by the Turkish police as potential terrorists. Arbitrary use of force was made illegal in the summer, but it is still a reality. Human rights activists warn that people on the fringes of protests rather than those at the centre of attention are targeted.
0:03:40 The Istanbul suburb Kartal: a typical working class quarter. Police cars are seen here particularly frequently. The police increasingly watch active members of the trade unions.
3'52 "These two women belong to a trade union association nearby. Tugba Guemues was kidnapped twice this year by policemen in civilian clothes. Tugba Guemues, association of the working women:
0:05:06 " I was thrown into a mini bus and I was blindfolded, my arms and legs were bound. They tortured and sexually molested me. One man ejaculated in my face, struck me on the most sensitive places of my body and threatened me with a pistol. It is hard to describe how I felt. This kind of aggression by someone stronger, this kind of physical and sexual abuse scars one psychologically. I know that for sure."
0:04:44 From the trade union movement this year three women were kidnapped and abused in similar ways. Tugba Guemues cannot identify anyone, because the perpetrators were masked. The event took place in a car, whose numberplate she equally cannot identify. Even the physicians at the state hospital were too afraid to see her. Tugba Guemues:
0:05:10 "the physician was obviously afraid. He did not want even to examine me. We insisted. He only examined my knee and diagnosed that I was not in mortal danger. He did not want to write a report. I then held a press conference to publicise the fact it had happened."
0:05:31 Tugba is now in treatment at a rehabilitation centre for torture victims. The physicians are part of the human rights movement and it is clear to them that torture is still a reality in Turkey.
0:05:45 " many victims are still abused at police stations. Our government says, they have a zero tolerance policy on torture. How can be, if the government is not even able to control its own police force? This year many victims still came to us, who were even beaten in the street. The people are not arrested, but are forced into a car. There they are tortured, without being arrested, so that there is no proof of police involvement. Finally the victims are dropped off blindfolded in a remote place."
0:06:25 Tugba Guemues draws strength from her political work. Attacks on women like her have become ever more frequent. It is clear in other countries also that force against women is on the rise, when police forces are confronted with restrictions on their powers, like now in Turkey by the adjustment to European Union laws. Thats why female activism is important for political change. Tugba was sent when she was fourteen to a textile factory, worked ten years on the sowing machines, and her father took the wages. Tugba was enlisted by other women into the trade union, who had also broken away from their parents' houses.
0:07:05 Memories of the masks give the twenty six year old the courage to confront a trader. He is at first taken aback, and finds it embarrassing to be confronted by a woman in front of a television camera. "You should be ashamed of yourself, you sell the tools of the police." grumbles Tugba. The dealer actually does get involved in a discussion.
0:07:28 Ahmet Tamer is on his way to prison. As part of the human rights he has also become a lawyer to torture victims. He hopes now for changes through the European Union. Taner, lawyer of the Turkish human right association
0:07:38 Despite it all Im proud of the progress Turkey has made. iI think when it comes to membership negotiations with Turkey then the positive changes will continue to happen, if foreign governments keep up the pressure. Concerning the torture a further clarification would be a good thing. In the future I think the Turkish public will be strong enough, to force through reform on its own.
0:09:14 Taner is still fighting a court case. Under torture he confessed to belonging to an illegal organisation. A sentence would cost him his right to practise law.
Female political activist: a member of the human rights organisation representing political prisoners.
Prisoners who talk, sing loudly or do not answer the guards can be punished with solitary confinement, restrictions on access to their mail or on their visiting rights.
The revolutionaries refuse to be silenced ", chant the demonstrators, but the truth is that they are. Police powers were curbed this summer. But there is still plenty of room for abuse in high security jails because prison management enforce only very vague guidelines on their guards.
0:54 the lawyer Ahmet Tamer visits his clients regularly in prison. Many are there for non-violent political activism. The prospect of many long years in prison breeds depression amongst inmates .
0:1:08 Tamer is only too familiar with this reality. The police maintain they found illegal flyers in his chambers in 1994. Ahmet Tater claims he was set up. One day he was simply arrested and tortured severely. He spent seven long years there before his case came to trial.
Tamer, lawyer of the Turkish human right association (IHD)
0:01:28 "They forced me to confess to have belonged an illegal organization. Because of the torture I could not move my arms for four months. In prison I was dependent on the assistance of my fellow prisoners. Today I still have pain, in my left arm, numbness and loss of movement, although ten years have passed." The last six months of his seven year sentence Tamer spent in this new high security wing.
0:01:54. Since 2001, modern model prisons have been created in response to the problems of the old, overcrowded prisons. In the past prisoners crowded in large cells had repeatedly rioted and begun hunger strikes.
2'15 "Clean, functional cells like this are viewed by the European Union as an improvement. But since 2001, 100 prisoners in 11 Turkish security wings died through hunger strike or suicide.
0:02:31 "For me these high security wings are modern torture centres. Psychological torture tactics are used, and solitary confinement is used as a form of punishment. The prisoners are not beaten everyday although beatings do occur. These things are nothing compared with the physical abuse meted out in the past. Psychological abuse has replaced physical abuse. Prisoners are purposefully punished with isolation. That is for me also a form of torture, it also leaves scars. In the past week again a prisoner took his life in the high security wing. He was a harmless activist who was only in custody awaiting trial.
0:03:20 Political activists are still treated by the Turkish police as potential terrorists. Arbitrary use of force was made illegal in the summer, but it is still a reality. Human rights activists warn that people on the fringes of protests rather than those at the centre of attention are targeted.
0:03:40 The Istanbul suburb Kartal: a typical working class quarter. Police cars are seen here particularly frequently. The police increasingly watch active members of the trade unions.
3'52 "These two women belong to a trade union association nearby. Tugba Guemues was kidnapped twice this year by policemen in civilian clothes. Tugba Guemues, association of the working women:
0:05:06 " I was thrown into a mini bus and I was blindfolded, my arms and legs were bound. They tortured and sexually molested me. One man ejaculated in my face, struck me on the most sensitive places of my body and threatened me with a pistol. It is hard to describe how I felt. This kind of aggression by someone stronger, this kind of physical and sexual abuse scars one psychologically. I know that for sure."
0:04:44 From the trade union movement this year three women were kidnapped and abused in similar ways. Tugba Guemues cannot identify anyone, because the perpetrators were masked. The event took place in a car, whose numberplate she equally cannot identify. Even the physicians at the state hospital were too afraid to see her. Tugba Guemues:
0:05:10 "the physician was obviously afraid. He did not want even to examine me. We insisted. He only examined my knee and diagnosed that I was not in mortal danger. He did not want to write a report. I then held a press conference to publicise the fact it had happened."
0:05:31 Tugba is now in treatment at a rehabilitation centre for torture victims. The physicians are part of the human rights movement and it is clear to them that torture is still a reality in Turkey.
0:05:45 " many victims are still abused at police stations. Our government says, they have a zero tolerance policy on torture. How can be, if the government is not even able to control its own police force? This year many victims still came to us, who were even beaten in the street. The people are not arrested, but are forced into a car. There they are tortured, without being arrested, so that there is no proof of police involvement. Finally the victims are dropped off blindfolded in a remote place."
0:06:25 Tugba Guemues draws strength from her political work. Attacks on women like her have become ever more frequent. It is clear in other countries also that force against women is on the rise, when police forces are confronted with restrictions on their powers, like now in Turkey by the adjustment to European Union laws. Thats why female activism is important for political change. Tugba was sent when she was fourteen to a textile factory, worked ten years on the sowing machines, and her father took the wages. Tugba was enlisted by other women into the trade union, who had also broken away from their parents' houses.
0:07:05 Memories of the masks give the twenty six year old the courage to confront a trader. He is at first taken aback, and finds it embarrassing to be confronted by a woman in front of a television camera. "You should be ashamed of yourself, you sell the tools of the police." grumbles Tugba. The dealer actually does get involved in a discussion.
0:07:28 Ahmet Tamer is on his way to prison. As part of the human rights he has also become a lawyer to torture victims. He hopes now for changes through the European Union. Taner, lawyer of the Turkish human right association
0:07:38 Despite it all Im proud of the progress Turkey has made. iI think when it comes to membership negotiations with Turkey then the positive changes will continue to happen, if foreign governments keep up the pressure. Concerning the torture a further clarification would be a good thing. In the future I think the Turkish public will be strong enough, to force through reform on its own.
0:09:14 Taner is still fighting a court case. Under torture he confessed to belonging to an illegal organisation. A sentence would cost him his right to practise law.