Police Violence Rises in Turkey
New York-based, Human Rights Watch, said in a report released today that the failure of Turkey’s government to prosecute police officers has resulted in an increase of police violence. There have been at least 28 reported cases of such violence since 2007, including excessive force and even shootings of demonstrators. While reforms aimed at gaining EU membership have been making progress in areas such as torture and ill treatment of prisoners, cases of police violence have increased. This is probably a result of changes made to a law in 2007, which allows police to use lethal force and encourage arbitrary searches. Ironically, the EU Commission report also stated that incidents of torture have also increased.
The Justice Ministry reports that while police torture and violence increased from 2854 cases in 2006 to 3339 in 2007, convictions decreased from 104 in 2006 to 48 in 2007. Human Rights Watch has urged the Turkish state to take action by establishing an independent entity that will be charged with investigating police misconduct. The government has yet to take action, however. An interesting event occurred recently, which also displays the apparent fear among Turks of the police. Five men dressed as police officers raided a crowded Istanbul restaurant and kidnapped and raped a woman. The occurrence was taking place for six hours and yet no resistance was seen.
Adam Hazzout
