STRASBOURG - The Council of Europe's Committee for the prevention of torture (CPT) said on Friday that Turkey had taken important steps to prevent torture and ill-treatment in prisons and police/gendarmerie custody.
The CPT published the report on its visit to Turkey in September 2003 and the response of Turkey to its report.
The report said that the CPT's delegation received excellent cooperation from the Turkish authorities, enjoyed rapid access to all places which it wished to visit and was provided promptly with all information requested.
Over the last two and a half years, the Turkish authorities had been engaged in a vast program of legislative reform which had included numerous positive changes in areas related to the CPT's mandate, the report noted.
The report stated that further significant improvements had been introduced via the 4th, 6th and 7th harmonization packages in Turkey.
All persons detained by the police or gendarmerie, including persons suspected of offences falling under the jurisdiction of the State Security Courts, had a formal right of access to a lawyer as from the outset of their custody, the report said.
The report said that there had been significant decline in torture allegations.
Noting that legal changes to prevent torture were significant, the report asked Turkey to efficiently put those reforms into practice, and promised to extend every kind of support to Turkey to this end.
The report welcomed statements of high-level Turkish authorities, condemning torture and ill-treatment and referred to the ''zero tolerance to torture'' message of Turkish government.
''The application of electric shocks, or stripping persons naked and hosing them with cold water, is now an infrequent occurrence in these parts of the country at least,'' the report said.
The report recommended Turkey to take steps for detention conditions, right to access to a lawyer and right to inform a prisoner and asked Turkey to inform officials better about torture and ill-treatment.
CPT visited Turkey from 7 to 15 September 2003 and Police Headquarters in Adana, Diyarbakýr and Mersin as well as various other police and gendarmerie establishments in those cities and in Bismil and Cinar. Visits were also made to the E-type prisons in Adana and Mersin and to Diyarbakýr I and II Prisons.
(BRC-AÖ) 18.06.2004