Human rights take centre stage as Rehn visits Turkey

President Sezer cancels visit to Finland

Olli Rehn

Ahmet Necdet Sezer

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Human rights became the focus of discussions during Tuesday's visit to Turkey by the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Finland’s Olli Rehn. The visit came hot on the heels of an international uproar sparked by televised scenes of Turkish police violently putting down a demonstration for women’s rights in Istanbul on Sunday.
      Rehn, a supporter of Turkish EU membership, got a cautiously positive reception, but the focus on human rights was not to the liking of everyone. Reliable sources told Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday evening that Turkey’s President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has decided to cancel a planned visit to Finland next week. It was suggested that the reason for the cancellation was that he had taken offence at the European reactions to the behaviour of the Turkish police toward the women marking International Women’s Day.
     
The human rights discussion continued on Tuesday when Rehn visited a rehabilitation centre for victims of torture, run by the Turkish Human Rights Foundation.
      "On my first official visit to Turkey I wanted to show my support to the work that Turkey is trying to do on behalf of human rights", Rehn said at the centre.
      He emphasised that progress has taken place. Torture is no longer systematic, or as common as before. He urged Turkey to pay more heed to the rights of minorities.
      The Human Rights Foundation presented Rehn with a draft of a report on torture that is to be made public in a month’s time. It says that in Turkey torture is common, and police are rarely prosecuted for it. An average 900 people seek help at the rehabilitation centre each year, but only 41 police were charged with using torture in 2003.
      Only one of these police officers has been given a prison sentence, and 23 court cases are still pending.
      A representative of the foundation, Hürriet Sener, says that in 2005 so far 105 people have sought help at the rehabilitation centre.
     
"We also told Rehn that we have noticed that the nature of torture in Turkey has changed", said the foundation’s doctor Levent Kutlu. He says that torture used to be more frequent at police stations. Now victims often are beaten on the streets, or inside cars.
      "For instance, police can grab people from demonstrations in order to beat them", Kutlu said.
      Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday broke his silence over the police action during the demonstration. However, he fell short of directly accusing the police of violence in Istanbul, calling instead on all of those in a public profession to exercise more judgement.
     
During his three-day visit, Rehn also took part in a meeting of the EU troika, held discussions with Prime Minister Erdogan, and met with representatives of non-governmental organisations and the business community.
      Rehn urged Turkey to continue to implement reforms, and to sign a treaty that would allow the extension of the customs union between the EU and Turkey to extend to the new EU member states.
      Speaking at Istanbul Airport on Tuesday, Rehn said that Turkey now has a ready road map for the launch of membership talks on October 3rd. He added that the success of the talks depends on Turkey itself.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Commissioner Rehn: US not a party to discussions with Turkey on EU membership (18.1.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat