Our Group Deputy Chair Ms. Filiz Kerestecioğlu's speech on the Report, "25 years of the CPT: achievements and areas" written by the Council of Europe Rapporteur Mr. Jordi Xucla:
Mr/Ms President, dear colleagues,
First, I would like to thank reporter Mr Jordi XUCLÀ, for bringing this crucial topic before the Council.It is very important that such a report on the structure of the CPT is written today.
The last week we passed, the CPT announced a report that was very important for Turkish citizens. However, the CPT could not publish its report because Turkish government did not allow it. Turkey did not allow the committee to publish any of the last three reports it prepared. Russia whereas has allowed only three reports to be published after 26 visits.
Specialist teams of the committee visited prisons in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir to examine the
According to the statements made by the Ministry of the Interior of Turkey, there are about 47,000 people in custody, allegedly affiliated with Gülen movement.
However, Mycola Gnatovskyy, Chairman of the Committee, said,"We have interviewed hundreds of people and we have enough documents ... Of course we want to talk about our findings, but I can not say a single word," about the report on the situation of prisons in Turkey.Even this example shows how urgent it is to increase the effectiveness of the CPT.
Under the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, which has been ratified by Turkey, human rights representatives have been able to access documents on prisons and detainees since 1989. But in practice today, even the rapporteurs of the Council of Europe Monitoring Committee are not allowed to visit our detained co-chairs and deputies in prison.Although I have been a lawyer for 35 years, I can not visit the detained deputies and mayors because the Ministry of Justice does not allow me as a deputy today.
The pressure on prisoners in Turkish prisons was increased under the pretext of emergency state.Many NGOs, such as the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, have published reports on this issue.For this reason, hundreds of detainees in prisons demanding the end of the repression and the improvement of human conditions in prisons had been on hunger strike for two months.
Unfortunately, as far as we know, CPT has not been able to examine or comment on this issue. Moreover, many of the prisoners exposed to these bad conditions have nothing to do with the coup attempt.Many prisoners, like journalists and parliamentarians, are imprisoned for using the right to freedom of opinion or accusations of insulting the President, which is considered as a crime in Turkey today.
Under these circumstances, I would like to express my support for this important report, which includes recommendations on strengthening the role of the CPT and co-ordinating the CPT with the Monitoring Committee.
27 April 2017