Humiliation, Torture, Rape

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: kcc at magi.com (Kurdistan Committee of Canada)

Humiliation, Torture, Rape

     The situation of Kurdish and Turkish women who fall into the
clutches of the Turkish security forces is indescribable. The
human rights organization 'Terre des Femmes', based in Bochum,
Germany, recently criticized a report by Foreign Minister Kinkel
published in the foreign ministry's "Status Report 1995" which
had next to nothing to say about the status of women in Turkey,
despite documented human rights abuses. According to evidence
presented by 'Terre des Femmes', women in Turkish prisons are
subjected to humiliation, torture, and rape. Lawyer Eren Keskin
reported the following:

"One of my clients, Selma B., was arrested 20 days after a
midwife operation. They tried to rape her with a baton. She
started bleeding heavily. According to a report issued by Amnesty
International, all women are sexually assaulted when they are
tortured. Men fondle their breasts and finger their genitals. The
torture of women, which entails sexually motivated violence
against the female gender, means that the imprisonment of women
in Turkey represents a gender-specific form of human rights
violations." 

     Germany's federal government, led by Chancellor Kohl and
Foreign Minister Kinkel, likes to make an issue of human rights
violations if the regime in question is not on good terms with
Bonn. But in the case of Turkey, a true ally in the Bosporus,
Bonn closes its eyes, "due to higher state interests" as one
ministry spokesman cynically phrased it.
     It has been known for years that when women are captured by
the Turkish security forces they are subjected to the worst forms
of humiliation, torture, and rape, a systematic violation of
their human rights which usually only takes place in totalitarian
states far away from the public eye.
     The human rights organization 'Terre des Femmes' has proven
in numerous reports that:

"The position of women under Turkish law is completely
unprotected. Women are third-class people. Without a doubt, women
are doubly affected by torture. First of all, as soon as a women
reaches the anti-terror police headquarters, she is insulted
because of her gender and verbally abused. And secondly, women
are stripped naked before being interrogated and tortured."

     Eren Keskin, a lawyer for the Human Rights Association (IHD)
who is now in prison, learned from discussions with clients that
"rapes frequently occurred in police custody". According to
Keskin, "during these attacks, the woman is violated by a police
officer or sometimes raped with a baton or bottle". It is always
men that carry out these forms of torture. These are men who go
home after work to their wives, daughters, and mothers. The next
morning, these same men rape imprisoned women, usually Kurds,
torture them with electric shocks, and generally humiliate and
abuse female prisoners. The Bochum organization 'Terre des
Femmes' has noted the following:

"The families of women who are persecuted because of their
political activities are harassed by state security forces during
police operations in Kurdish neighbourhoods in the metropoles as
well as in rural Kurdish areas. Women whose husbands have fled to
seek political asylum must undergo gynaecological exams on the
excuse of seeing whether or not the husband actually went to the
mountains and occasionally visits the wife."

     The following are a few examples of human rights violations
against women:

-    After a Newroz celebration, 16-year-old Bisenk Anik was
arrested, raped, and shot.

-    Merice Kirtay, pregnant, was raped and murdered.

-    Fadime Guler, 12-years-old, was taken into custody by the
security forces in Agri and raped.

-    Seher Yanarer, 12-years-old, was "displayed" naked by
security forces in her village.

-    Sukran Aydin from Derik near Mardin was raped by security
forces in front of her mother on July 20, 1993.

-    In January 1993, Turkish TV reports gave graphic accounts of
Turkish soldiers raping dead female guerrillas. The Turkish
President excused this by saying that the soldiers were just "22-
or 23-year-old guys who can't control themselves".

-    The now-banned weekly magazine 'Gercek' reported a verbatim
confession by a Turkish soldier in its August 13, 1993 edition:
"Say a woman guerrilla dies in a raid. She is lying there, her
body still warm. You understand? Now, the soldier hasn't had a
woman in a long time. He see his chance. The soldier makes use of
this opportunity. Then he does it."

-    In 1993, two dead women guerrillas were shown naked on
Turkish Inter-Star TV. The results of forced gynaecological
examinations were publicly reported in the Turkish media.

-    In March 1995, a translator accompanying a German delegation
was so threatened with sexual assault by security forces in Van
that a German MP had to fly her out of the country immediately. 

     Many members of the Turkish security forces receive their
training in Germany.

(translated from 'Depeschen aus der Turkei und Kurdistan') 

-----
Kurdistan Committee of Canada		Tel: (613) 733-9634
2487 Kaladar Ave. Suite 203		Fax: (613) 733-0090
Ottawa, Ontario, K1V 8B9		E-mail: kcc at magi.com
		http://infoweb.magi.com/~kcc
-----