Mogultay On Prisons In Turkey

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

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

Excerpts From A Report By Former Justice Minister Mehmet Mogultay
To Prime Minister Ciller, 1994

To the right honourable Prime Minister,

     As is known, the Constitutional Court declared Article 520
of the Penal Code, concerning correctional institutions, as well
as Article 524, which regulates prison facilities and
administration under the jurisdiction of my ministry, to be
invalid.
     In addition to this, Articles 528 and 529 were also removed
from the books after the court found them unconstitutional. A
proposal is now being drafted to replace these statutes.
     Before I discuss the draft of this proposal, I would like to
briefly sketch the situation in our justice system. Our justice
officials demand immediate solutions, because they are confronted
with the most serious problems. It is not possible to achieve
solutions with superficial actions.
     Large scale terrorist attacks constitute our country's most
serious problem. For the protection of our national unity and
territorial integrity, it is essential that our state combat the
sources of terrorism with decisive measures. We must increase our
supplies of munitions, weapons, necessary materials, as well as
personnel in the security forces so as to fight against terrorism
while we seek to gain other needed materials as soon as possible.
The cost of fighting against terrorism in 1994 will be
approximately 200,000,000,000,000 Turkish lira (TL).
     As is known, the struggle against terrorism is not
one-sided. The persecution and arrest of terrorist organizations
and their members by our security forces is just one side of the
fight against terrorism. A swift judicial conviction and the
terms of imprisonment of arrested terrorists are the second,
equally important side of this fight. At the present time, there
are 8,600 persons in our prisons who were arrested and convicted
of terrorist crimes.
     Those people arrested and convicted for terrorism took part
in armed confrontations with our security forces in both rural
and urban areas. They were trained to spread propaganda, to die,
and to kill.
     In November 1991, the number of persons who had been
arrested and convicted of terrorist crimes was 900. By September
1994, this number had reached 8,600. This rate of increase is
95%.
     By August 8, 1993, the number of convicted terrorists was
3,700, but in the last year there have been 4,900. This rate of
increase is 132%.
     Whereas in November 1991 there were 10 prisons for arrested
and convicted terrorists, there were 40 terrorist prisons as of
September 1994. This rate of increase is 400%.
     At the present time, there are 6,213 people in custody on
charges of terrorism. These trials are still in process.
     The first side of anti-terrorism, the persecution and arrest
of terrorists, is being successfully conducted by our security
forces. The number of arrested and convicted terrorists increased
to 10,000 in one year, and the number of prisons for terrorists
jumped to 50.

(...)

     As of September 1, 1994 there were 42,000 convicted persons
in our prisons.
     For transporting prisoners and convicted persons to the 602
prisons, 385 means of transport were used. But it is not possible
to use 302 of these, since they are more than 10 years old. Food
costs for 550g of bread per prisoner per day costs 16,000 TL.
This is not sufficient for the needs of all the prisoners, and
yet there is not enough money for us to pay the debts we owe the
firms which supply us. Despite the coming winter, there is not
enough money for us to pay for heating materials, electricity,
and water.
     The pharmacies will not deliver medical supplies to the
prisons, because our debts to them have not yet been paid. 

(...)

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