European anti-torture committee says Ankara does not allow report on Turkey to be published

STRASBOURG

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The Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee has stated that the Turkish authorities have not given permission for a report on Turkey to be published.

According to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), its findings from visits to prisons in Turkey in 2016 will not be published because of the lack of government approval. 

CPT President Mykola Gnatovskyy said he “wants to discuss the findings but cannot comment on the report” due to Ankara’s decision. 

In 2016, the CPT carried out two ad hoc visits to Turkey. The first visit was to the F-type High-Security Closed Prison on the island of İmralı in April 2016. The purpose of this visit was to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of the four prisoners held in the establishment, including outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, and to review the measures taken by the Turkish authorities in the light of the recommendations made by the CPT after its previous visit to the prison in January 2013.

The purpose of the second visit in August and September was to examine the treatment and conditions of those detained in connection to the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt. The delegation interviewed in private several hundred people being held in various prisons and police establishments in Ankara, Istanbul and the western province of İzmir.