Amnesty International: ‘Abuses committed by Turkish authorities in aftermath of the earthquake’

Today, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced that law enforcement officers beat, tortured and otherwise ill-treated people on suspicion of stealing and looting in the earthquake area in Türkiye. One person who was subjected to violence by the police died after being tortured in custody. It was not always clear whether the suspects had done something wrong.

After the earthquake in Turkey, homes and shops were looted in some places. In the statement, the organizations conclude that ‘law enforcement officials treat the state of emergency as a license to torture, and even to kill with impunity’. Amnesty International and HRW stated that they have submitted the allegations to the Interior Ministry. The ministry responded that abuses by agents and troops are not permitted under any circumstances, but dismissed the charges as unfounded.

The NGO’s have taken conclusions after talking to more than thirty eyewitnesses, including people who themselves claim that they have been mistreated. The organizations also analyzed footage of the abuses that were circulating on social media. The statement notes that most of the abuses took place in Antakya, in the hard-hit province of Hatay. Victims were apprehended on the spot by police, but they were not taken to a station. According to the statements of the victims, they were kicked, beaten and sometimes verbally abused.

One of the very serious allegations of torture perpetrated by the Adıyaman gendarmerie and police was reported to the Diyarbakir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office by lawyers representing five Kurdish young men from Diyarbakır who went to Adıyaman in a group of seven to assist in the search and rescue efforts. They stated that the gendarmes picked them up from the place where rescue efforts were underway, without any explanation. The victims also declared that they were taken to a tent filled with gendarmes and police who accused them of looting or theft. Four or five gendarmes, a police officer and a few people in plain clothes have beaten them. “One of the men was hospitalized after the incident with a serious eye injury” the statement notes. Researchers have also interviewed seven Syrian refugees who came to Antakya to help rescue the victims of the quake. The refugees declared that police, gendarmes, and soldiers treated them badly as well.