Turkey rejects HRW torture report, claims reports one-sided

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Turkey was prepared one-sidedly and does not show the concrete facts, Turkey's Justice Ministry has stated in a detailed report issued in response to the New York-based human rights group's claims of torture during post-coup operations.

"First of all, the public should be informed of the fact that the report in question was prepared one-sidedly and in a way that is incompatible with the concrete facts, without any contact with government authorities and without any request for information, documents or opinions," the ministry said Nov. 1.

HRW issued a report on Oct. 24, calling on Turkish authorities to "reinstate safeguards" that have been discarded by the state of emergency decree laws, paving the way for the torture and mistreatment of detainees in Turkish jails. The report, "A Blank Check: Turkey's Post-Coup Suspension of Safeguards Against Torture," studied 13 cases, indicating that people taken into custody after the July 15 coup attempt had experienced abuse including stress positions, sleep deprivation, severe beatings, sexual abuse and threats of rape.

The government's response to the claims indicated that only two of the 13 different allegations of torture contained concrete information about incidents.

In the first of the incidents, detainees refused to eat, the ministry claimed, adding that contrary to the allegations in the HRW report, the prisoners enjoyed access to their lawyers but signed a statement indicating that they did not wish to continue meeting with their lawyers. 

And in another incident, a detainee "lost his balance and fell down the stairs. Thereupon, he was referred to a full-fledged Training and Research Hospital."

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