Doc. 9757

1 April 2003

Humanitarian crisis in Turkey

Written Question No. 406

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

adopted at the 833^rd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (26 March 2003)

I. Written Question No. 406 by Mr Hordies (Doc. 9342)

Considering that some members of the Belgian Parliament have recently visited Turkey to study the situation of the prisoners who are on hunger strike, who live under an isolation regime condemned by the Council of Europe;

Noting that it appears from this visit that the hunger strikers have considerably reduced their conditions for bringing their strike to an end and are willing to accept a compromise put forward by the chairpersons of Turkey’s four principal Bars. Under the “three keys, three doors” compromise formula, prisoners from three cells (nine persons) would be able to communicate with each other for eight hours a day. This proposal has been well received by the Turkish press, but refused by the Minister of Justice;

To ask the Committee of Ministers

Whether it could contact the Turkish authorities and ask them to accept the compromise put forward by the Bar chairpersons, thus enabling the current humanitarian crisis to be brought to an end.

II. Reply by the Committee of Ministers

The Committee of Ministers assumes that Written question No. 406 relates to the situation in the recently-introduced F-type prisons in Turkey. It has therefore taken account of the expressed views of the Committee for the prevention of torture and of inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment (CPT) in preparing this reply.

The Committee recalls that in F-type prisons, prisoner accommodation consists essentially of units for three inmates. This move towards smaller living units for prisoners has been closely monitored by the CPT. The CPT has made clear that this development must under no circumstances lead to a system of small-group isolation; instead, prisoners should be able to spend a reasonable part of the day engaged in a programme of communal activities outside their living units. The Committee of Ministers shares the CPT's views on this question.

F-type prisons do possess areas specifically designed for communal activities, and the Turkish authorities have introduced the necessary legal and regulatory framework so that inmates can have access to those areas. Furthermore, possibilities for prisoners in F-type establishments to maintain contact with their relatives have been improved through the introduction of open visits and access to the telephone.

In January 2002, the activities already offered were supplemented by the introduction of regular association periods for prisoners; inmates who so wish can be brought together in groups of up to ten persons for five hours conversation per week in the “open-visits” areas. Initially, to be eligible for these conversation periods, prisoners had to be already participating in one of the other programmed communal activities. However, following consultations between the Turkish authorities and the CPT, this precondition was dropped in October 2002.

All prisoners in F-type prisons now have at their disposal a range of communal activities outside their living units. Under these circumstances, the Committee of Ministers does not consider it appropriate to pursue the "compromise formula" referred to in the Written Question. The Committee greatly welcomes the fact that the number of prisoners on hunger strike has decreased significantly in recent months. It hopes that those who remain on hunger strike will stop their action, and that all prisoners in F-type prisons will make full use of the possibilities offered to them to take part in communal activities.