Turkey: Police brutality intensifies along with the political crisis
By Sinan Ikinci and Kerem Kaya
25 August 2006
World Socialist Web Site, MI
Aug. 25, 2006
Last week, daily papers in Turkey reported widely the case brought by
Cigdem Nalbantoglu before a Republican Court against the conduct of
police officers, including women, in Istanbul’s Beyoglu district. She
stated in her complaint that the police assaulted, beat and threatened
her in the course of a random street search.
Cigdem Nalbantoglu is the elected head of the Gumussuyu quarter of
Beyoglu. She is also one of the founders of the Purple Roof Women’s
Refuge Foundation.
According to her complaint, two female officers stopped her on the
street and asked for ID. They searched her bag and found the names
and phone numbers of former security chiefs in her address book. She
told them she was the head of a quarter. They responded by saying
that the new security chief had said that he "would take care of all
transvestites, gays and prostitutes" in the area, indicating that
she was dressed like a prostitute.
When she asked how they could speak like that, the tone of the
conversation changed for the worse. They said, "You are coming with
us to the Public Interrogation Center."
She was then dragged to a Legal Medical center for blood tests after
being sworn at and hit by some of the male police officers, of whom
there were some 20. All this was recorded by police cameras and some
TV crews that were on the scene.
In the past, such an incident would have prompted a cover-up of the
"heroic" police force. The fact that it has been reported by almost
all daily newspapers is itself a reflection of deep currents within the
Turkish political landscape. No newspapers alleged police wrong-doing,
but neither did they suppress the story.
The Turkish police have a long-standing reputation and proven record
of brutality, especially when it comes to political dissidents. The
force has always been dominated by Islamist and fascistic elements.
They are well trained in torture techniques, especially since their
counterparts in the CIA trained them during the years of the Cold War.
In four years after the September, 1980 military coup, 178,565 people
were detained and nearly all of them badly tortured. In addition to
official detentions, hundreds disappeared and are presumed dead.
Hundreds of officially detained people lost their lives in torture
chambers. The police organization as whole was deeply implicated in
this horrific and systematic practice.
More recently, powerful sections of the Turkish ruling elite have
pressed for Turkey to enter the European Union (EU), and as a result
the police force has been kept in check. Nevertheless, outbursts of
police brutality have regularly occurred.
For example, in the midst of negotiations between Turkey and the EU,
demonstrators on Women’s Day in 2005 were beaten, embarrassing the
Turkish government. For its part, the European press largely ignores
police brutality in Turkey, bringing it forward as an issue only when
it serves the interests of the European powers in their negotiations
with Turkey.
Recently, however, the Turkish military has made a sharp turn to the
right, from a pro-EU to an anti-EU stance, and this has been reflected
in a shift by the governing AKP (Justice and Development Party)
in the same direction. With right-wing elements once again gaining
substantial influence and the hopes of EU membership evaporating,
the Turkish police feel more emboldened.
It would be a mistake to believe that what happened to Cigdem
Nalbantoglu was the result of a few right-wing officers reacting to
a liberal woman. This type of behavior is well on its way to becoming
public policy at the highest level of the Turkish state.
For some time now, this process has not been confined to police
activity. Politics have moved in the same direction. Judicial attacks
on intellectuals are now commonplace.
Orhan Pamuk, currently the most prominent writer in Turkey, was charged
last year with "impairment of Turkish identity," which became a major
issue in negotiations with the EU. More recently, journalist Elif
Safak, who has received international acclaim, was attacked in the
same manner. Today, dozens of journalists, writers and publishers
are being dragged before the courts.
This is a sign that Turkey is returning to the days of
systematic oppression. With the political situation in the region
deteriorating-the North Cyprus situation deteriorating, the Armenian
genocide dispute growing under pressure from the EU-and the economic
situation growing more fragile-is not difficult to understand the
turn to intensified repression.
Those sections of the ruling elite that still believe Turkey can win
membership in the EU hope to rectify this situation. The publicity
given to Cigdem Nalbantoglu’s complaint can be viewed in this light.
This is essentially an exercise in damage control.
These forces have no desire to go to the roots of the problem. And
for good reason! Under the capitalist form of democracy, in which
oppressive measures are essential to the survival of the system,
these layers require a brutal police force.
Such methods can be ended only by the working people of Turkey, but
not without the help of their counterparts in other countries-the
international working class.
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