European Court of Human Rights warns Oli Rehn not to miss key "details" in his 2009 Turkey report

 

Damning facts revealed today by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg at the eve of EU Commissioner Oli Rehn's traditional TV-show tomorrow in Brussels on his 2009 Report on Turkey's stance vis a vis the conditions for EU negotiations, according to drafts leaked, clearly warn controversial Rehn that he risks to miss certain key "details", (according to rightist Le Pen's infamous formula for NAZI atrocities) :

F.ex. Persisting Impunity of Killers (apparently among Turkish State's agents) who "smashed the heads" of their kidnaped victims (including of 2 Women). Impunity of Torturers (even of Children !).  Girl aged 11 atrociously amputated of a leg by explosions of landmines placed by Turkish soldiers where children were playing, without anyone ever punished among those responsible. People arrested, prosecuted and thown to Jail without a judgement for more than a Decade, while proceedings against them are "still pending" until today : 2009 !  Children prosecuted, arrested, tortured, condemned by Turkish courts for adults.  Abuse of brutal force, torture and deprivation of liberty by Turkish Police to illegally suppress peaceful Demonstrations trying to alert the Public Opinion on the situation in Turkish Prisons where tragic events had occured. Grossly Unfair Trials, wihout even a lawyer's assistance, condeming people to many years of jail ; etc.

All these events took place after the controversial EU decisions to give Turkey a "candidate" status (1999) and to start negotiations (2004-2005), most of them still continuing until today (2009).

But, such facts, are obviously incompatible with EU's "Copenhagen criteria".

 In particular ;

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Four persons, (including 2 Women), were illegally kidnapped, shot and killed, their "Heads smashed with Stones", while suspects benefited from total Impunity and "never appear before a court", not even those who were identified by eyewitnesses, and despite the obvious "possibility of (Turkish) Security forces' involvement in the killings", denounced by ECHR !However, in such kind of cases "the public interest in obtaining the prosecution and conviction of perpetrators is firmly recognised, particularly in the context of war crimes and crimes against humanity", EuroJudges observed. (Gasyak case)

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A small Girl aged only 11 was atrociously amputated from one leg after she stepped on a Landmine placed by Turkish soldiers in a field where children were playing. But noone among those responsible was ever identified nor punished for such "inhuman" acts which "amount to intentional use of lethal force", despite of the fact that in such cases "the only relevant remedy" was "criminal prosecution" which was never done,  as denounced ECHR. (Alkin case).
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A Child aged 15 was atrociously tortured, because it participated in a demonstration, but its torturers scandalously obtained total Impunity in the Turkish Courts on 2008 (Akman case).

Same scandal with the refusal to prosecute the Turkish Policemen who tortured 2 Children aged 15 and 16, marked by wounds at their eyes, mouths, heads, etc., after abusing of "disproportionate" force to disperse a demonstration denouncing the situation in Turkish prisons, (Serkman cases).

While suspected Torturers of a young Woman were not even questioned by Turkish Authorities, and never appeared at a Court.. (Tunc cases).

Or they escaped from any sanction because it was time-barred by prescription, while their victim was condemned on the basis of alleged statements made under torture (Güvenilir case).
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People in Turkey can be held in Pre-trial detention "exceeding 11 years" : fex. 1997 - 2009, (even at the infamous "isolation" "F-type" prisons), for simple "suspicion of membership" to an organisation, without yet being found guilty by any court, since proceedings are "still pending" until today ! (Engin case),

Such scandalous facts are rather frequent in Turkey, as attest also other cases (where even a girl aged 19 vainly denounces that she was also "raped", fex. "Inan and others").
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- A young Woman was arrested and convicted to 12 Years in prison, on 2001 and 2004, without seing her Lawyer more than ..."5 minutes" !  (Tunc cases)

This seems to be a wide-spread and continuing violation in Turkey, since there are also many other victimes who "were denied the assistance of a Lawyer" while being held "in detention", before being condemned in grossly Unfair Trials, as, fex. also  in the  Dayanan, Demirkaya, Güvenilir  and Gecgel cases.
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ECHR was also "astonished" by Turkish Authorities' eagerness to abuse of disproportionate force (wounding even children) and of heavy imprisonments just to stop ""in a few minutes" a peaceful demonstration, which did not represent any danger against the public order, by "a small group of persons who simply wished to alert the Public Opinion about an incident which had provoked strong reactions and debates nationwide", on an anniversary of the december 2000 deadly attack by Turkish gendarmes against hunger strikers protesting "isolation" F type jails (Serkan affair).

Similar violations of the Right to Demonstrate, were also found in other cases, where even "Criminal prosecution against Children" was added to the abuse of "not necessary" and "disproportionate" force by Turkish Police, followed by heavy condemnations (1,5 years of jail !), to crash an "initially peaceful" demonstration held "in a Park", with "no serious danger to the public order", by people who "wished to draw attention to ..the conditions of detention" and "protest against F type prisons", after "events which had occured in Bergama prison":  Even if "demonstrators did not engage in acts of violence", however, Turkish "authorities intervened swiftly with considerable force  in order to disperse them, thereby causing tensions to rise, followed by clashes", instead of showing the required "tolerance towards peaceful gatherings, if the freedom of assembly ..is not to be deprived of all substance", ECHR denounced. (Uzunget cases).

(Etc).

Meanwhile, CoE's Committee of Ministers, which will supervises ECHR judgements' implementation anew on early December 2009, has recently been seriously overloaded by growing numbers of hundreds of condemnations of Turkish Authorities by ECHR for various exceptionally grave violations, without any comparison to European countries, which are still pending for execution since the 1990ies, threatening to provoke a grave crisis inside the European mecanism for the protection of human rights.

 - "The way that we treat today our Children is important in order to determine what kind of Europe we want to have in Future", stressed today CLRAE's President a.i., Dr. Jan Micalef at a ceremony for CoE's 60th Anniversary, where a key-note speaker on Children was nearby Stuttgart's Mayor, the ChristianDemocrat Dr. Wolfgang Schuster, Germany's delegate to EU's Committee for the Future of Europe :

A tool notoriously proposed by French President Sarkozy on 2007, in exchange of Lisbon Treaty, and accepted by all EU Heads of State/Government on 2008, in order to foster public debates also on the crucial issue whether the kind of Europe Citizens dream to have in Future, was, or not, compatible with Turkey's controversial EU bid.

A fitrsr reply is expected by the Committee's Report, "due for June 2010", as Schuster told "EuroFora".

But, meanwhile, Sarkozy has also proposed similar debates to EU Parliament, while European Citizens already expressed People's wish, not only during 4 Elections in France on 2007, but also at June 2009 EU Elections, as well as at September 2009 German Elections...

 The new EU Parliament is due to start preparing its reaction to out-going EU Commissioner Rehn's 2009 Report on Turkey immediately afterwards, in view of a Public Debate and final vote early 2010 at a Strasbourg's plenary session.