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The Observatory has been informed about the acts of torture, threats
and physical and verbal attacks against human rights lawyer Aytekin Aktaş,
a member of the Progressive Lawyers Association (Çağdaş Hukukçular
Derneği – ÇHD) and Lawyers for Justice (Adalet İçin Hukukçular), while
he was representing a Life Watch protestor detained by the Gendarmerie
in Hatay province, in the region affected by the deadly February 6, 2023
earthquakes. The earthquakes caused the death of over 52,000 people,
left thousands more injured and displaced millions in Turkey and Syria.
This humanitarian crisis prompted President Erdoğan to enact a
three-month state of emergency
in the affected areas, which led to disproportionate restrictions to
fundamental freedoms and abuses by law enforcement. The Life Watch
protests are peaceful gatherings of Hatay residents who survived the
earthquake that went on for several weeks against the dumping of rubble
in various locations across the province without sufficient precautions
in place and by putting public health at risk, particularly of those who
live around the dump sites.
On April 4, 2023, Aytekin Aktaş, who was in the earthquake region to
provide voluntary legal support, arrived at the Yeşilköy Neighborhood of
Samandağ, a district in Hatay, after being informed that Gendarmerie
officers detained a participant of the Life Watch protest, where
earthquake survivors had gathered to read a press statement. Upon
Aktaş’s arrival at the protest location behind the Samandağ-Antakya Road
in Yeşilköy, he identified himself as a lawyer to the Gendarmerie and
asked to see his client. The Gendarmerie first stated that his client
was held inside a vehicle, but when Aktaş asked whether the Gendarmerie
had a detention order concerning his client as per the law, the
Gendarmerie became hostile by insulting and roughing him up and denied
providing information on the detention order.
After Aktaş insisted that detention without the prosecutor order and
interference with lawyers performing their professional duties are
unlawful, both Aktaş and protestors at the site were battered by the
Gendarmerie, and forcibly removed from the area where the detention
vehicles were. When Aktaş started recording the violence with his phone,
the Gendarmerie officers removed the name tags off their uniforms and
took his phone. At least 10 Gendarmerie officers then attacked Aktaş and
dragged him to a more concealed location between vehicles. Officers
tortured Aktaş by beating him with batons, kicking and punching him,
stepping on his neck with boots, dragging him on the ground, and
twisting his arm by encouraging each other to “break his arm”, while
insulting and threatening to kill him by saying: “This is the state of
emergency region, we will kill you here and no one can do anything about
it”. They later put Aktaş in a vehicle where they continued to torture
him, trapped him inside the vehicle and refused to release him, while
violently detaining others at the protest site who witnessed the
Gendarmerie’s attacks against Aktaş. After approximately 30 minutes, the
Gendarmerie released Aktaş.
While he was gathering plate numbers and names of the officers
involved in the attacks, Aktaş was once again assaulted by Gendarmerie
officers. This second attack ended when Aktaş was able to escape the
Gendarmerie. ÇHD filed a criminal complaint following these violent acts
with the Hatay Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Since the February 6, 2023 earthquakes, debris removal and rubble
piling are being carried out in the earthquake-affected areas, and
particularly in Hatay province, at the epicentre of the earthquake.
Earthquake survivors who organise the Life Watch protests are
highlighting both public health and environmental risks associated with
piling debris in agricultural land and near residential areas and
contamination of soil with asbestos and other harmful chemicals. Their
demands have been met with violent attacks from Gendarmerie and other
law enforcement forces.
The Observatory notes with concern that since the February 6
earthquakes, human rights lawyers who are taking up cases of survivors
are particularly targeted. On February 12, 2023, lawyers Erdoğan Akdoğdu and Mehdi Zana Akkaya were threatened by Gendarmerie officers while providing legal assistance to a client victim of torture while in detention.
The three-month state of emergency declared in the ten provinces
affected by the earthquake seriously risks deteriorating the situation,
given Turkey’s track record of widespread human rights violations and
abuse of state of emergency legislation during 2016-2018.
The Observatory strongly condemns the acts of torture committed
against Aytekin Aktaş, which are only aimed at punishing him from
exercising his legitimate activities as a human rights lawyer.
The Observatory urges the authorities in Turkey to guarantee in all
circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of
Aytekin Aktaş, to carry out an immediate, thorough, and impartial
investigation into the acts of torture against him, and to ensure that
all human rights lawyers and human rights defenders in the country can
carry out their legitimate human rights activities without any hindrance
or fear of reprisals. The Observatory recalls that full respect of
human rights and fundamental freedoms must be ensured in the aftermath
of the earthquake, and that no exceptional circumstances may be invoked
to justify any act of torture.
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