Turkey: Police and Gendarmerie Abuses in Earthquake Zone

Two police officers watch removal of rubble from buildings that collapsed in the February 6 earthquakes, Hatay, Turkey, March 23, 2023. © 2023 Omer Urer-Anadolu Agency via Getty Images. HRW

Istanbul – Law enforcement officials sent to police the region devastated by Turkey’s February 6, 2023 earthquakes have beaten, tortured, and otherwise ill-treated people they suspect of theft and looting, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. One person died in custody after being tortured. In some instances, law enforcement officials have also failed to intervene to prevent individuals from violently assaulting other people they allegedly suspected of crimes.   

While there have been reported incidents of theft and looting of homes and shops in the aftermath of the earthquake, presenting law enforcement officers with an enormous security challenge, international law and Turkey’s own laws forbid the commission of torture or other ill-treatment of suspects under any circumstances. The Turkish government has long claimed to uphold a “zero tolerance for torture” policy.

“Credible reports of police, gendarmes, and military personnel subjecting people they suspect of crimes to violent and prolonged beatings and arbitrary, unofficial detention are a shocking indictment of law enforcement practices in Turkey’s earthquake region,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. “Law enforcement officials are treating the state of emergency for the natural disaster as a license to torture, otherwise ill-treat and even kill with impunity.”

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch interviewed 34 people and, where available, reviewed video footage regarding 13 cases of violence perpetrated by police, gendarmerie – police in rural areas – or soldiers deployed to the area, involving 34 male victims. Researchers heard additional accounts and saw videos of other people being severely beaten by security forces but were unable to fully corroborate these incidents. The people interviewed included 12 victims of torture or other ill-treatment, 2 people who gendarmes threatened at gun point, witnesses, and lawyers.

While in four cases documented by the organizations private individuals assisting with earthquake relief also participated in beating the victims, the main focus of the research was on abuse committed by public officials. All but three cases of torture and other ill-treatment occurred in Antakya city in Hatay province. In four cases, the victims were Syrian refugees and the attacks bore signs of an additional xenophobic motivation.

All incidents occurred in the 10 provinces covered by a state of emergency, announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on February 7 and approved by the parliament two days later. The state of emergency during a natural disaster grants the government powers such as issuing decrees ordering the use of private and public resources – land, buildings, vehicles, fuel, medical supplies, and food – in the rescue and relief effort, the use of the military to assist, control over opening hours of businesses in the affected region, and restricting entry to the region.  

One Turkish man said that a gendarme threatened him, saying “There is a state of emergency, we will kill you … We will kill you and bury you under the rubble.” One Syrian man said that a police superintendent to whom he complained when an officer punched him in the face told him “There’s a state of emergency here. Even if that officer kills you, he won’t be held accountable. No one would be able to say anything to him.”

On March 17, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch wrote to Turkey’s interior and justice ministers to share the research findings and request information about investigations into complaints of abuse lodged and video evidence circulating on social media. On March 29, the human rights directorate of the Ministry of Justice responded in the name of both the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Interior. The ministries asserted that the government of Turkey has a zero tolerance for torture and alleged that the findings Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch shared were “vague claims devoid of a factual basis.” The response did not address the human rights organizations’ findings or the questions asked about specific cases or policing practices in the earthquake region under the state of emergency. The ministries’ joint response instead focused on the scale of the earthquake, the devastation, and relief efforts.

Most victims described being apprehended by groups of police, gendarmes, or soldiers while involved in search and rescue efforts of buildings destroyed by the earthquake or while passing through neighborhoods in Antakya. In the majority of cases, victims were not taken into official custody but were immediately beaten or made to lie or kneel down while being kicked, slapped, and sworn at for prolonged periods, sometimes while handcuffed. Some were forced to confess to crimes. But in only two cases has there been any subsequent investigation pursued against the victims for alleged crimes, casting serious doubt on whether there was ever any real suspicion that they may have been acting illegally.

“My house is ruined, I live in a tent and on top of it the police beat me and held a gun to my head,” one man said. “They acted like it was the wild west.”

A 19-year-old victim said, “I lost all sense of time and it felt like the whole thing went on for an hour and a half or two. First it was the three, then a whole big group of police came and joined in, with punches, kicks.”

Victims or their families lodged official complaints about the violence they were subjected to by officials in just 6 cases out of the 13 examined, one by a man who reported that he and his brother were subject to prolonged bouts of torture in gendarmerie custody and that his brother subsequently collapsed and died in detention.   

In the other seven cases, victims said they would not lodge official complaints because they were afraid of reprisals and because they felt the chance of obtaining justice was remote. Several also said the death of family members and friends in the earthquake and the momentous upheavals in their own lives overshadowed the abuse they endured at the hands of the police and gendarmerie.

Syrians in particular were most reluctant to file an official complaint, with one woman who was working as a translator for foreign search and rescue teams saying, “Most of the gendarmes treated Syrians like thieves and were very aggressive towards them. They didn’t accept Syrians in the rescue teams and grew very angry.”

Another Syrian search and rescue volunteer who helped save several Turkish and Syrian people buried in rubble but found himself a victim of gendarmerie and crowd violence said, “I won’t lodge a complaint because I believe nothing will happen. I am afraid to go out because pictures of my car appeared on social media and there were videos circulating of us … We are afraid of being attacked again. I didn’t go to hospital or get a medical report because I was afraid of being considered a looter and we are Syrian.”

One witness described “three young men of around 20-25 who looked like workers and poor being beaten by soldiers as ‘looters,’ with the soldiers encouraging private citizens standing around to join in the beating.” Another interviewee said he saw a seemingly senior military officer address a crowd of people in Samandağ, near Antakya, from his car and say, “When you catch looters, beat them up as you like, give them their just desserts, but don’t kill them, call us.” 

Turkish officials should conduct full, prompt, and impartial criminal and administrative investigations into all reports from the earthquake region of police, gendarmerie, and military personnel torturing or otherwise ill-treating people, regardless of whether they suspect the victims of criminal activities, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said.

“The harrowing descriptions and images of wanton violence by law enforcement officials abusing their power in the midst of the worst natural disaster the country has ever faced cannot be just swept away,” said Nils Muiznieks, Amnesty International’s Europe director. “All victims, including those who are refugees, have a right to justice and reparations for the harm they have endured. The authorities must launch criminal investigations, without any delay, into all cases of torture and other ill-treatment by police, gendarmerie, and other law enforcement officials and bring those responsible to justice.”

- Human Rights Watch