The new Turkey
Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker and member of Turkey's Human Rights Inquiry Committee

05-Apr-2019

27 May 2019:

Pro-Kurdish HDP lawmaker says detained foreign ministry staff being tortured

Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker and member of Turkey's Human Rights Inquiry Committee Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu on Sunday (26. May 2019) said number of foreign ministry staff detained earlier this month over terror links had been tortured.

The detained foreign ministry staff have been exposed to severe torture Gergerlioğlu said on Twitter, citing an anonymous source and urging the Interior Ministry to provide an explanation on the issue.

Turkish authorities on May 20 issued arrest warrants for 249 foreign ministry staff over alleged exam cheating, an act the Turkish government links to Gülen movement, which Ankara accuses of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt. A total of 78 suspects were detained in police operations following the arrest warrants, according to reports.

Gergerlioğlu also submitted a written inquiry to Vice President Fuat Oktay on the alleged torture of the staff.

Following the failed coup attempt, thousands of people have been arrested for links to a Gülen movement. Around 150,000 public employees have been suspended or sacked as part of the crackdown that goes beyond Turkey's borders seeking the extradition of alleged members living outside the country. 

Just spoke to a former diplomat who has been in touch with the family members of some of those ex-Turkish diplomats tortured in police custody last night. Five were badly injured, with one anally violated with a baton. Those who signed confessions were released, he said.

— Ankaralı Jan (@06JAnk) May 27, 2019

Warrants were issued last week for just under 250 former diplomats accused of being members of the Gülen movement and having cheated in the diplomatic exams. Around 100 had been caught by last night when the incidents occurred.

— Ankaralı Jan (@06JAnk) May 27, 2019

Most of them were unprepared, having not been arrested or investigated since losing their jobs in 2016. They were not allowed to see their own lawyers, and had their statements taken by other lawyers.

— Ankaralı Jan (@06JAnk) May 27, 2019

And last night many of them were tortured by a group who they assume were MİT (Turkish secret services) because they were not police officers and yet were allowed into the basement of the Ankara Police Financial Crimes Department where they were being held.

— Ankaralı Jan (@06JAnk) May 27, 2019