Turkey DA calls for 6.5 years in Prison for Volunteer Doctors of Gezi Protests

ISTANBUL | 07-05-2014 | As we approach the first anniversary of the Gezi Protests, trials of protestors and others caught up in the Turkish government’s crackdown are picking up pace.  Among those standing trial in a series of cases related to the Gezi Protests will be a number of health care providers.  Subject to abuse during the protests and increased government control since then, this attack on medical professionals is one of the most absurd and tragic components of the Turkish government’s larger efforts to control every aspect of state structures and civil society.

In its landmark report on the Gezi, Amnesty called attention to the extent to which medical personnel were themselves subject to police abuse:

• In Izmir, doctors reported that the health clinic in the building of the Izmir Medical Association was raided by police on the night of June 2. Dr. Özlem Aydın, a doctor staffing the clinic who complained to the police about the raid was reportedly hit with a truncheon, sustaining head injuries.
• In Ankara, on the same evening, three raids were made by police on health clinics across the city. A doctor told Amnesty International: “Anyone wearing a white jacket became a target that weekend. We made a decision not to wear them.”
• Doctors told Amnesty International that riot police fired tear gas at the window of the clinic, breaking the glass and filling the building with tear gas. Police reportedly beat people running out of the building due to the tear gas.
• In Istanbul, tear gas was repeatedly used at the entrance of or inside makeshift health clinics preventing the treatment of injured people. Reports and video footage show police firing tear gas and pressurized water at the entrance of the makeshift health clinic at the Divan Hotel on June 15 and police removing masks from the faces of people inside and removing lotion used to treat exposure to tear gas.
• On June 14, the Minister of Health stated that the makeshift health clinics were illegal and that medical personnel could face criminal investigation as a result for providing emergency health care there.

Moreover,  as reported by the Associated Press, Turkish authorities actually took steps to hinder medical care for the injured:

In its report on Gezi, Physicians for Human Rights concluded that Turkish police “attacked independent medical personnel who courageously provided care to the injured in accordance with international medical ethical standards and Turkish law.”

It is noted in this blog this past January, Turkish government steps to extend control over medical personnel have been deeply problematic.  As noted in the AP story, medical personnel were investigated by the Ministry of Healthfor their actions during the protests.

In January, to international opprobrium, the Turkish government passed a law which further criminalized restricted emergency medical care.  Physicians for Human Rights issued a statement condemning it.  The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Anand Grover, and the World Medical Association (WMA) also spoke out against it.

Less than a month before the first anniversary of the Gezi Protests, the trials this week represent the latest step in a broad crackdown on dissent this past year.  Yet there is something particularly pernicious about criminalizing care for the injured.