Martial Law and State of Emergency in Turkey

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Since 1940, either all of Turkey or certain provinces have repeatedly seen exceptional forms of government. According to Articles 119–122 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey from 1982, there are four forms of unusual rule: martial law ( sıkıyönetim ), state of emergency ( olağanüstü hal ), mobilization ( seferberlik ) and state of war ( savaş hali ).

history

On December 27, 2001, the constitutional lawyer Prof. Dr. Zafer Üskül gives some details in the daily newspaper Radikal . The first law from 1940 was called the Extraordinary Administration Act ( İdare-i Örfiye Kanunu ). It was replaced by martial law in 1971. The first State of Emergency , Mobilization and War Act was passed under military rule in 1983. It was Law No. 2935, adopted on October 25, 1983, published in the Official Gazette of Turkey on October 27, 1983.

Legal basis

state of emergency

Articles 119 and 120 of the Constitution give as reasons for declaring a state of emergency:

Article 119
In the event of a natural disaster, dangerous epidemic or serious economic crisis, the Council of Ministers, chaired by the President of the Republic, may declare a state of emergency in one or more parts of the country or throughout the country for a period not exceeding six months.
Article 120
If there are serious signs of the spread of violence aimed at abolishing the free democratic order established by the Constitution or fundamental rights and freedoms, or if public order is seriously disrupted, the Council of Ministers, which is chaired by the President of the Republic, may after obtaining the opinion of the National Security Council, declare a state of emergency in one or more parts of the country or throughout the country for a period not exceeding six months.

Martial law

The term martial law was given in the translation as a state of emergency administration

Article 122
For reasons of the spread of acts of violence which are aimed at the abolition of the free democratic order recognized by the constitution or the fundamental rights and freedoms and which are more serious than the cases requiring the declaration of a state of emergency or the occurrence of war or a situation requiring war, an uprising or an undertaking of violent actions against the fatherland or the republic or the spread of acts of violence which endanger the indivisibility of the country and the nation from within or without, the Council of Ministers, which meets under the chairmanship of the President, after having obtained the opinion of the Proclaim a State of Emergency Administration [Martial Law] in one or more parts of the country, or across the country, for a period not exceeding six months by the National Security Council.
The extension of the state of emergency administration [martial law] by no more than four months is dependent on the decision of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. In cases of war, this period of four months is not required.
What rules apply in cases of emergency administration, mobilization and war, and the manner in which business is conducted, relations with the administration, the manner in which freedoms are restricted or suspended and in the event of war or one a situation requiring war; the obligations to be imposed on citizens are regulated by law.

Imposition of martial law

At the end of 2001, law professor Zafer Üskül said that 40 of the 78 years since the founding of the Republic of Turkey had been spent under exceptional administration. On December 25, 1978, martial law was declared in 13 provinces of Turkey after the Kahramanmaraş pogrom . In the months that followed, it was expanded to include 20 provinces. With the military coup in Turkey in 1980 , the five generals of the General Staff imposed martial law in all 67 of the then existing provinces of Turkey. From December 1983 it was slowly lifted and partially replaced by a state of emergency. Martial law was ended in all of Turkey in July 1987.

On July 1, 1982, five countries ( Denmark , Norway , Sweden , France and the Netherlands ) brought a state complaint against Turkey to the European Commission for Human Rights . In December 1985, an amicable settlement was reached with which Turkey undertook to repeal martial law in 18 months. That was one of the reasons for the abolition of martial law and the transition to a state of emergency.

state of emergency

With the establishment of an area under a state of emergency in the provinces of Bingöl , Diyarbakır , Elazığ , Hakkari , Mardin , Siirt , Tunceli and Van and the classification of the provinces of Adıyaman , Bitlis and Muş as neighboring provinces ( Mücavir İl ), a new one began on July 19, 1987 Era . The legal basis was Resolution 285 with the force of law ( 285 sayılı Kanun Hükmünde Kararname ), which appointed a regional governor for the area under a state of emergency. The area and the prevailing form of administration became known as OHAL (short for Olağanüstü hal in Turkish , 'the state of emergency' ).

OHAL

The state of emergency was extended 46 times for four months each time. On May 6, 1990, the newly created Batman and Şırnak provinces were incorporated into the OHAL region. On March 19, 1994 Bitlis was declared a neighboring province. From the end of 1994 the area was gradually reduced in size. Elazığ was removed from the OHAL "association" and Adıyaman was no longer one of the neighboring provinces. On November 30, 1996, Mardin was "downgraded" to a neighboring province. This is what happened in the provinces of Batman, Bingöl and Bitlis on October 6, 1987. The state of emergency ended in Siirt Province on November 30, 1999, in Van on July 30, 2000, and in Hakkari and Tunceli on July 30, 2002. On November 30, 2002, the OHAL was completely repealed. Until recently the provinces of Diyarbakır and Şırnak belonged to this area.

The regional governors (also known as "super governors") were:

  • Hayri Kozakçıoğlu (January 12, 1987 to August 2, 1991)
  • Necati Çetinkaya (August 17, 1991 to January 29, 1992)
  • Ünal Erkan (February 21, 1992 to November 1, 1995)
  • Necati Bilican
  • Aydın Arslan (died of heart failure in 1999 while in office)
  • Gökhan Aydıner

After 2002 the Turkish Armed Forces declared parts of the OHAL area to be security zones ( güvenlik bölgesi ).

Balance after 15 years of OHAL

In an article, lawyers M. Sezgin Tanrıkulu and Serdar Yavuz (both based in Diyarbakır) presented some data on human rights violations in the region under a state of emergency between 1987 and 2002. The figures are official, as they were given on February 28, 2003 in response to a small request made by the Defense Minister for Diyarbakır, Mesut Değer, on January 29, 2003.

Deaths were:

Civilians Security guards Militants
5.105 3,541 25,344

In addition, 371 members of the armed forces and 572 civilians died from explosions from mines or bombs. 1,248 political murders have been committed in the region, 750 of which have been solved, but no perpetrators have been identified in 421. 18 people died in police custody and 194 people " disappeared ". Some were found in prisons, in good health, or dead, but 132 remained "missing". There were 1,275 complaints of torture and 1,177 cases have been investigated. Of the 296 cases opened as a result, 60 resulted in a conviction, with 56 cases suspended on probation.

Martial law and a state of emergency from 2016

In the course of the attempted coup on July 15, 2016 , the coup faction of the Turkish armed forces imposed martial law on the country.

Five days after the failed coup attempt, the Turkish government ( Yıldırım cabinet ) imposed a state of emergency for all of Turkey for a period of three months. It came into force on July 21 for 90 days (ie until October 18); on October 3, January 4, 2017, April 18, 2017, July 17, 2017, and again on January 18, 2018, Parliament decided to extend it for a further 90 days; it was valid until July 18, 2018.

After the coup attempt, President Erdoğan announced massive " purges " in the state apparatus. His government considers the cleric Fethullah Gülen, who lives in the USA, to be the mastermind behind him. Since the attempted coup (as of November 3, 2016) more than 110,000 officials, judges, public prosecutors, police officers and soldiers have been suspended or dismissed for alleged links to the Gülen network, and tens of thousands have been arrested. About 170 newspapers, magazines, TV stations and news agencies were closed.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Zafer Üskül: Olağan yönetilemiyoruz ( Memento of the original from April 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.radikal.com.tr archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Newspaper report from December 27, 2001. Retrieved September 4, 2009. (Turkish)
  2. ↑ See the text of Act 1402 ( Memento of the original of May 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 4, 2009 (Turkish) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mevzuat.adalet.gov.tr
  3. ↑ To the complete legal text ( Memento of the original of November 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 4, 2009 (Turkish) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mevzuat.adalet.gov.tr
  4. ↑ The German translation under Archived Copy ( Memento of the original from September 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. chose for the Turkish term sıkıyönetim , English martial law , 'emergency administration' instead of 'martial law'. Retrieved September 7, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.verfassungen.eu
  5. ^ Republic of Turkey (1923 - present). In: uca.edu . Retrieved September 12, 2018 (English): "The government declared martial law in 13 provinces on December 25, 1978"
  6. ↑ a b Amnesty International report (AI Index: EUR / 44/65/88 - November 1988) Human rights denied ; Introduction of the English report as normal text . Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  7. ^ Hearing in the Bundestag on May 11 and 12, 1993 Helmut Oberdiek on "Human rights in German domestic and foreign policy" . Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  8. ↑ a b c See the daily newspaper Yeni Şafak of November 22, 2002 . Retrieved September 4, 2009 (Turkish)
  9. ↑ Text of resolution 285 ( Memento of the original of February 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 4, 2009 (Turkish) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mevzuat.adalet.gov.tr
  10. ↑ The data was published in a paper by the dialogue group “War in Turkey” on parliamentarians breaking the taboo on the Kurdish question ( memento of the original from February 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 53 kB) published. Retrieved September 4, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.meinhardt-verlag.de
  11. ↑ Cf. Serif Karataş: OHAL'siz güne merhaba ( Memento of the original from December 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.evrensel.net archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Article in the daily Evrensel from July 31, 2002. Accessed September 4, 2009. (Turkish)
  12. ↑ See a special report by the Turkish Democratic Forum . Retrieved September 7, 2009. (English)
  13. ↑ The article was published in the Journal for Research in Social Sciences ( Sosyal Bilim Araştırmaları Dergisi ), published by the Association for Scientific Research and Solidarity. The online edition  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. is in Turkish. Retrieved September 4, 2009.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.akader.net  
  14. ^ After a coup attempt: What the state of emergency means for Turkey . In: sueddeutsche.de . ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed on July 21, 2016]).
  15. ↑ tagesschau.de October 3, 2016
  16. ↑ Turkey extends the state of emergency by three months. Spiegel Online, January 4, 2017, accessed on the same day.
  17. ^ State of emergency in Turkey extended by three months. Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 18, 2017, accessed on August 27, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Turkey: State of emergency extended again. In: handelsblatt.com. July 17, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2017 .
  19. ^ Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Turkey extends state of emergency . In: The time . January 18, 2018, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed February 18, 2018]).
  20. ↑ Turkey: Erdogan wants to lift the state of emergency. In: Spiegel Online . July 13, 2018, accessed July 16, 2018 .
  21. ↑ NZZ.ch November 3, 2016