Turkey slams Amnesty over report alleging torture

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed Amnesty International for a report alleging that some people detained in connection with Turkey’s failed coup attempt had been tortured.

Erdogan insisted that Turkey had a policy of “zero tolerance toward torture” and accused the London-based rights advocacy group of ignoring violence committed by the coup plotters during the July 15 attempt.

During a speech to representatives of foreign companies investing in Turkey, he called on Amnesty to visit sites attacked by the plotters.

“If you have any self-respect, you’ll come to Turkey … you’ll visit our (wounded) in hospital, and you’ll see who did what to whom,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan said some of those detained may have been beaten during scuffles as pro-government forces quashed the coup attempt.

“If they hadn’t, they would have killed our police,” he added.

In a statement responding to Erdogan, Amnesty said it had “repeatedly condemned the appalling violence committed by those behind the 15 July failed coup attempt.”

“At the same time, Amnesty International has urged Turkish authorities to respect the rule of law and the rights of all those detained,” Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty said. “The government must release all detainees unless there is a reasonable suspicion that they have committed a recognizable criminal offence.”

Shetty said Amnesty’s findings on human rights violations were based on detailed interviews with lawyers, doctors, family members and “an eyewitness to torture in a detention facility,” adding that an Amnesty team had conducted the investigation “on the ground” in Turkey.