E/CN.4/1999/61/Add.1 page 3 Introduction 1. Following a request by the Special Rapporteur, the Government of Turkey invited him, in 1997, to visit the country within the framework of his mandate. The objective of the visit, which took place from 9 to 19 November 1998, was to enable the Special Rapporteur to collect first-hand information from a wide range of contacts in order better to assess the situation of torture in Turkey. 2. During his visit the Special Rapporteur held meetings in Ankara from 9 to 12 November with the following authorities: the Minister of the Interior, Mr. Kutlu Aktas; the Minister of Justice, Mr. Hasan Denizkurdu; the Minister of Health, Mr. Halil I. Ozsoy; the Minister of State in Charge of Human Rights, Mr. Hikmet Sami Türk; the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior; the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Director-General for Multilateral Political Affairs; the Acting Director-General for Security of the Ministry of the Interior; the Director-General of Prisons and Detention Houses of the Ministry of Justice; the Chief of Staff of the Jandarma; the General Director of Security of Ankara; the Higher Council of Judges and Prosecutors; the Chairperson of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Human Rights Inquiry Commission; the General Prosecutor of the Ankara State Security Court; and the General Prosecutor of Ankara. 3. From 13 to 16 November the Special Rapporteur travelled to Diyarbakir, where he met the Governor of the Emergency Region, the General Prosecutor of Diyarbakir State Security Court and the Prosecutor of Diyarbakir. On 17 and 18 November the Special Rapporteur was in Istanbul, where he met the General Prosecutor of the Istanbul State Security Court, the General Prosecutor of Istanbul, the Director of Security of Istanbul, the President of the Forensic Medical Agency and the Director of the Forensic Medical Institute of Istanbul University. 4. The Special Rapporteur also visited the places of detention at the Anti-Terror Branch of the Security Directorate in Ankara; the Command Unit of the Jandarma in Çinar, outside Diyarbakir; the Narcotics Department of the Istanbul Directorate of Security and the Beyo—lu Central Police station in Istanbul. In order to interview remand prisoners on their treatment in police custody, the Special Rapporteur visited the Central Prison of Ankara, the E-type prison of Diyarbakir and the Sa—malcilar Prison (BayrampaÕa) of Istanbul, and also met the authorities in charge. 5. In Ankara, Istanbul and Diyarbakir the Special Rapporteur met persons who themselves or whose relatives had allegedly been torture victims. 6. He received verbal and/or written information from non-governmental organizations working at the national level, including the following: the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT), the Human Rights Association (IHD), the Contemporary Lawyers' Association (CHD), the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and the Turkish Forensic Association (FA). 7. He also received verbal and/or written information from non-governmental organizations working at the local level, including the following: in Ankara,

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