Doctors union calls for Forensic Medicine Council to be shut down

In a written statement, the TTB acknowledged that the ATK and its reports are extremely important for the Ergenekon investigation, but stressed that some of its members have close links with the Ergenekon suspects and that some of the reports given by the ATK have been disputed.

The report in question, prepared by the ATK’s Third Specialized Board, allowed İbrahim Şahin -- the former head of the National Police Department’s Special Operations Unit and a suspected member of Ergenekon -- to avoid prison time for his role in the Susurluk affair, in which a car accident revealed shadowy links between gangs and Turkey’s security forces. The report, prepared in 2000, claimed that Şahin had lost his memory after a traffic accident unrelated to Susurluk in 2000.

The Turkish Doctors Union has urged the Ministry of Justice in a written statement to shut down all facilities of the Council of Forensic Medicine in connection with the ongoing trial against Ergenekon.

One of the doctors who prepared this report about Şahin, Professor Erbil Gözükırmızı, is still seated on the Third Specialized Board and, at the same time, a member of the Workers’ Party (İP), the leader of which, Doğu Perinçek, is a suspect in the trial against Ergenekon. The İP has previously said it will name Gözükırmızı as minister of youth and sports if it comes to power.

Gözükırmızı also had very close ties with İP deputy leader Ferit İlsever, Professor Emin Gürses, former İstanbul University Rector Kemal Alemdaroğlu and businessman İbrahim Benli -- all Ergenekon suspects. In addition, Gözükırmızı was a member of a committee established by former Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) President Rauf Denktaş to refute claims that the killings of Anatolian Armenians at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire in 1915 constituted genocide.

In its statement, the TTB noted that the chairwoman of the Third Specialized Board, Dr. Nur Bilgen, was punished by the TTB Disciplinary Committee for covering up torture claims. Birgen was barred from practicing medicine for six months by the TTB after a report she wrote claimed that seven protesters who had been arrested in 1995 were healthy despite having been tortured. She was barred from practice a second time after she prepared another scandalous report about two prisoners who had developed serious medical conditions after a hunger strike; she had certified that they could remain in prison because they had recovered.

The Ministry of Justice issued a written statement on Jan. 16 in response to an earlier TTB report that voiced allegations against Birgen. The statement said that the accusations about her had been rejected by the Administrative Court. But in another written statement issued by the TTB in response, it was noted that the Administrative Court nullified the decision of TTB disciplinary committee on the grounds that the TTB does not have the right to suspend public officials from their duties and that the sole authority that can make such a decision is the Ministry of Justice. The TTB claimed that the court decision did not deny the fact that Biren had issued false reports about torture victims.

In the same statement the Ministry of Justice had indicated that the European Court of Human Rights found that 95 percent of the council’s reports were accurate. But the TTB recalled that an independent committee appointed by the European court had confirmed that the patients who were under hunger strike were given ‘healthy’ reports by the ATK while they were actually in critical condition.

When it issued its report on Şahin, the Third Specialized Board said he was suffering from “permanent damage” to his brain and ears in addition to a number of psychological problems as a result of his car accident in 2000. He was later pardoned by former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

The TTB statement raised doubts about the accuracy of the report on Şahin and underlined that since the board suggested once in its report that he had suffered “permanent damage,” it will feel itself bound by its earlier decision and if Şahin is brought in front of the board he will once again receive the same contested decision.