This time a murder soon to take place has reminded us of this painful fact. The inevitable murder is that of Güler Zere.Zere has been imprisoned for 14 years for being a member of a far-left terrorist organization.
She suffers from cancer of the mouth and throat and has already had her palate removed due to her condition. She is terminally ill, but it is not clear if she will be allowed to die near her family or in her cell.
Her killer is the system and the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK), an institution famous for many wrong decisions. They are too late in issuing a medical report that could ensure her release to her family to live out her last days in peace.
The ATK report came just this week despite the fact that President Abdullah Gül, who has the power to pardon Zere, and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davudoğlu, who recently said that “Güler Zeres are our children and will not die,” were eagerly awaiting it.
Gül also recently said that if Zere submitted an appeal, he would be able to begin the pardon process -- but he noted that the ATK is required to send him a medical report through the Ministry of Justice before any such decision can be made. He also noted that in the past some pardoned members of terrorist groups had later been caught participating in attacks on Turkish security forces.
The ATK, however, dragged its feet in issuing the report.
It was very shameful to listen to ATK President Haluk İnce say on a TV program without hesitation that when the ATK makes its decision, it has to take into consideration not only the benefit to the patient but also the ideas of some segments of society.
These words proved that some people in this country, when appointed as chairmen of any state office, consider themselves as the state itself and find all power and ability in themselves to act on behalf of “certain segments of society.”
He forgot or, even worse, never learned that his authority does not include judging but only doing one’s job.
But what is the ATK’s job?
Şebnem Fincancı Korur, a forensic doctor affiliated with the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TİHV), once told me that Turkey’s ATK is very similar to its counterpart in Chile under dictator Augusto Pinochet, and that in those days, Chile’s forensics department was known as a “towel to clean the bloody hands of the state.” Recalling fierce debates over recent ATK reports, she added: “I leave it to you to define whose towel the ATK is in Turkey. For sure, it is not only that of the state.”
Zere’s case has shown that the ATK is the towel of the deep state or persons who consider themselves the state and above even the president.
As part of reforms needed to join the European Union, one of the areas in which the EU demanded changes was the ATK. Among these changes are restructuring, improving the training of its investigators and procuring necessary technology. According to Korur, some of these demands have been addressed, but the core of the problem remains untouched: ensuring the independence of the ATK.
Professor Sermet Koç, from the department of forensic medicine at the Cerrahpaşa School of Medicine, says the ATK is one of the largest among its counterparts. Every year it issues reports on around 180,000 cases brought to Turkish courts. The reports cover murders, assaults, sexual crimes and psychiatric problems.
“There is no centralized department of experts like the ATK anywhere else in the world. Such a centralized body means a monopoly that is not controllable, not open to monitoring. If a person wants to dispute an ATK report, there is no place where he can turn,” he underlines.
If there was a real will for democratization in Turkey, one of the very first acts should be to change the ATK since it and its mentality are a cancer. It is better to remove cancerous cells before it is too late.
Benzer Haberler 
