| <TONGA | TUVALU> |
Key developments since May 2001: Turkey is in the final stages of domestic approval of accession to the Mine Ban Treaty. In March 2002, Turkey renewed its export moratorium indefinitely. Turkey reported that it had destroyed 10,638 mines from various border regions by the end of 2001. An agreement with Bulgaria on the non-use and removal of antipersonnel mines from common border areas entered into force on 1 May 2002. The government accused the PKK of ongoing use of antipersonnel mines. The PKK has denied the allegations and stated its willingness to ban antipersonnel mines. According to the Turkish Human Rights Foundation, landmines and UXO killed 16 people and injured 33 others in 2001.
The Republic of Turkey is not a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty. On 6 April 2001, it announced that it would start the process of accession and become a State Party at the same time as Greece.[1] On 15 March 2002, a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared, “After careful consideration, Turkey has now decided to accede to the Ottawa Convention.... Turkey has come to the stage of submitting the Convention to the Turkish Grand National Assembly for finalization of the accession procedures.”[2] On 9 May 2002, the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee approved ratification of the treaty.[3]
Turkey participated as an observer at the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2001 in Managua, Nicaragua.[4] Ambassador Ergun Pelit stated, “It’s a privilege for me to announce in this Conference once again my government’s decision to become a party to the Ottawa Convention... We have already completed the translation of the Convention into the Turkish language and hope to submit the Convention to the Turkish Grand National Assembly for ratification within a short period of time.”[5] Turkey also associated itself with the statement delivered by Belgium on behalf of the European Union, which called on States not yet members of the treaty to accede without delay.
On 29 November 2001, Turkey voted in favor of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 56/24M, calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.
Turkey continues to attend intersessional Standing Committee meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty, including those in January and May 2002.[6] At the Standing Committee meetings in May 2002, the delegation announced approval of the accession legislation by the Foreign Affairs Committee and said that within “a short period of time, Turkey hopes to be in the position to accede to the Convention...[and] form a good model for her neighbors which are not yet party to the Convention... Since the outset she has been implementing the measures of the Convention resolutely.”[7]
Turkey is a signatory to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). In April 2002, it repeated assurances given in June 2000 that Turkey “continues with its efforts” to ratify the CCW and its Amended Protocol II.[8] Turkey did not attend the Third Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II or the Second CCW Review Conference in December 2001.
The national mine ban campaign, Turkey Without Mines, published its first booklet in Turkish in August 2001, and an eight-minute video, with financial support from the Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines. [9] This was sent to the media and politicians, and resulted in many press reports.
Landmine Monitor has reported on past use of antipersonnel mines by both Turkish armed forces and forces of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).[10] Turkey has stated that government forces have not laid antipersonnel mines on Turkish territory since December 1997/January 1998.[11]
On 29 January 2002, Turkey’s Governor of the Emergency Region reportedly declared that the PKK had increased its mining of the border with Iraq during the last six months, and that as a result “there were 88 incidents which caused 5 deaths and 32 wounded in the armed forces.”[12]
Following the report, the People’s Defense Force (the armed branch of the PKK) denied the alleged use of antipersonnel mines.[13] On 25 January 2002, just a few days prior to the allegations, the PKK’s Presidential Council declared its readiness to commit itself to a total ban of antipersonnel mines, in a letter sent to Geneva Call, the Swiss-based NGO engaging non-state actors in the mine ban.[14]
In April 2002, the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva supplied Landmine Monitor with detailed allegations of use by the PKK of mines (predominantly antipersonnel mines, but also antitank mines and improvised explosive devices). The Mission stated that a “nationwide study indicates that since the year 2000, there has been a decrease in mine use and mine related incidents. Nonetheless, undetected mines used... in the past continue to constitute a grave danger and threat.” The Mission stated that PKK mines were aimed at the security forces, but were also intended to demoralize the civilian population, and had been laid in fields, paths, roads, bridges and water sources; “due to these devastating activities the civilian population endures considerable human and economic loss.” According to the government, there were “1,669 land mine related incidents (some being activated by vehicles carrying passengers) recorded between 1 January 1993 and 1 March 2002.”[15]
On 2 May 2002, the PKK was defined as a terrorist group by the European Union, after previously being outlawed by France, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as Turkey.[16]
In 2001, the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) and Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHF) started to publish data on landmine casualties in their monthly reports. In July 2001, IHD with other NGOs sent a delegation to Hakkari to examine allegations of human rights violations by Turkish troops following a mine incident in which a soldier was injured. Local villagers were accused by security forces of having laid the mine. This became an important issue between the government and human rights campaigners, and was reported in the media.[17]
Production of antipersonnel mines ceased concurrently with a national moratorium on the sale and transfer of antipersonnel mines in January 1996.[18] On 15 March 2002, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced: “Turkey’s national moratorium on the export and transfer of anti-personnel land mines expired in January 2002. Turkey has decided to extend once again her moratorium on the export and transfer of antipersonnel landmines, this time indefinitely, as an expression of her sincere commitment to becoming party to the Ottawa Convention.”[19]
The size and composition of Turkey’s stockpile of antipersonnel mines have not been revealed, but the stockpile is believed to be substantial. Landmine Monitor has previously reported that the US has a stockpile of 1,100 Air Force Gator antipersonnel mines in Turkey.[20]
While no survey has been made of Turkey’s landmine problem, it appears that mine contamination is concentrated on Turkey’s borders with Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and in parts of the southeastern provinces.
At the Standing Committee meetings in May 2002, the Turkish delegation declared that there are “nearly 900,000 planted mines in Turkey. These mined areas, which had been built to prevent the illegal border trespassing many years ago, are all marked, monitored and protected by fencing or other means to ensure the effective exclusion of civilians.”[21] In June 2002, the Turkish Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva stated that “there are nearly 935,000 laid mines in Turkey...established to prevent the illegal border trespassing between 1956-1959, are all marked, monitored and covered by fencing or other means to ensure the effective protection of civilians.”[22]
The location of mine incidents indicates that, in addition to border areas, there are also mines in the southeastern provinces away from the borders. The extent of such mined areas is unknown, as is the degree to which such areas are adequately marked and fenced.
At the Third Meeting of States Parties, the Turkish delegation stated, “We have already demined some 8,000 mines and we are fervently continuing to do so... We established ‘The Mining and Co-ordination Centers,’ and formed ‘The Mining Teams’ as well as a working Group on ‘Methods for Mine Sweeping and Demining’... Efforts for ‘Marking’ minefields are still continuing.”[23]
At the Standing Committee meetings in May 2002 Turkey announced that “As proof of her determination to clean the anti-personnel mines from her borders, Turkey has begun a comprehensive clearing action on her own initiative in 1998... 9,851 mines were cleared as of the end of 2001.... Similar mine clearing activities are proceeding in full force.”[24] In June 2002, Turkey reported that “by the end of 2001, 10,638 mines from various border regions have been cleared and destroyed on site.”[25]
During Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit’s visit to Bulgaria on 30-31 January 2002, a protocol on landmine clearance was signed, and instruments of ratification of a 1999 agreement on the non-use and removal of antipersonnel mines in the common border areas were exchanged. The agreement entered into effect on 1 May 2002.[26] Bulgaria has already declared its side of the border clear of mines. In April 2001, Turkey stated that clearance on its side of the border would start “soon,” but no further information has been provided.[27]
A similar clearance agreement was signed with Georgia in January 2001, endorsed by the Commission on Foreign Affairs on 21 June 2001, and submitted to the National Assembly for approval, which is awaited.[28] Another agreement with Azerbaijan has been in negotiations since 2000.[29]
Turkey has also decided to “clean all the mines along her border with Syria. Following completion of necessary activities concerning that project, mine clearing action will begin and these cleaned areas will be transformed for agricultural use in due time.”[30] In February 2002, regional governor Gokhan Aydiner reportedly said that “preparation for the project will begin shortly.” The minefield, planted in 1956 to prevent smuggling along the 877-kilometer Syrian border, was described as 300-700 meters wide with an area of “3.5 million donums (a land measure of 1,000 square meters). This is twice as big as the island of Cyprus.” Local businessmen were described as enthusiastic about the scheme; returning the land to civilian use will reportedly give 20,000 families the means to support themselves, as well as reducing local unemployment.[31] Another media report added that the demining plan is part of “growing friendship between two countries that were once very uneasy neighbors.” The army requested about US$12 million to carry out the first stage of clearance, which could cost as much as $36 million in total. The whole operation is expected to take five years.[32]
It does not appear that clearance has occurred in the southeastern provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Diyarbakir, Siirt, Mardin, Bingöl, Van and Tunceli, where clearance was reportedly due to start in mid-2000.[33]
Turkey contributed $50,000 to mine clearance operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and $9,000 to the Albanian Mine Action Executive in 2001. Turkish forces with the Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and with KFOR in Kosovo have also carried out mine clearance-related activities as part of their military duties.[34]
In 2001, according to the Turkish Human Rights Foundation, landmines killed 16 people, including five children, and injured 33 others, including 10 children.[35] The US State Department reports that in 2001, “Landmine explosions in the southeast killed more than 15 persons, mainly children or military personnel; many more persons were maimed.”[36]
Turkey stated via its Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva that mines laid by the PKK between 1 January 1993 and 1 March 2002 had killed 289 civilians and 299 security personnel, and injured 792 civilians and 1,524 security personnel.[37]
The Turkish Human Rights Foundation continues to collect reports of mine casualties and issues monthly bulletins. In April 2002 it reported that three civilians had been killed and five injured in landmine incidents.[38]
On 19 July 2002, a Turkish soldier serving with the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan was reported injured while engaged in mine clearance at Kabul airport.[39]
In Turkey, mine survivors are first treated at public hospitals that are located in every small city. The seriously injured are transferred to the central public hospital or private hospitals if the survivor is able to pay for treatment. Cities in the west of the country have several facilities with the capacity to perform amputations, but in the mine-affected southeast the only facility is at Dicle University in Diyarbakir province.
A new prosthetic and rehabilitation center was opened at Dicle University on 28 June 2001, with the assistance of the US-based Physicians for Peace Foundation.[40] The center provided 43 prostheses free-of-charge in 2001.[41] An electronic system for designing and producing prostheses has been set up at the Center in Dicle, with the capacity to produce one prosthetic limb every 22 minutes. Three other universities will be connected to this new system, which will be able to supply prostheses throughout Turkey.[42]
Military mine survivors are often treated at the Hospital Gulhane Askeri Tip Akademesi in Istanbul.
| <TONGA | TUVALU> |
[1] For details of the joint announcement by the Foreign Ministers, see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 909.
[2] “Press Release” (untitled), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ankara, 15 March 2002.
[3] “Presentation by the Turkish Delegation,” Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 30 May 2002.
[4] The delegation included Ergun Pelit, Ambassador to Mexico, and Major Ihsan Caliskan, General Staff Planning and Policy Department.
[5] “Statement by the Head of the Turkish Delegation Ambassador Ergun Pelit on Turkey’s Accession to the Ottawa Convention on APMs,” Third Meeting of States Parties, Managua, Nicaragua, 18-21 September 2001.
[6] Turkey was represented by Murat Salim Esenli, Counsellor, Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Lieutenant-Colonel Melin Kesap, General Staff, and Salith Korkutan, General Plans and Policies Directorate, Disarmament Division, Ministry of Defense.
[7] Presentation by Turkey to the Standing Committee on the General Status, 30 May 2002.
[8] Email to Landmine Monitor from Ugur Dogan, Minister-Counselor, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission to the United Nations, 12 April 2002.
[9] The booklet is titled, “Mayinsiz Bir Turkiye Kampanyasi” (“Campaign for a Turkey Without Mines”), August 2001.
[10] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 911.
[11] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 848-850.
[12] “PKK Mayin Dosuyor” (“PKK Is Laying Mines”), Hurriyet (daily newspaper), 29 January 2002; Anadolu Ajansi (semi-official news agency), 28 January 2002. Four predominantly Kurdish provinces of southeastern Turkey were classified by Turkey as an Emergency Region.
[13] “Press Release” (untitled), People’s Defense Force, 30 January 2002.
[14] Letter from Riza Altun, member of PKK Presidential Council, to Elisabeth Reusse-Decrey, Geneva Call, 28 January 2002.
[15] Email from Ugur Dogan, Permanent Mission of Turkey to the UN, 12 April 2002.
[16] Council Decision of 2 May 2002, (ref 2002/334/EC), Official Journal of the European Commission, L 116/33, 3 May 2002; “Turkey Welcomes EU Decision to Put PKK on the Terrorist List,” Kathimerini (English-language Greek daily newspaper), 2 May 2002.
[17] “THIV Temmuz – Agustos 2001 Ayi Raporu” (Turkish Human Right Foundation Report July-August 2001), available at: www.thiv.com.tr.
[18] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 911. A three-year export moratorium was declared on 17 January 1996, and extended for another three years on January 1999.
[19] “Press Release”(untitled), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ankara, 15 March 2002, and “Turkey Extends National Moratorium on Export, Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines,” Ankara Anatolia (press agency), 15 March 2002.
[20] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 848.
[21] Presentation by Turkey to the Standing Committee on the General Status, 30 May 2002. It is not clear if all mined areas are marked and fenced. At the Third Meeting of States Parties in September 2001 it was stated that efforts to mark and fence minefields are continuing.
[22] Email from Murat S. Esenli, Counselor, Permanent Mission to the United Nations, to Landmine Monitor, 26 June 2002.
[23] Statement by Turkey to the Third Meeting of States Parties, 18-21 September 2001.
[24] Presentation by Turkey to the Standing Committee on the General Status, 30 May 2002.
[25] Email from Murat S. Esenli, Permanent Mission of Turkey to the UN, 27 June 2002.
[26] Press conference, available at www.basbakanlik.gov.tr/basbakanbasin/index.htm, 31 January 2002.
[27] Letter from Erdogan Iscan, Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, to Elisabeth Reusse-Decrey, Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines, undated but received 23 April 2001.
[28] Statement by Turkey to the Third Meeting of States Parties, 18-21 September 2001; email from Murat S. Esenli,, Permanent Mission of Turkey to the UN, 26 June 2002.
[29] Email from Murat S. Esenli, Permanent Mission to the UN, 26 June 2002.
[30] Presentation by Turkey to the Standing Committee on the General Status, 30 May 2002. This decision was reported in Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 913.
[31] “Businessmen See Enhanced Revenue from Cleared Border Minefields,” Ankara Anantolia, 12 February 2002.
[32] Jonny Dymond, “Turkey to Clear Mines on Syria border,” BBC, 26 February 2002, available at: news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid.
[33] “Mayinlar S.O.S. veriyor” (S.O.S. Mines), Yenisafak (daily newspaper), 17 April 2000.
[34] Presentation by Turkey to the Standing Committee on the General Status, 30 May 2002.
[35] “TIHV, 2001 Insan Haklari Degerlendirmesi,” (“Turkish Human Rights Foundation, Human Rights Evaluation for 2001”), 15 February 2002, available at: www.tihv.org.tr/eindex.html.
[36] US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2001 – Turkey,” Sections 1A, 1D, March 2002.
[37] Email from Ugur Dogan, Permanent Mission of Turkey to the UN, 12 April 2002.
[38] “Turkiye Insan Haklari Fakfi 2001 Ayi Raporu” (“Monthly Report on Human Rights in Turkey, April 2002”), Turkish Human Rights Foundation, available at www.tihv.org.tr.
[39] “Turkish Soldier Hurt in Afghan Mine Blast,” Reuters, 19 July 2002.
[40] “Turkiye Insan Haklari Vakfi, Temmuz – Agustos Rapuru 2001” (“Monthly Report on Human Rights in Turkey, July-August 2001”), Turkish Human Rights Foundation, available at www.tihv.org.tr.
[41] “Mayyin Kurbanlarina Protez” (“Prosthesis for Landmines Victims”), Hurriyet (daily newspaper), 31 January 2002.
[42] “E-maille Protez” (“Prosthesis by email”), Netgazete (news agency), 29 March 2002, available at www.netgazete.com.
