US: Turkey’s human right record is bad

WASHINGTON (AA) – The US State Department announced today its 2003 Human Right Report and it said that despite of Turkey’s progress there were still serious human rights problems.

The report stated that the Turkish army still had indirect effects on the government’s policies and actions, additionally justice system was exposed to external interventions.

It said that torture, beating and human right violations had been continuing.

The report mentioned Turkey’s reforms on human rights and the army’s effect on the government policies.

US State Department’s report claimed that although state of emergency was lifted in southern of Turkey, there were great number of the security forces.

The report added that punishments which were given to criminals due to torture or beating was not enough.