Turkey: US treatment of Iraqis inhumane

"Such inhumane treatment is against the Geneva Convention regulating war crimes, all international agreements, all United Nations regulations. All of these things are against the Quran, the Bible, the old Testament and the history of humanity. I feel shame on behalf of all humanity," opposition leader Deniz Baykal said at a meeting of his Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Pictures of Iraqi prisoners stripped naked, hooded and being tormented by their U.S. captors in a Baghdad prison stunned the international community after they were aired last week on U.S. broadcaster CBS.

An internal U.S. Army report found that Iraqi detainees were subjected to "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses," according to The New Yorker magazine. On Saturday, Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper published a front-page picture of a British soldier apparently urinating on a hooded prisoner.

Parliamentary Speaker Bulent Arinc described the torture of Iraqis as "heinous." The visiting Parliament Speaker Pierferdinando Casini agreed with his counterpart saying, "Such treatment is a black page for civilization. One cannot expect us to be tolerant towards such an attitude."

Many associations also condemned the U.S. torture of Iraqis yesterday. Human Rights Association (IHD) said in a statement that torture was banned in every situation either in war or in peace and called on the international society not to remain silent against the practices.

Civil Servants’ Trade Union (Memur-Sen) Chairman Ahmet Aksu said the pictures reflected only a part of the terrible events experienced in Iraq. "We condemn the inhumane practices that take place in prisons and on the streets in Iraq. The U.S. who entered Iraq, promising Iraqis an honorable life and freedom, has brought torture and immoral events to the country," said Aksu.

Turkish War Industry Workers’ Union (Turk Harb-Is) Chairman Osman Cimen used a much harsher tone saying, "The real faces of the U.S. and Britain which behave as apostles of human rights and democracy have come on the scene with these pictures."

"We curse those responsible for these events. We perceive the U.S. and Britain as countries committing crimes of humanity and we condemn these countries which have violated universal values," Cimen concluded.