TURKEY:In his job as a lawyer, Muammer Oz had often heard stories of Turkish police brutality. "But I didn't think it could happen to me, in the biggest city in Turkey, in one of the most fashionable neighbourhoods of Istanbul." Lawyer Muammer Oz tells Lara Marlowehow he was beaten by policemen.
On July 29th, Oz was sitting in a park with his brother and sister-in-law and her brother. A young police officer approached the group and told Oz's brother: "You look like somebody I know. Show me your identity papers."
Oz's mobile phone rang. The officer ordered him to turn it off, which he did. When the policeman demanded to see his papers too, Oz took out his bar association card. "I said, 'I'm a lawyer. You don't ask me like that. We're having a family visit. We're not bothering anybody'."
"Oh really? So you're a lawyer?" the officer replied, grabbing Oz's shirt with both hands. "We know how to deal with lawyers!" More policemen arrived. Oz says they sprayed tear gas in his face and beat him with a stick.
He was dragged to a police car and beaten further on his way to the commissariat. "We've screwed a lot of lawyers like you," one of the policemen said to him. "We've been cops for 15 years. Nobody can touch us."
Oz was taken handcuffed to a hospital for a medical examination, by the policemen who had attacked him. The doctor failed to note his broken nose. The police report said severe bruising on his face, stomach and shoulder were the result of the his falling down when he tried to run away. Oz's relatives took photos of his injuries immediately after the beating, which he showed me.
The lawyer filed a lawsuit the following day. Two weeks ago he received a letter from the authorities in Istanbul saying they saw no need to investigate the policemen.
In June the ruling AK Party changed the law on "powers and duties of the police" to broaden their authority to use force. The revised law replaced legislation that Turkey had passed to satisfy EU criteria. It allows police to shoot someone if they fail to obey a stop warning.
"The new law is an attempt to strengthen police prerogatives," Oz explained. "I think the police who beat me thought they'd gone back to the 'good old days'."