Andersen (EDD). – (DA) Mr President, I should like to take the opportunity to draw attention to the Turkish human rights organisation, HRFT. Last weekend, the president of the HRFT, Yavuz Önen, received an award at the national congress of the June Movement for his and the organisation's courageous struggle for human rights in Turkey.

The HRFT is threatened with closure as a result of several court cases against members of its leadership, including Yavuz Önen. The HRFT has five centres for the rehabilitation of torture victims, and a thousand active volunteers. Its closure might have serious consequences for the treatment of torture victims in Turkey, since no one else can take up the HRFT’s work. The many victims of torture would be left in the lurch. Torture takes place routinely in Turkish prisons and at Turkish police stations. The state and the authorities constantly try to harass the centres in their work on court cases, and doctors are threatened with losing their jobs at the public hospitals if they work for the centres. Yes, the centres have, in fact, by no means been made legal, but they have so far won all their cases against the state.

I call upon Parliament and the Commission carefully to monitor the ability of the Turkish human rights organisation to carry out its very necessary work for human rights in Turkey.