The Adnan Oktar case

30.5.2000

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1903/00
by Marietta Giannakou-Koutsikou (PPE-DE)
to the Commission

Science Research Foundation (SRF) is a non-governmental organisation which was established under Laws 743 and 903 and has been active in Istanbul since 1990. Adnan Oktar is the Honorary President of the SRF. With 90 other persons, he was arrested on 12 November 1999, and he is still in prison awaiting the end of the trial. A big police operation was carried out at around 3 a.m. in 48 different houses, as a result of which all these people were taken into custody, including Mr  Adnan Oktar. On the basis of our information, there were several human rights violations during this police operation, as well as the use of violence during the arrest and afterwards. The police allege that the NGO is a criminal organisation. In the past, two other accusations had been made against Mr Adnan Oktar, but he had been cleared both times. The trial of Mr Oktar is under way. During the first hearing on 7 April 2000, the public prosecutor called for the detained SRF members to be released by the public prosecutor because not a single shred of evidence was found. The second hearing will be on 2 June 2000.

 

Given that Turkey is an applicant country, I should like to know if the Commission is aware of this case and, if it considers that this constitutes a human rights violation, what measures it intends taking to prevent the recurrence of such events?

 

OJ C 46 E, 13/02/2001