Turkey pres. signs controversial medical aid bill into law
Watch Video HereThe law took effect on Saturday, one day after the bill was signed into law by President Abdullah Gul.
Under the law, those convicted could face a three-year jail term or a fine of up to nearly USD 1 million.
The move has sparked an outcry from human rights activities fearing that the law could be used by police to intimidate medics treating protesters injured in anti-government demonstrations -- like those that rocked Turkey in 2013.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has described the law as another attempt by the government of Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan to silent dissent.
“Passing a bill that criminalizes emergency care and punishes those who care for injured protesters is part of the Turkish government’s relentless effort to silence any opposing voices,” said PHR senior medical advisor, Vincent Iacopino, who added, “This kind of targeting of the medical community is not only repugnant, but puts everyone’s health at risk.”UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health Anand Grover, said days before the law came into effect that if adopted, “it will have a chilling effect on the availability and accessibility of emergency medical care in a country prone to natural disasters and a democracy that is not immune from demonstrations.”
During the nationwide protests of 2013, the Turkish doctors’ association repeatedly accused government forces of preventing medics from treating injured people.
Six people died and some 8,000 others were injured in clashes between police and anti-government protesters last year.
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Turkey doctors say police, govt harassed them
By DESMOND BUTLER and AYSE WIETING, Associated Press
Updated 11:39 am, Thursday, January 9, 2014
FILE - In this May 31, 2013, file photo, volunteer Turkish doctors
help a demonstrator afftected with pepper gas during clashes with riot
police near Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey. During the height of
Turkey's summer of upheaval, more than a dozen Turkish doctors
interviewed by The Associated Press say authorities assaulted them with
tear gas, pressured them to reveal the names of patients and ignored
calls for resources.
Photo: Emrah Gurel, AP
So a group of doctors set off to find relief in a nearby hospital. They turned into an alley and came face-to-face with police, just yards away. The officers took aim, lifted their guns and launched tear gas canisters straight at the medics in their white lab coats. "It was clear that we were doctors," Incilay Erdogan said to The Associated Press.
While some medics this summer complained of mistreatment as they treated protesters against the Turkish government, the extent of the harassment has now become much clearer. In interviews with The Associated Press over the five months since, more than a dozen doctors said authorities had assaulted them with tear gas, chased and beat protesters in hospitals, pressured them to reveal the names of patients and ignored calls for more resources, including ambulances.
Nor has the crackdown stopped since. A prosecutorial indictment signed last month against a doctor and a medical student, seen by the AP, starkly contradicts a government statement that it would take no action against medical personnel giving care to protesters. And a bill passed by the Turkish parliament last week, and now before Turkish president Abdullah Gul, could give authorities new powers to prosecute doctors for giving unauthorized care, critics say. The bill follows more recent anti-government protests in recent weeks over a bribery scandal that forced four government ministers to step down.
The medical community says its professionals are hidden victims of a violent lashing out against dissent that has undermined the reputation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a democratic reformer. The United States and European powers see Erdogan as a vital strategic partner, especially in dealing with the Syria conflict, but have become alarmed by what looks like a deepening disregard for human rights.
The Ministry of Health defended its position in a statement to the AP: "It is greatly unfair to claim that there were shortfalls in the provision of health services during the protests."
The Turkish national police also noted in a statement the challenge posed by the sheer size of the demonstrations, which it described as 5,532 protests in 80 provinces with the participation of more than 3 million people from May to September. The statement said inspectors have been appointed to probe instances where unnecessary force may have been used but denied that doctors were specifically targeted.
"Our security units have not intervened against doctors who are exercising medical profession or those exercising their rights to peaceful demonstration," it said.
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