‘Marco’ row prompts investigation of Turks in German prisons

With the imprisonment in Turkey of a German boy on charges of sexual abuse, the German media is focusing on conditions in Turkish prisons -- in response Turkish groups in Germany have started to investigate penal facilities in their adopted homeland.


The German broadcasting stations, which have been airing from the Antalya Prison, left the area in compliance with the recent court verdict that put a broadcast embargo in effect in relation to the case.
Throughout the week the German press has given heavy coverage to the case of a 17-year-old German boy held in Turkey, accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old British girl. The German government is seeking his extradition, and the German press has turned its attention on conditions in Turkish prisons. This week German journalists held live broadcasts in front of the Antalya prison, where the youth is being held.

In a case that has threatened to strain ties between Ankara and Berlin, an adolescent identified only as Marco W. struck up a friendship with a British girl in April while they were both in the Turkish coastal resort town of Antalya. The mother of the girl, identified as Charlotte M. from Manchester, accused Marco of having a physical relationship with her daughter and filed a sexual abuse charge with the police, leading to the boy’s arrest.

Turkish groups in Germany, angered by the negative press about Turkey this has generated, started to question the conditions of German prisons. According to data from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, since 1988 some 76 Turkish citizens have died in German prisons; between January 1997 and January of this year 38 Turks committed suicide or died in suspicious circumstances in German prisons. A total of 182 inmates of various nationalities have died in Germany’s prisons since 1994, according to data from the German Justice Ministry; 93 were suicides, while 10 fell victim to accidents.

German officials haven’t announced information on the ethnic background of the dead prisoners publicly, saying “they don’t track statistics based on nationalities.” However on the basis of the above figures it appears that Turks account for more than half of suicides in German prisons -- far out of proportion to their position as a minority in the country.

Prisons in Germany are run solely by the federal states, although governed by federal law. There are prisons for first-time offenders, while recidivists are assigned “regular” imprisonment. People who receive long sentences are imprisoned at a maximum security prison. Special institutions are also provided for female and juvenile prisoners.

All foreign inmates in Germany serve their time in the so-called “regular prisons.” There are also special facilities for those convicted of murder and terrorism. It is mostly up to the prison administration to decide what privileges inmates will have. Some prisons allow inmates to watch television or listen to music, while others strictly ban bringing in music CDs or cassettes.

Merkel to intervene?

On Thursday Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin, “Our entire purpose should be to help the youth as far as possible.” She appealed for “caution and calm” in the case of Marco W, who awaits trial in Turkey on July 6.


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Broadcast embargo in effect in relation to sexual abuse case
The German broadcasting station, which has been airing from the Antalya Prison where a German adolescent is detained for alleged sexual abuse, left the area in compliance with the recent court verdict that enacted a broadcast embargo in relation to the case.

The court agreed to the request by the Antalya Prosecutor’s Office, which held that a broadcast embargo should be invoked under the international conventions on the protection of minors. The verdict was forwarded to the members of the German media and their representatives by the police. The media members were notified that they should leave the vicinity. In compliance with the notification, they left their location outside the prison and moved to Cumhuriyet Square.

The Germans were surprised by the court decision, however reports indicate that they complied with the verdict to show their respect for the laws of the country. Authorities from the prosecutor’s office underline that the decision was made to implement the provisions of international conventions codified to protect minors and that media members should do their best to comply with it. The same authorities also noted that the verdict does not mean censorship and they will inform the German media members about the case upon request. Antalya Today’s Zaman


30.06.2007

AHMET ÖZAY FRANKFURT

source. wwww.zaman.com

The German government ,and some other certain European governments, never consents to extradite criminals, especially terrorists to Turkey, despite the existing agreement of extradition. However, the German government is insolently demanding of the Turkish government to send the boy (who committed a crime in Turkey) to Germany in order to judge him in the German court of law.

I am confused. Why are the German government involved in this case? Am I missing something? The victim is British and the accused is Turkish....where did Germany fit into this equation? I should be less lazy and read the full news story !

In any case, I do agree that as this crime was committed in Turkey then any trial should be held in Turkey. The only reason for extradition would be if the crime was committed in another country.

With regard to "negative" journalism in Turkey - so what?!?! Deal with it! Surely reporting on such things can only do good and improve conditions. Same goes for Turkish journalists investigating German prisons (although its rather a childish "tit for tat" reaction"). Its important that there are journalists who bring public awareness to such situations.

I will never understand this inability of Turkish to take any criticism. If my country found that there was poor conditions in prisons I would be very thankful that it had been brought to the notice of the public! You must not let your Government get away with these things!!!

Remember Watergate?

Its entirely the same on this website, I notice. If something about Turkey is criticised, the reaction of Turkish members here is to find something WORSE about another country, instead of admitting that something might be wrong with theirs!!! It reminds me of children in a school yard!

I think, Turkish people, in this site or outside, cannot stand the hypocrisy rather than the criticism. They can easily judge Turkey without even understanding the situtation and they immediately start an attack. We cannot take destructive criticism. There are even some who make false news on Turkey.

Here we go again

I dont judge a country by its tourist workers either Meltem, but the fact is that MANY PEOPLE do and many people DO spend their whole holiday at the hotel!

You get me wrong...I love Turkey, I am here because I love Turkey, but why does it have to be an unconditional love? It seems a dangerous attitude to be more concerned with your country's reputation than you are for your country's welfare.

Anyway, we have gone off-topic and I am going to finish my work now and will leave this discussion for fear of driving Joey away so soon

some people are so narrow-minded that they think that all europeans are christians! maybe this sort of thinking works in muslims countries where the outstanding majority is muslim and you dont dare be a non-muslim, hello knock-knock!

ghost,
how is it there in hell? tell us about the hellfire.

I am maybe not the right person to ask this question since I have only recently rejoined TC but can we no longer have a serious debate on here.

qdemir
just thinking of how narrow-minded you are: you thought ghost is christian and therefore your ethics will work on her? it doesnt matter what your statement says, but it matters to whom you say it.
why didnt you quote from your own religion? or it lacks such morales?

as for who i am: prove all your stupid guessings!
i can only say that i cant waste my time on so-called mr. turkish freud. reading all your posts to catwoman, one can say you are some immature boy full of complexes!

Leander, I dont think anyone disagrees that this German boy should be in a Turkish prison or, in fact, believes that Turkish prisons are worse than any other country.

My point was this Turkish obsession with "bad press" and "bad publicity".

The facts are there, as you say, with regard to Turkish prisons. So, why then, do comments made by German gutter press bother you so much? Instead of starting a word-war with Germany by finding things that are wrong with their system, why don't you just defend Turkey by stating the facts. The way you defend yourselves just appears arrogant and sanctimonious.

The reason I said it sounds like children's playground arguments is because it is EXACTLY THAT!

"Your brother stole a pencil" says one
"Well your brother lies" is the other child's defence.

Thus, the truth is NEVER established!!!!

Thank you leander, you have told all the things that should be told and your english is far better than mine.
I think now it's much clearer.

I agree with Joey. It is no longer possible to held a normal debate on this website. I for myself hold the rule that if I dont know enough about something, I wont reply to it, and if I do it is with questions. So maybe I should not write now, because I dont know enough about the topic. But since the people who advertise with the fact that all they say is right, that other people are short-sighted and that the only reason we can't hold a debate anymore is because some (Turkish) members can't accept criticism, started to post useless, meaningless, rude and offensive messages around the forms, I thought I might as well just reply too.

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İt is a misconception to think that Turkish people do not criticise their country and government. How else could people organize meetings of millions of people who do not agree with the government and let this know in an organized way?
Today when I came to my neighbours, they were watching a programme in which 2 persons debated on the fact that Turkey shouldn't ever be ruled on religious grounds and that people should stop saying 'This is the work of Allah', but create their own world and ask scientifical questions. After the programme, the women talked about what was going on and what things they wanted government to do different.
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Also, I understand the Turkish attitude that says 'foreigners cannot understand our situation'. It is such a diverse country, with such a 'two-faced' history, that some problems maybe need to be solved in a way other countries cant understand. Turkey is a beautiful country, and developed in many ways, but the way of thinking of many people isnt as 'developed, modern' (no offense) as the people in Western Europe. So it is very normal that Turkish people have the feeling others cant understand them, because when ways of thinking are different, solving problems is different too. Yes, human rights are the same in all the world, but getting people to keep them requires different things in different countries.
What is of importance now, is that the country doesn't fall in hands of the wrong government (the religious one, from my point of view), who can easily 'brainwash' or 'play' with peoples minds, because they are fragile.
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I think it is so easy to say that Turkish people can't stand criticism. (Im sorry I just cant spellthat word). I agree that its one of their weaker points, I noticed that in friendly discussions with friends, on a tv-programme where a foreign contestant doubted if the Turkish judge had judged her and her Turkish-ice-skating partner right, and after this 10 minutes of discussion followed from the Turkish side. Completely unnecessary. There are many topics that are hard to talk about with some (many?) Turkish people, they cant endure criticism well. But there are two sides of the story.
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And as a last point, there are some people on this website who seem to think that mltm doesnt have a modern way of thinking and is very patriarchic (however that is spelled ) , but if you ask me she is one of the girls that does talk and think about what is going on. And that is what Turkey needs. Not needless debates on the fact that they cant endure criticism and that we in the West are better because we dont like our governments and are not afraid to say it.

That's better! It has been far too dull around here lately

Leander your replies were wonderful - I declare myself out-debated! Well done, you replied calmly without personal criticism to me. It was such fun though

....yes yes, its all very diplomatic, but not much fun

ı saw a new 3 days ago on a turkish newspaper...mother of hım said this..
my boy..stay ın turkey..and spent this years on there..and their prisons..cause ıf u come back to germany..u have more years than turkey..

and ı think ıts a wrong behavior on all of the world..