Army's New Discipline Act Still Flawed, Activists Say

"With the new act, Turkish Army won't practice disciplinary cell penalty [popularly known as disco treatment] anymore. However, we would expect amendments to be done according to human rights concerns. The act still lacks that," said activist Tolga İslam regarding Turkish Army's amended disciplinary act which was ratified by the parliament last week.

The new act, İslam continued, considered "moral weakness", "marrying or having an affair with a prostitute", "having a homosexual relationship", "having an excessive amount of debt" and "involving in political movements" for being expelled from Turkish Army.

Tolga İslam said his initiative have been longtime discussing with defense ministry on the abolition of disco treatments and cell penalties.

"The disco treatment worked like torture centers. For the past year and half, we have received countless complaints on that. We have made these complaints visible by sharing some of them with media," İslam said. "It was a black stain on Turkish state to have these practices in the year of 2013. It is good that they don't exist anymore. But we would also expect that these amendments were implemented respecting major human rights declarations. There is still more to change."

Soldier Rights Initiative activist said the systematic ill-treatment in the military existed in other places other than disco cells.

"We need a strong authority to protect compulsory drafted civilians and show these people that they are not going to be harmed if they bring up their concerns," İslam said. "Turkish Army must become a transparent, accountable institution. For the most, it should respect human rights. Our initiative will follow up its cause to ensure that." (EKN/BM)