A/70/321
I.
Turkey
47. The Government reported that, via a constitutional amendment, the provisions
of international human rights treaties ratified by Turkey may be invoked directly
before Turkish courts. Accordingly, the International Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was an integral part of the Turkish national
legislation.
48. The Government noted that the current Penal Code, which entered into force
on 1 June 2005, penalized discrimination, hate crimes (art. 122), incitement to
social, racial, religious or regional enmity or hatred (art. 216), genocide (art. 76),
crimes against humanity (art. 77), unlawful collection of personal data, inter alia, on
racial grounds (art. 135), the act of hindering the exercise of freedom of belief,
thought or conviction (art. 115) and the act of damaging places of worship
(art. 153).
49. The Government referred to the training of members of the law enforcement
agencies on human rights standards. It also noted the courses on human rights given
at the Justice Academy of Turkey for candidate judges and prosecutors and in -service
training for staff of the Ministry of Justice. The training focused, inter alia, on
prohibition of discrimination and the obligations of Turkey under the relevant United
Nations and Council of European conventions and the case law of the European Court
of Human Rights.
III. Contributions received from non-governmental and
other organizations
A.
Coalition of German non-governmental organizations, lawyers
and academics
50. The report submitted by a coalition of German non -governmental
organizations, lawyers and academics acting as co-plaintiffs (Nebenkläger) in the
trial of members of the National Socialist Underground at the Higher Regional
Court in Munich discussed that terrorist group and addressed the issue of racial
discrimination exemplified by law enforcement investigations surrounding a series
of murders and bombings that the group carried out.
51. The National Socialist Underground was accused of having committed at least
10 murders between 2000 and 2007. Nine of the victims had migrant backgrounds
and the other victim was a policewoman. In addition to the murders, the group was
allegedly accused of having committed three bombings. The target of the first bomb
was a restaurant managed by a person with a Turkish background. The second was a
grocery store owned by a person with an Iranian background. In the third attack, a
nail bomb was detonated in a busy shopping street with many shops run by Turkish
families. The coalition reported that the group funded itself by distributing
anti-Semitic board games, receiving donations from extreme right-wing circles and
committing bank robberies.
52. The Coalition alleged that from 1998 to 2011 law enforcement agencies did
not seriously investigate the possibility that neo -Nazis could be the perpetrators of
those hate crimes. It suggested that this failure may be due to institutional racism in
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