TURKEY: Implementation Capacity of Turkish Police to Prevent Disproportionate Use of Force (Twinning)

The project aimed at enhancing the implementation capacity of the Turkish National Police to prevent disproportionate use of force. The legal framework, organisational framework, tactics and equipment standards as well as training routines in the fields of daily police routine, crowd control and rapid intervention were assessed and compared with EU best practice examples. Finally, models in line with the European Convention of Human Rights and EU policing standards were developed.

The legal component started with the analysis of laws, regulations and jurisdiction on use of force by the Turkish Police supported by an assessment of the factual status quo. Turkish National Police experts and Member State legal experts jointly developed human rights-based recommendations on regulations and their implementation for police and legislators.

Standard operating procedures were at the center of the organisational framework part of the project. Amended procedures were intended to provide police officers with the framework necessary for preventing disproportionate use of force. Within the field of tactics and equipment the project also dealt with enabling police officers to act in better accordance with human rights standards. A train the trainer programme implemented by the Turkish National Police together with experts from the Austrian Security Academy, the German Federal Criminal Police Office and from theLudwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR) aimed at establishing in-service trainings, of which human rights issues and standards are an integral part.

Lead partners were the Austrian Security Academy SIAK together with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR). The German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation IRZ was junior partner in cooperation with the German Federal Criminal Police Office BKA.

The kick-off event was held in Ankara on 5 September 2011 and the train the trainers programme started on 6 May 2013.