Sir, - Your report on the address by the Turkish Ambassador, Mr Gunaltay Sibay, to the Oireachtas European Affairs Committee (The Irish Times, November 8th) quotes the ambassador defending Turkey's human rights record.
The members of the committee are to be congratulated for highlighting Turkey's human rights abuses, and the ongoing prison hunger strikes, as that state attempts to join the EU.
Mr Sibay's comments ring hollow in the light of last week's report from Amnesty International which "calls for an immediate end to the country's endemic torture". Amnesty rejected assurances from the authorities that they were tackling the problem. It said detainees in Turkey were routinely blindfolded during interrogations, and some throughout detention, to prevent the identification of their torturers.
Beatings, sexual abuse, death and rape threats are all common methods of torture, according to Amnesty. In addition, the number of deaths in the 13-month-long protest against isolation prisons is now nearing 100.
Mr Sibay's attempt to whitewash Turkey will not work in the light of the increasing concern in Ireland at that country's abysmal human rights record. - Yours, etc.,
M. Glennon, Solidarity With Hunger Strikers in Turkey, Morehampton Road, Dublin 4.