§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will ask the Turkish Government to respond to the Council of Europe's Committee on the Prevention of Torture concerning conditions in Imrali Island Prison and any other relevant outstanding issues raised by the committee. [HL1102]
§ The Minister for Trade (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)Her Majesty's Government have no plans expressly to ask the Turkish Government to respond to the Council of Europe's Committee on the Prevention of Torture concerning conditions in Imrali Island Prison. There are already encouraging signs of closer co-operation between the new Turkish Government and the Council of Europe, including the Committee on the Prevention of Torture, most recently in Prime Minister Gul's speech to the Parliamentary Assembly on 27 January 2003; but also in a pattern of co-operation with the Committee on the Prevention of Torture.
We do, however, raise human rights issues with Turkey at regular intervals, for instance during an ongoing human rights dialogue, the last round of which took place in London on 26 November 2002.