From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

CHAPTER 1 Assessing National Approaches to Internal Displacement: Findings from 15 Countries
Turkey’s Law No. 5233 on Compensation of Damages
That Occurred Due to Terror and the Fight against
Terror (27 July 2004) does not specifically focus on
internal displacement, but it does benefit IDPs among
other affected populations. The law and its related
amendments and regulations compensate for “material
damages suffered by persons due to terrorist acts
or activities undertaken during the fight against terror”
between 1987 and 2004. Compensation is provided for
three types of damage: loss of property; physical injuries,
disabilities, medical treatment, death and funerals;
and inability to access property due to measures taken
during “the fight against terrorism.” According to the
law, compensation is to be determined by damage assessment
commissions (DACs) at the provincial level,
with funding provided by the Ministry of the Interior. 14
From 2004 to August 2009, the commissions received
just over 360,000 applications. Of those, over 190,000
claims were decided: 120,000 were approved and the
claimants awarded compensation; the remaining 70,000
were denied. Around $1.4 billion in compensation was
awarded, of which close to $1.1 billion has been paid. 15
While Turkish authorities have made improvements
to the law to respond to criticisms, problems are still
outstanding. It has been criticized for ineffective implementation,
including lack of independence of DACs; the
Restoration: Towards Property Restitution for IDPs in
Colombia, September 2010 (www.internal-displacement.
org).
14 The provisions discussed in this paragraph can be found
in Articles 1, 4-7, Law No. 5233 on the Compensation
of Damages That Occurred due to Terror and the Fight
against Terror, published in the Official Gazette, 27
July 2004, and in the law’s subsequent regulations and
amendments, available at Brookings-Bern Project on
Internal Displacement, “National and Regional Laws
and Policies on Internal Displacement: Turkey” (www.
brookings.edu/projects/idp/Laws-and-Policies/turkey.
aspx).
15 IDMC, Turkey: Need for Continued Improvement in
Response to Protracted Displacement: A Profile of the
Internal Displacement Situation, 26 October 2009, p. 12,
citing correspondence with the government of Turkey, 17
September 2009 (www.internal-displacment.org).
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unreasonable burden of proof placed on IDPs; lack of
effective appeals procedures; lack of information about
the claims process; and inconsistent and inequitable
application of the law. Walter Kälin, the RSG on IDPs,
called attention to these and other issues and offered
related recommendations in March 2006. 16
In Iraq, various decrees and orders on displacement
exist, and the Transitional Administrative Law—
which was valid from June 2004 until the adoption of
the Constitution in 2005—as well as the Constitution
protects Iraqis against forced displacement. 17 The
Constitution also protects Iraqis’ right to return. Notably,
since 2004 the Iraqi authorities have taken measures to
16 Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human
Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Mr. Walter Kälin,
Letter to Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United
Nations, March 2006, pp. 2–4, on file with the authors. See
also IDMC, Protracted Displacement in Europe, Geneva,
May 2009, pp. 16–18; Dilek Kurban, Ayşe Betül Celik,
and Deniz Yükseker, Overcoming a Legacy of Mistrust:
Toward Reconciliation between the State and the Displaced.
Update on the Implementation of the Recommendations
Made by the UN Secretary-General’s Representative on
Internally Displaced Persons Following His Visit to Turkey,
IDMC/Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation
(TESEV), June 2006 (www.internal-displacement.org).
17 Forced displacement and other oppressive and
discriminatory practices of the Saddam Hussein regime
were addressed in the Law of Administration for the
State of Iraq for the Transitional Period, also called the
Transitional Administrative Law (TAL). Signed by the
Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Iraq
Governing Council, 8 March 2004, the TAL was in
effect during the transitional period in Iraq between 28
June 2004 and December 2005 just prior to Iraq’s first
elections for a constitutionally elected government. The
TAL mandated the government to prevent, address, and
protect Iraqis from displacement: “The Iraqi Transitional
Government shall take effective steps to end the vestiges of
oppressive acts of the previous regime arising from forced
displacement, deprivation of citizenship, expropriation
of financial assets and property, and dismissal from
government employment for political, racial, or sectarian
reasons.” Article 6, Law of Administration for the State
of Iraq for the Transitional Period (www.cpa-iraq.org/
government/TAL.html).