The (non)denial of torture, human rights and medical expertise

Abstract

This chapter addresses the issue of documenting state violence with a focus on the limitations of using forensic and amedical evidence in relation to human rights violations. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research into the documentation of state violence in Turkey, the chapter examines two case studies of state violence from the 1980s and the post-2014 Turkey to show how the use, misuse or non-use of forensic and medical evidence is carried out within the broader political climate in Turkey. The chapter shows that first the power of medical evidence to deny or prove torture allegations deteriorates as punishment-as-spectacle against the insurgent is normalized and tolerated with the help of legal framework. Second, the widespread use of medical and scientific expert knowledge has made human rights more dependent on the existing legal and bureaucratic framework rendering it all the more difficult to raise substantial and political questions about state violence.