Dear Members,

Turkish Medical Association website announcement of decision:
The ATO case dismissed: Medicine for the benefit of humanity in on duty!

The following letter was sent to TMA:

President Bayazit Ilhan
Turkish Medical Association
GMK Bulvarı Ş. Daniş Tunalıgil Sok. No: 2 / 17 – 23
Maltepe
Ankara
06570

Feb 24, 2015

Dear President Ilhan:

As colleagues in the healthcare professions, the board of Doctors Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (DARA) wishes to congratulate the physicians of Turkey on the February 20, 2015 court decision overturning the Ankara government’s attempt to interfere in the care of patients requiring medical intervention, specifically as related to injuries that were sustained during civil demonstrations in Gezi Park in 2014. It was a great sense of relief to read the news of your success posted on your website today.

Every year, Turkish citizens come to Canada to study or teach at our medical schools and work alongside doctors and nurses in our hospitals. We also meet with Turkish doctors at international medical conferences. Because of this, Canadian doctors have first-hand knowledge of both the professional capabilities and personal integrity of our counterparts in Turkey. As a result, the news in 2014 that, in crisis situations, the government in Ankara would disregard principles of medical neutrality and seek to implement a subjective, politically-motivated emergency care policy, had an emotional impact on the members of our organization.

Thanks to your efforts, the message delivered to Ankara now — and, going forward, to all other national governments — is loud and clear: governments have no right to interfere in the professional role of healthcare providers who are dedicated to looking after the sick and injured, regardless of their political, religious or ethnic affiliation.

We applaud you for your efforts and look forward to working closely with you in the future to ensure emergency personnel in all countries will have the legal right to use their objective, medical judgement in all aspects of their public service.

Sincerely,

President & Board of Directors
DARA (Doctors Against Racism and Antisemitism)
www.daradocs.org