Turkish solders confirm being used in unauthorized medical experiments

PanARMENIAN.Net - Six of the 20 soldiers on whom doctors conducted medical experiments at the Gülhane Military Academy of Medicine (GATA), Turkey, said they were not informed about the experiments beforehand and that they intend to seek their legal rights, Today’s Zaman reported, quoting Bugün daily.

According to the report, the soldiers said the doctors did not tell them that they would be used in medical experiments, adding that they would not have allowed the doctors to do so if they knew about the experiments beforehand. Six doctors in the neurology department of GATA used 20 soldiers serving their compulsory military service as guinea pigs during a number of medical experiments they conducted in 2007 and 2008. The experiments were carried out without seeking permission from the ethics board at the Ministry of Health, the soldiers or their families.

“They [the doctors] told me that I was suffering from dyskinesia [a disorder that causes abnormalities in voluntary muscle movement]. I stayed for about 10 days at GATA. There, they connected me to a machine and recorded me [during the experiments]. They gave me shocks. I did not feel anything. It lasted for about 20 or 30 seconds. I did not resist, thinking they were treating me,” Kasım E., one of the soldiers, said.

Another soldier, Muhammet K., said the GATA doctors placed an instrument, similar to a clip, on his finger and subjected him to electric shocks or vibrations. “They were holding something similar to a racket over my head. I was there for treatment. I was not told that it was part of a medical experiment,” he explained.

In a video recording, allegedly recorded by doctors during experiments, doctors are seen sending electromagnetic waves to soldiers’ brains and watching the soldiers’ reactions. Some of the soldiers became unconscious following the tests and were later unable to even remember their names, according to the recording.

The General Staff, however, said the soldiers did not suffer during the process but were only demonstrating physical reactions to the magnetic waves. Some of the soldiers, however, declined to comment on the experiments citing fear of the military as a reason.