OSCE/ODIHR and Turkish National Police Academy sign agreement to implement training programme against hate crime

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Turkish National Police Academy signed a memorandum of understanding in Ankara on 22 January 2016 to implement the Training Against Hate Crime for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme.

"Police officers are often the first point of contact for victims and targeted communities. Improving their capacity to prevent bias-motivated incidents will benefit their overall relationship with society and improve public perception of the work done by police," said Beatriz Balbin, ODIHR’s First Deputy Director. "We appreciate the leadership of the National Police Academy and applaud Turkey for setting a positive example, demonstrating their commitment to addressing hate crime with concrete actions."

Yılmaz Çolak, President of the Turkish National Police Academy, said: “This agreement has great importance for the Turkish National Police and for our country, because we believe that TAHCLE will increase our awareness of, as well as our effectiveness in, dealing with hate crime. In this regard, we are very pleased to co-operate with the OSCE on such an important issue. I look forward to the positive results and benefits this programme will have for both sides.”

TAHCLE has been customized to strengthen the Turkish National Police's abilities to identify and investigate bias-motivated incidents and crimes. Turkey is the ninth OSCE participating State to implement TAHCLE, following the example set by Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Poland.