Human rights associations up in arms over deputy’s remarks on torture allegations


Date posted: October 17, 2016

In an open letter to the Turkish Parliament, six Turkey-based human rights associations on Thursday criticized recent remarks of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Mehmet Metiner, who said the government would ignore allegations of torture and mistreatment if victims were sympathizers of the Gülen movement.

The Helsinki Citizens Assembly (HYD), Human Rights Association (İHD), Human Rights Research Association (İHAD), Human Rights Agenda Association (İHGD), Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUMDER) and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) said in the letter that Metiner’s remarks were unacceptable.

“We protest deputy Mehmet Metiner for his position on torture allegations. No one can be subjected to torture and maltreatment for any reason,” the letter read.

AKP deputy Metiner, who is also head of the parliamentary prison subcommittee, said there will be no official visit to those who have been arrested on charges of membership in the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), a term used by the Turkish government to describe the Gülen movement.

In a separate incident last week, Metiner also said he would have done the same if he were the police officers who roughed up sympathizers of the Gülen movement in an attempt to arrest them.

The government accuses the movement of masterminding a July 15 coup attempt despite successive denials from the latter.

Amnesty International stated on July 24 that it had collected credible evidence that detainees in Turkey are beaten, tortured and on some occasions raped in official and unofficial detention centers across the country.

Source: Turkey Purge , October 13, 2016


Related News

Has Turkey arrested Christian to exchange for Fethullah Gülen?

Turkey’s Erdogan regime has arrested an American pastor whom they could use in a possible exchange for the Turkish Muslim cleric they want to extradite from the United States. The Muslim Fethullah Gülen is accused by the Erdogan regime to be the mastermind behind the latest failed-military-coup intending to depose the president.

PM made the wrong choice

Erdoğan put under the spotlight US Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone by stating: “Recently, very strangely, ambassadors have gotten involved in some provocative acts. I am calling on them from here to do your job. If you leave your area of duty, this could extend into our government’s area of jurisdiction. We do not have to keep you in our country.” These caustic sentences prove that the AK Party has decided to declare a war not only against the Hizmet movement but also to provoke tensions with the US. Since they have opted for a defensive attack strategy, this reaction does not surprise anyone.

Peshawar High Court halts government order to deport Pak-Turk school staff

Petitioner counsel Qazi Muhammad Anwar argued that all the Turkish teachers are very peaceful people who have committed no crime in Turkey as well as here in Pakistan.” He prayed the bench to suspend the federal government’s notice and stop deportation of the Turkish teachers and their families. The bench accepted the request and restrained the deportation of Pak-Turk schools’ staff.

Gülen: purge of public officials seems ‘arbitrary’

The Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has inspired the popular civic and social Hizmet (Service) movement, has said that the reassignment of thousands of public officials from their posts without any disciplinary procedures following the Dec. 17, 2013 corruption scandal seems to have been conducted on an arbitrary basis.

Gülen’s followers banned from mosque in Germany

According to a video posted by Mehmet Cerit, the editor of Zaman Vandaag, an overseas subsidiary of the government-seized Turkish daily Zaman, a man is seen turning away the people whom he considered Hizmet members, just before the Friday prayer in a mosque in Germany.

Court wants up to 11 years for Samanyolu TV director

A prosecutor has filed charges against a director of Samanyolu TV accusing him of “insulting” and “slandering” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and fomenting “grudges and hostility among the public,” demanding up to 11 years and two months in prison.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Editorial Opinion: Mistreating [Turkish] Teachers

My Nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize is Fethullah Gulen

Nigerian govt reacts to planned deportation of 1000 Turks

Gülen movement acted ‘courageously’ when gov’t-involved graft revealed, Altan says

Erzurum people call Minister Ala to apologize Gülen for his remarks

Mother with disabled son and daughter detained over alleged coup involvement

Lawyer of arrested officers detained for Gülen movement propaganda

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News