Amnesty: Civil society under massive crackdown in Turkey, Gülen movement main target


Date posted: February 22, 2017

An annual report released by Amnesty International on Wednesday has said a failed coup attempt in July prompted a massive crackdown on civil society in Turkey and that the faith-based Gülen movement has been the main target.

Turkey experienced an unsuccessful military coup attempt on July 15 following which the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government declared a state of emergency which is still in effect. The AKP government accused the Gülen movement of masterminding the coup attempt although the movement strongly denies any involvement.

Amnesty’s report said over 40,000 people were remanded to pre-trial detention during six months of the emergency rule in the country; there was evidence of the torture of detainees in the wake of the coup attempt; and nearly 90,000 civil servants were dismissed. Hundreds of media outlets and NGOs were closed down and journalists, activists and deputies were detained.

Following the coup attempt the government announced a three-month state of emergency, extended for a further three months in October, derogating from a list of articles in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. The government passed a series of executive decrees that failed to uphold even these reduced standards. Nearly 90,000 civil servants including teachers, police and military officers, doctors, judges and prosecutors were dismissed from their positions on the grounds of links to a terrorist organization or threat to national security. Most were presumed to be based on allegations of links to Fethullah Gülen, a former government ally who the government accused of masterminding the coup. There was no clear route in law to appeal these decisions. At least 40,000 people were remanded to pre-trial detention accused of links to the coup or the Gülen movement, classified by the authorities as the Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), Amnesty said.

Freedom of expression

According to Amnesty’s report, freedom of expression deteriorated sharply during the year. After the declaration of a state of emergency, 118 journalists were remanded to pre-trial detention and 184 media outlets were arbitrarily and permanently closed down under executive decrees, leaving opposition media severely restricted. People expressing dissent, especially in relation to the Kurdish issue, were subjected to threats of violence and criminal prosecution. Internet censorship increased. At least 375 NGOs, including women’s rights groups, lawyers’ associations and humanitarian organizations, were shut by executive decree in November.

In the report, Amnesty also cited the appointment of trustees to the Zaman Media Group in March 2016 in relation to an ongoing terrorism-related investigation.

After police stormed Zaman offices, a pro-government editorial line was imposed on the group’s newspapers and television channels. In July, Zaman group media outlets were permanently closed down along with other Gülen-linked media.

Torture and other ill-treatment

There was an increase in cases of torture and other ill-treatment reported in police detention, from curfew areas in southeast Turkey and then more markedly in Ankara and İstanbul in the immediate aftermath of the coup attempt. Investigations into abuses were ineffective, said the report.

The state of emergency removed protections for detainees and allowed previously banned practices that helped facilitate torture and other ill-treatment: The maximum pre-charge detention period was increased from four to 30 days, and facilities to block detainees’ access to lawyers in pre-charge detention for five days and to record conversations between client and lawyer in pre-trial detention and pass them to prosecutors were introduced. Detainees’ access to lawyers and the right to consult with their choice of lawyers – rather than state-provided lawyers – was further restricted. Medical examinations were carried out in the presence of police officers and the reports arbitrarily denied to detainees’ lawyers.

No national mechanism for the independent monitoring of places of detention existed following the abolition of the Human Rights Institution in April and the non-functioning of its successor body. The Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture visited detention facilities in August and reported to the Turkish authorities in November. However, the government did not publish the report by the end of the year. The UN Special Rapporteur on torture visited in November, after his visit was delayed on the request of the Turkish authorities.

The authorities professed their adherence to “zero tolerance for torture” policies but on occasion, spokespeople summarily dismissed reports against them, stating that coup plotters deserved abuse and that allegations would not be investigated. The authorities accused Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch of being tools for the “FETÖ terrorist organization” following the NGOs’ joint publication on torture and ill-treatment. Three lawyers’ associations that worked on police violence and torture were shut down in November under an executive decree.

Lawyers said that 42 people detained in Nusaybin in May after clashes between Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)-affiliated individuals and state forces were beaten and subjected to other ill-treatment in police detention. They said that the group, which included adults and children, were hooded, beaten during police interrogation and not able to access appropriate medical care for their injuries.

Widespread torture and other ill-treatment of suspects accused of taking part in the coup attempt were reported in its immediate aftermath. In July, severe beatings, sexual assault, threats of rape and cases of rape were reported, as thousands were detained in official and unofficial police detention. Military officers appeared to be targeted for the worst physical abuse, but holding detainees in stress positions and keeping them handcuffed behind their backs, and denying them adequate food and water or toilet breaks were reported to have taken place on a far wider scale. Lawyers and detainees’ relatives were often not informed that individuals had been detained until they were brought for charge.

 

Source: Turkish Minute , February 22, 2017


Related News

Turkey’s once-worldly aims falter, even close allies concerned

Power appears to have gone to the prime minister’s head. Angling to become president in order to extend his rule, Erdogan is foolishly profiling and purging former friends in the Hizmet movement, recently firing hundreds of government employees who are allegedly (no one knows for sure as there’s no evidence) sympathetic to the movement’s founder, Fethullah Gulen

Students of Fatih Schools take first place in LYS and TEOG exams

Students of the Fatih Schools network — which are inspired by the faith-based Gülen movement — popularly known as the Hizmet movement — were the top scorers in both the Transition from Primary to Secondary Education (TEOG) exams taken from Nov. 26-27 and April 29-30 and the Undergraduate Placement Examination (LYS).

Gülen offers condolences for slain İstanbul resident shot at protest

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has offered condolences for Uğur Kurt, a 34-year-old who was waiting to attend a funeral outside a cemevi, an Alevi house of worship, was hit by a stray bullet allegedly from a police weapon and died in hospital on Thursday night.

Ministry allegedly profiled students of dershanes close to Hizmet

The petitions filed with the Ministry of Education and provincial educational branches in May 2012 by parents have revealed that the Education Ministry profiled students of dershanes — private institutes that offer examination prep classes — and schools close to the Hizmet movement.

‘Erdoğan signed MGK decisions to curb Gülen movement that Ecevit resisted’

Democratic Left Party (DSP) Chairman Masum Türker has said that controversial decisions made by the National Security Council (MGK) to curb the activities of the Gülen movement were ignored by former Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit in 2000 but signed by then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Aug. 25, 2004.

An Exiled Cleric Denies Playing a Leading Role in Coup Attempt

Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish cleric whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has accused of inspiring the coup attempt against his government, gave a rare interview on Saturday at his compound here in which he denied involvement in the coup, but compared Mr. Erdogan’s administration to that of the Nazi SS.

Latest News

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

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

How Nigerian Tulip International Colleges tracks pupils with math talent

Egyptian Congressmen Visited the Turkish School in Cairo

Gülen’s solution to Kurdish issue discussed at panel

Chicago organization welcomes new scrutiny amid fallout of failed Turkish military coup

Ambassadors uneasy over Erdoğan’s orders concerning graft probe

This man stood up to Trump. In Turkey he was branded a terrorist

Nigerian daily: Turkey at risk of becoming polarised because of Erdogan

Copyright 2024 Hizmet News