Turkish Gov’t Systematically Violated 12 Fundamental Rights During Emergency Rule

Date posted: August 5, 2017

Sezgin Tanrıkulu, a deputy from Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has announced that Turkish government has systematically violated 12 fundamental human rights during the ongoing state of emergency in the country.

“The freedom to claim rights, the right to defense, the presumption of innocence, and the right to a fair trial have been violated. Freedom of expression, freedom of thought, freedom of assembly, the right to private life, the right to work, the right to protest, the right to own property, and the right to travel have also been violated,” said Tanrıkulu.

CHP deputy Tanrıkulu has prepared a report on “human rights and constitutional violations” under the state of emergency declared after the controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016. Tanrıkulu examined practices starting from July 20, 2016, the date when emergency rule was declared, concluding that “basic human rights guaranteed under the constitution and international law are being systematically violated.”

Tanrıkulu has stressed that “limited precautions” necessitated by emergency rule should not be extended in perpetuity. “The urgent measures that had to be adopted on the night of July 15 and in the following days should not be made permanent. Human rights violations that have emerged from this permanence should be gotten rid of immediately and the opportunity to thoroughly investigate those causing violations must be provided,” the report stated.

“Democracy has been shelved, the state of law has been ignored, and constitutional rights and freedoms have been violated using the state of emergency,” the report stated.

Decrees have been issued leading to the dismissal and suspension of over 100,000 people under that state of emergency, which Tanrıkulu described as “unconstitutional.” He also said the courts’ rejection of these cases “is against the law.”

Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch AKP government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup. Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15.

Source: Stockholm Center for Freedom , August 3, 2017