Amnesty International’s annual report released on Monday highlights Turkey’s persistent human rights and cost of living crises, the lack of effective solutions to tackle poverty and social exclusion, and the pre-election crackdown on freedom of assembly as well as other restrictions on rights and freedoms.
The comprehensive report marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and covers 156 countries, highlighting the collapse of international norms in 2022.
The report underlines tightened restrictions on rights and chronic issues such as widespread poverty and social exclusion.
The global launch of the report was held in Paris in the midst of pension reform protests, while the presentation in Turkey was at the organisation’s office in Karaköy.
Key points on Turkey
Freedom of expression was a constant theme in the report, citing examples from the censorship law to the arrest of Kurdish journalists in Diyarbakır (Amed). It also mentioned the unlawful restrictions on Pride marches and the ongoing lawsuit to close down the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
Targeting of human rights defenders was another prominent part of the report, with Amnesty citing the cases of Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş, who have been imprisoned on what the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled politically motivated charges with little evidence, Öztürk Türkdoğan and Eren Keskin, chairman and vice chairwoman of the Humans Rights Association (İHD) at the time, and Şebnem Korur Fincancı, president of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), who was arrested for calling for an investigation into Turkey’s chemical weapon use.
Other issues cited in the report include the continued decline in women’s rights and safety, with at least 225 women murdered by former or current intimate partners in the first 10 months of 2021 and the Court of Cassation upholding the country’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention.
Refugees and migrants in the country also faced unlawful treatment, while anti-refugee rhetoric by politicians and the media spread further, Amnesty found. Unlawful treatment includes the use of firearms at borders, violations of the prohibition of refoulement, and deportations without due process.
The report also cited the case of former Amnesty Turkey president Taner Kılıç, who was convicted to six years in prison on terrorism charges. The ECHR has ruled that Kılıç’s arrest “occurred in the absence of plausible reasons to suspect him of having committed the alleged crimes”.
