Human Rights Watch received reports from a credible source that, in mid-July 2009, police transferred a group of Arabic-speaking people from Chios Island to the Evros border region, where some were secretly forced to cross the border into Turkey.

“Protection of human rights can only be achieved if the victims of human rights violations have access to an effective remedy.” Yet this fundamental human right, enshrined in so many instruments, including the European Convention on Human Rights, is being breached on a continuous basis in many member states. This fact underscores a serious enforcement gap that urgently needs to be addressed.

This week, researcher Juliana Cano Nieto is back in Turkey, witnessing the successes and challenges of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender human rights movement. Activists have achieved ever-increasing visibility; at the same time violence, particularly against Turkey's transgender communities, remains a fact of life.

I am writing to you today specifically regarding the policing of the May 1 demonstrations to be held in cities across Turkey. We hope that steps will be taken to prevent some of the most serious police abuses that have marred previous such May 1 events.

Turkish authorities should prevent any repeat of the 2007 and 2008 ill-treatment of demonstrators in Istanbul by police on International Workers’ Day, May 1, 2009.

Your forthcoming visit to Turkey comes at a critical moment in that country's history. After a hopeful period of progress under the previous Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, political and human rights reforms in Turkey have stalled, and there has been backtracking on a number of key human rights concerns.

The killing of Ebru Soykan, a prominent transgender human rights activist, on March 10, 2009, shows a continuing climate of violence based on gender identity that authorities should urgently take steps to combat, Human Rights Watch said today.

News reports and members of a Turkish human rights group said that an assailant stabbed and killed Ebru, 28, in her home in the center of Istanbul.