• Human Rights in Turkey

    Turkey’s Justice and Development Party government maintained economic growth in 2012 despite a slowdown and has taken a strong focus on developing a leading regional role. However, the government failed to take convincing steps to address the country’s worsening domestic human rights record and democratic deficit.  Prosecutors and courts continue to use terrorism laws to prosecute and prolong the incarceration of thousands of Kurdish political activists, human rights defenders, students, journalists, lawyers, and trade unionists. Free speech and media remain restricted, and there are ongoing serious violations of fair trial rights.

  • Turkey: Justice Central to Kurdish Peace Process
    Apr 25, 2013
    Justice for the thousands of state-perpetrated killings and disappearances of Kurdish civilians in the 1990s should be an essential part of the peace process under way in Turkey. Human Rights Watch released a video outlining the events of that era, with family members whose loved ones were killed describing the lack of justice ever since.
  • Turkey: Strengthen Law Reform Bill
    Mar 25, 2013
    Strengthening a law reform bill currently before Turkey’s parliament could significantly improve human rights and help bolster the peace process with the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The Parliamentary Justice Commission is examining the bill, the “fourth reform package,” and parliament is expected to vote on it in the coming weeks.
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Turkey

  • Turkey Silencing the Guns – and Critics
    May 29, 2013
    Sevan Nişanyan, a Turkish-Armenian journalist, wrote a blog entry last September stating that critical comments about religion don’t constitute hate speech. “Making fun of an Arab leader who claimed he contacted God hundreds of years ago and received political, financial and sexual benefits is not hate speech,” he said. “It is an almost kindergarten-level test of what is called freedom of expression.”
  • Turkey: Justice Central to Kurdish Peace Process
    Apr 25, 2013
    Justice for the thousands of state-perpetrated killings and disappearances of Kurdish civilians in the 1990s should be an essential part of the peace process under way in Turkey. Human Rights Watch released a video outlining the events of that era, with family members whose loved ones were killed describing the lack of justice ever since.
  • Turkey: Strengthen Law Reform Bill
    Mar 25, 2013
    Strengthening a law reform bill currently before Turkey’s parliament could significantly improve human rights and help bolster the peace process with the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The Parliamentary Justice Commission is examining the bill, the “fourth reform package,” and parliament is expected to vote on it in the coming weeks.
  • January 2013 Legal Opinion Submitted to Minister of Justice of Turkey
    Mar 25, 2013
    Human Rights Watch considers that repealing the statute of limitations for violations of the right to life and torture by suspected state perpetrators and public officials would be an effective means of combatting Turkey’s legacy of impunity for serious human rights abuses, particularly those committed during the early 1990s.
  • Turkey: Terror Laws Undermine Progress on Rights
    Jan 31, 2013
    Turkey needs to end its use of overly broad antiterrorism laws to hold thousands of activists and journalists, who have spoken out or engaged in the non-violent promotion of Kurdish rights, in prolonged detention, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2013. Human Rights Watch identified the key human rights challenges facing Turkey in 2013 and reviewed domestic human rights developments in 2012.
  • Turkey: Nine Human Rights Lawyers Imprisoned
    Jan 22, 2013
    Yesterday’s Istanbul court decision to order the pre-trial detention of nine human rights lawyers highlights the arbitrary and abusive use of anti-terrorism laws in Turkey. The 9 were among 12 lawyers arrested, 11 during early morning raids on January 18, and 1 on January 20.
  • Egypt: Don’t Force Palestinians Back to Syria
    Jan 18, 2013
    Two Palestinians being held at the Cairo airport, apparently refused entry to Egypt, are at risk of deportation to Syria. The man and his son would face indiscriminate violence and possible persecution if returned to Syria.
  • Turkey: No Justice for Airstrike Victims
    Dec 27, 2012
    The Turkish government has yet to open an effective and transparent inquiry into a Turkish air force aerial bombardment a year ago that killed 34 Kurdish men and boys.
  • Turkey: End Overly Broad Website Blocking
    Dec 21, 2012
    The Turkish government should promptly stop unlawfully blocking websites. On December 18, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ruled, in the case of Ahmet Yıldırım v. Turkey, that blocking Google Sites in Turkey violated the right to freedom of expression. A Turkish court had ordered the complete blocking of Google Sites because of one person’s post. But the European Court found that Turkey’s legal framework was inadequate and did not prevent abuses and arbitrary application of blocking measures.
  • Turkey: Reconsider Appointment to Key Rights Body
    Dec 10, 2012
    The judge recently appointed as the chief ombudsman of Turkey’s newly created ombudsman institution has a history of failing to respect human rights standards, and his appointment risks the effectiveness of the new institution.
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