IntroductionOn July 22, 2007, Turkish citizens will go to the polls to elect a new parliament. These elections, which were initially scheduled for the late fall, are taking place in a climate of growing political tension and uncertainty in Turkey. The parliamentary elections were moved forward to July after a failed attempt by the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) to get its candidate for president elected by the parliament. The parliamentary vote was annulled by a controversial Constitutional Court decision—the first such annulment in Turkey’s history—that came only a few days after the Turkish military had intervened in the political debate, raising serious concerns that the military’s intervention may have influenced the court’s decision. Tensions in Turkey are, however, broader than just the political controversies surrounding the presidential vote. The annulment of the vote was the culmination of growing polarization between the military and elements of the state bureaucracy on the one hand and the AKP government on the other. A series of mass rallies in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, and most recently, on May 22, Samsun focused anti-government and Turkish nationalist sentiment. Armed clashes between the Turkish military and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have recently escalated, and a suspected PKK suicide bomb in May targetted civilians in Ankara. There also appears to have been an escalation in violence by nationalist groups over the past year. The reform process that had brought significant human rights improvements in recent years has stagnated. This briefing paper documents some of the key current human rights concerns in Turkey, including the ongoing influence of the military in the political arena, notorious restrictions on freedom of speech, the harassment and prosecution of Kurdish political parties, and ongoing problems of impunity for state officials. The coverage is not meant to be comprehensive, but to underscore some of the abuses that appear to have been exacerbated by the pre-election climate in Turkey and/or to have had implications for the election period, or those that have long featured as a prominent component of the reform agenda. Much is at stake in the July elections: the future of democratic and human rights reforms as well as Turkey’s prospective membership in the European Union (EU) will depend in large part on the new Turkish government’s commitment to reversing these negative trends and implementing long-awaited reforms. In the post-election period it will be crucial for both the Turkish government and the EU to make a commitment to reinvigorate human rights reform in Turkey. Human Rights Watch urges the new Turkish government that will be formed after the July elections to affirm its commitment to pursue human rights reforms as a matter of priority, and quickly move to set a timetable for implementing key reforms that are necessary to consolidate past progress. Human Rights Watch also calls on the EU and other relevant actors from the international community to take a clear and unequivocal stand in support of consolidating human rights reform in Turkey and to take the necessary policy steps to reinforce this message. |