The new president of Turkey is well-positioned to make progress on human rights and should take immediate steps to expand freedom of expression in Turkey.
Ahmet Necdet Sezer was elected president of Turkey today in a vote of 330 out of 550 in the Turkish parliament.
President-elect Sezer, a former president of the constitutional court in Turkey, made a dramatic speech one year ago, calling for the constitution and legal system of Turkey to be "cleansed," and followed this up with several speeches calling for greater freedom in public debate.
"Turkey has a chance to make real progress in human rights under this new president," said Holly Cartner, executive director of Europe and Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch. "But he needs to move quickly before the momentum is lost."
Cartner noted that the conflict in the Kurdish southeast, while far from settled, has been relatively quiescent recently. She criticized the current Turkish government for having failed to use this lull to make progress on outstanding profound human rights problems -- and Kurdish issues in particular.
Cartner said the question of Turkey's accession to the European Union would require a thorough-going public debate, and she urged Sezer to get rid of laws that restrict freedom of expression in Turkey. "At the moment, Turkey is simply not able to have an open discussion about the big issues it faces: the role of religion, ethnicity, and the military in the political constitution."
"Sezer has been surprisingly frank about the need for more freedom of expression," said Cartner. "He specifically referred to the constraints on ‘language' - code for the ban on broadcasting and education in Kurdish. We hope he follows-up that rhetoric with some real action as president."
Akin Birdal, former president of the Human Rights Association, is serving a one year sentence in Ankara Central Closed Prison for talking publicly about the problems of the Kurdish minority. Former government minister Hasan Celal Guzel is also serving a year for criticizing the army.
