Since the coup d’état in Turkey on July 15, 2016, there has been an increase in the repression of lawyers, artists, opposition parties and organizations, and especially of the Kurdish community. David Kaye, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, who visited Turkey in 2016, stated that “the Turkish government has a very broad concept of terrorism” and “considers anyone who opposes it to be a terrorist.” (1) A similar assessment was made by Ignacio Sanchez Amor, the European Union’s rapporteur on Turkey. The fact that the Turkish government considers everyone who does not agree with it to be a “terrorist member, terrorist” leads the majority of the opposition, especially the Kurdish, to see them as enemies.
Month: September 2024
Report on minorities on Turkey
The establishment process of the Republic of Turkey is characterized by forced Turkification. This process began even before the establishment of the state, with genocides against the Armenian and Assyrian people (1915) and the Greek-Pontic people through genocide and population exchange (1919-21). The geography inhabited by these peoples, along with their entire historical and cultural heritage, was almost erased, and Muslim-Turkish communities from the Caucasus and the Balkans were settled in their place.
Report on freedom of expression – Turkey
Since the 1990s, there has been continuous pressure on Kurdish media and press in Turkey. Regardless of changes in governments, the free expression of Kurds has been deemed a crime. Anti-terror laws, particularly Articles 7 and 8, have been included to restrict free expression. The AKP-MHP administration, especially after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, used anti-terror laws as a shield against criticisms of the government and its institutions. The laws were employed as tools to silence all opposing segments under the guise of “combating terrorism.” United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression David Kaye visited Turkey between November 16-18, 2016.
URGENT APPEAL OF THE PEOPLES’ EQUALITY AND DEMOCRACY PARTY (DEM PARTY)
CONCERNING THE UNLAWFUL VERDICTS IN THE KOBANÊ CASE
17 MAY 2024
In October 2014, as the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS) was about to take over the city of Kobanê, massive democratic demonstrations broke out around the world, including in many Turkish cities. During these demonstrations, 46 civilians, including 34 members and supporters of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), were killed by pro-ISIS groups, with the provocation of the Turkish security forces.
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Kurdish people at risk in Iraq
Introduction
A federal system was established to minimize sectarian and ethnic conflict risks and to foster cohabitation aligned with Iraq’s cosmopolitan structure. Power institutions were constitutionally shared among ethnicities and sects, including Kurds, Arabs, and Shiites, formalized through a public referendum.
The repression against the Kurdish people in Iran
INTRODUCTION
- The outcome of 45 years long running of the theocratic political system can be summed up in 5 points:
- the massacre of thousands of opponents and a record number of executions carried out on trumped-up charges following trials that failed to meet internationally recognised standards of transparency and fairness;
- the widespread use of torture;
- the severe limitation of the freedoms of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly and association;
- the repression of ethnic and religious minorities;
- and the continuing repressive restrictions on women’s freedoms.
- In the occasion of the adoption of the third Periodic Review of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2019, the Iranian authorities accepted 143 recommendations out of the 329 made by the members of the UPR Working Group (about 43,5%).
- The supported recommendations are merely of general nature and it is difficult, if not impossible, to measure the progresses made in fulfilling the commitments made in 2019.
- On the contrary, the Iranian authorities did not support all recommendations requesting the adoption of specific and verifiable measures.
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TÜRKIYE : Lawyers at risk – 20 June 2024
MRAP Is a French organisation born of underground resistance to Nazism and fascism, it was officially founded in 1949 on the initiative of former members of the Resistance and deportees. …
Report of of the human rights situation in South-East Türkiye
Written statement* submitted by Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples, a non-governmental organization on the roster The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is…
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