Living close to Turkey, I follow the situation there perhaps with more worry than others. And nothing good seems to happen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turkish police detained three district heads of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and seven others in Istanbul on Friday over alleged links to militants, police said, two days after a court case began over banning the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Separately, Turkey’s Human Rights Association (IHD) co-chairman Ozturk Turkdogan <\/strong><\/span>was arrested by police at his home, IHD said, prompting human rights groups to call for his release. Turkdogan was then released on Friday evening, the association said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Responding to the arrest today of \u00d6zt\u00fcrk T\u00fcrkdo\u011fan, the president of Turkey\u2019s Human Rights Organisation, Esther Major, Amnesty International\u2019s Senior Research Adviser for Europe, said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe detention of \u00d6zt\u00fcrk T\u00fcrkdo\u011fan is outrageous. With ink barely dry on the Human Rights Action Plan announced by President Erdo\u011fan two weeks ago, his arrest reveals that this document is not worth the paper it is written on.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n After over three years in jail without a conviction, one of Turkey\u2019s highest-profile detainees, Osman Kavala<\/strong><\/span>, is \u201cnot optimistic\u201d that President Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s planned reforms can change a judiciary he says is being used to silence dissidents. Not surprisingly this is leading to reactions, such as a bipartisan letter penned by 170 members of the US\u00a0Congress to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in which the lawmakers have urged President Joe Biden\u2019s administration to consider the \u201ctroubling human rights abuses\u201d in Turkey.\u00a0 \u201cPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party have used their nearly two decades in power to weaken Turkey\u2019s judiciary, install political allies in key military and intelligence positions, crack down on free speech and (the) free press,<\/em>\u201d the letter said. Dated 26 February but made public on 1 March, the letter asks Washington to formulate its policy regarding Turkey considering human rights, saying that the Erdogan administration has strained the bilateral relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n On top of this Turkey has pulled out of the world\u2019s first binding treaty to prevent and combat violence against women by presidential decree, in the latest victory for conservatives in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s ruling party. The 2011 “Istanbul Convention| [SIC], signed by 45 countries and the European Union, requires governments to adopt legislation prosecuting domestic violence and similar abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation. Conservatives had claimed the charter damages family unity, encourages divorce and that its references to equality were being used by the LGBT community to gain broader acceptance in society. The publication of the decree in the official gazette early Saturday sparked anger among rights groups and calls for protests in Istanbul. Women have taken to the streets in cities across Turkey calling on the government to keep to the 2011 Istanbul Convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gokce Gokcen, deputy chairperson of the main opposition CHP party said abandoning the treaty meant \u201ckeeping women second class citizens and letting them be killed.\u201d \u201cDespite you and your evil, we will stay alive and bring back the convention,\u201d<\/em> she said on Twitter. Last year, 300 women were murdered according to the rights group We Will Stop Femicide Platform. https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1822001\/middle-east<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.uk\/press-releases\/turkey-outrageous-arrest-lawyer-makes-mockery-erdogans-human-rights-reforms<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1828581\/middle-eas<\/a>t<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/world\/articles\/2021-03-19\/turkish-police-detain-pro-kurdish-party-officials-anadolu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1818641\/middle-east<\/a><\/p>\n\n
A philanthropist, 63-year-old Kavala told Reuters that after decades of watching Turkey\u2019s judiciary seeking to restrict human rights, it was now engaged in \u201celiminating\u201d perceived political opponents of Erdogan\u2019s government.
Kavala was providing written responses via his lawyers to Reuters\u2019 questions days after Erdogan outlined a \u201cHuman Rights Action Plan\u201d that was said will strengthen rights to a free trial and freedom of expression. See: https:\/\/humanrightsdefenders.blog\/2020\/09\/16\/osman-kavala-and-mozn-hassan-receive-2020-international-hrant-dink-award\/<\/a> and <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The platform called for a \u201ccollective fight against those who dropped the Istanbul convention,\u201d in a message on Twitter.
\u201cThe Istanbul convention was not signed at your command and it will not leave our lives on your command<\/em>,\u201d its secretary general Fidan Ataselim <\/strong><\/span>tweeted.
Kerem Altiparmak, an academic and lawyer specializing in human rights law, likened the government\u2019s shredding of the convention to the 1980 military coup. \u201cWhat\u2019s abolished tonight is not only the Istanbul convention but the parliament\u2019s will and legislative power,<\/em>\u201d he commented.
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