An International organization launches a campaign to expose human rights violations in Turkey

Cairo – North-Press Agency
Mohammed Abu Zaid

Turkey has seen a rapid decline in the human rights situation, since the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, as Turkish authorities practiced severe repression against opponents, journalists, and human rights activists. The law of terrorism, and the imposing of the state of emergency, paved the way for human rights violations, and the relentless repression of the opposition, that led to the persistence of torture cases, and a climate of impunity prevailed without any effective investigation into the violations committed by the state officials.

This is confirmed by a recent report by the human rights organization "Maat", a copy of which was obtained by North-Press – included the announcement of launching a human rights campaign to expose human rights violations in Turkey.

The campaign bears the name (15 x 15 x 15) for the protection of human rights in Turkey, on the sidelines of the human rights file in Turkey, for review for the third time before the universal periodic review mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council on 28 January 2020, the campaign which lasts for 15 days, includes monitoring of 15 violations of facts and figures since the coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

According to the report, “The judiciary in Turkey has not escaped the repression of the Turkish regime, as nearly a third of the judges and prosecutors have been separated and arrested, while the rest remained under severe political pressure, in addition to the lack of regular trial standards, and cases of prolonged pre-trial detention."

According to the report issued by the observer member organization of the United Nations, "The Turkish authorities practice persecution and repression against some religious and ethnic minorities in the country, especially the Kurds who deal with them inhumanely, both inside and outside its borders, in an attempt to exterminate an entire people. The Turkish regime was not satisfied with the violations committed inside Turkey, rather, the violations have spread to reach other countries, such as Syria and Libya, by its support for the armed militias, which helped in the instability of these countries."

For his part, Ayman Aqil, the head of Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights, said that since July 2016, Turkey has been suffering from the deterioration of the human rights situation, after the regime targeted opposition parties and groups with many campaigns and violations that escalated under the emergency law that was imposed after the coup, and then the matter increased by applying the anti-terrorism law, according to which many human rights have been violated.

Ayman Aqil pointed to the decline in Turkey's status from partial freedom into a non-free country, due to the constitutional referendum according to which the central authorities were concentrated in the hands of the president of the Republic, and the elected mayors were replaced by government positions.
He affirmed that the Turkish President used the coup attempt to expand and intensify the repressive campaign against his opponents, as well as journalists, civil society and others who demanded freedoms and the protection of human rights.