‘Government Tries to Prevent Rights Organizations from Reflecting Rights Violations’

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Gathering in Ankara, the Human Rights Association (İHD) and Turkey Human Rights Foundation (TİHV) have issued a statement concerning arrested human rights advocates.

İHD co-Chair Öztürk Türkdoğan and TİHV Secretary General Metin Bakkalcı said that 14-day arbitrary detention period for the rights defenders and the illegalities during the period prove that there is no “armed organization” as claimed by the prosecutor’s office.

It was expressed in the statement that works of rights defenders have been obstructed by the government in order to prevent the organizations from determining and reflecting the rights violations during the State of Emergency.

Six of the 10 rights defenders who were detained on July 5 were arrested, and four others were released on probation. The 10 rights defenders are charged with “Committing crime on behalf of an illegal organization though not being a member of it” and “Being a member of an armed organization”.

What happened?

Nalan Erkem and Özlem Dalkıran (Helsinki Citizens Assembly), İlknur Üstün (Women's Coalition), İdil Eser (Human Rights Watch Director to Turkey) and Veli Acu (Human Rights Agenda Association), Günal Kurşun (Human Rights Agenda Association), Nejat Taştan (Association for Monitoring Equal Rights), Şeyhmuz Özbekli (Rights Initiative), Ali Garawi (human rights trainer), and Peter Steudtner (German citizen human rights trainer) were taken into custody during a training workshop in Büyükada, one of the Prince Islands in İstanbul.

On July 11, an additional seven days of detention was issued for the rights advocates. (TP/ÇT/TK)