‘Rights of 1,809,000 People Violated Under Curfews’, says Rights Organization

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The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT) Documentation Center has issued a statement concerning the rights violation that have been occurring during the curfews.

According to the center’s stats, there has been at least 252 officially confirmed round-the-clock [all daylong] and open-ended curfews in 11 cities and at least 45 districts in Turkey.

The statement said that many fundamental rights including right to live of the residents have been violated.

“It is estimated that, according to the 2014 population census, at least 1 million 809 thousand residents have been affected by these curfews and fundemental rights of these people such as  right to liberty and security of person; right to privacy, family, home or correspondence; freedom of assembly and association; freedom of religion; freedom of receive and impart information; right to reserve of property; right to education and especially right to life; right to health and prohibition of torture are explicitly violated”.

According to the center, the curfews in relevant districts and provinces are seen in the map as follows:

The last two curfews that are declared by Bitlis Governorship on August 11,2017 and Hakkâri Governorship on August 13, 2017 are not included in this data due to the fact that they define limits in scope of their declarations, on the contrary to the "round-the-clock and open-ended" curfews which we monitor. However, it will also be monitored by our Documentation Center to see whether it will turn into a new and perpetual practice.

“Practice of violation is ongoing”

The HRFT’s statement is briefly as follows:

“In 2015, the conflicts in Turkey have begun right after the General Elections on June 7, 2015 also due to the effect of the developments in Middle East, along with the reason that a democratic and peaceful solution on Kurdish issue was not able to be implemented as a holistic programme.

“Within this period, the first one of the round-the-clock and open-ended curfews was declared on August 16, 2015, which are violating the Constitution, European Convention on Human Rights and all the other international obligations of Turkey within the field of basic rights and liberties. 

“According to the information gathered by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey Documentation Center, between August 16, 2015 and August 16, 2017, there has been at least 252 officially confirmed round-the-clock [all daylong] and open-ended curfews in 11 cities and at least 45 districts of Turkey within the last 2 years.

“This data reveals the fact that the practice of violation is ongoing since the last fact sheet of HRFT on June 1, 2017 by showing that more and more curfews are declared since then”. (AS/TK)