HRW: State Blocks Investigation into Southeast Killings in Turkey
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HRW (Human Rights Watch) has noted that the Government of Turkey was blocking access for independent investigations into mass abuses against the civilians across southeast Turkey.
In its statement today (July 11), the organization has demanded to grant UN (United Nations) permission to probe human rights violations in Cizre and bring those responsible to justice.
“The alleged abuses include unlawful killings of civilians, mass forced civilian displacement, and widespread unlawful destruction of private property.
“The government should promptly grant the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights permission to enter the area and investigate according to its standards”
“Government blocked probes”
The organization has underlined that; “During security operations since August, the authorities have imposed blanket, round-the-clock curfews on 22 towns and city neighborhoods, prohibiting all movement without permission. The curfews also prevent non-governmental organizations, journalists, and lawyers from scrutinizing those operations or any resulting abuses by security forces or armed groups. Authorities have blocked rights groups – including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights – from trying to document abuses even after curfews and operations ended”.
Suspected cover-up attempt
The words of Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch have been emphasized;
“The Turkish government’s effective blockade of areas of the southeast fuels concerns of a major cover-up.
“Credible accounts of Turkish security forces deliberately killing civilians, including children, when they were carrying white flags or trapped in basements should be ringing loud alarm bells.
“The prosecutor in Cizre should conduct a full, effective, independent investigation capable of delivering justice for the victims.”
Some topics HRW has pointed out to in its statement are as follows:
Deaths
* “Human Rights Watch reviewed lists of the dead compiled by Cizre-based lawyers which show that as many as 66 Cizre residents, including 11 children, were killed by gunfire or mortar explosions during security operations between December 14 and February 11, 2016.
“According to witnesses and victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch, in some cases the security forces opened fire on civilians on the streets carrying white flags. The available information also indicates that security forces surrounded three buildings and deliberately and unjustifiably killed about 130 people – among whom were unarmed civilians and injured combatants – trapped in the basements”.
Block
* “In April, the police blocked Human Rights Watch from interviewing families of victims and witnesses to the deaths. Before authorities obstructed its work, however, Human Rights Watch was able to document in detail eight civilian deaths in Cizre.
“In addition, Human Rights Watch had already documented eight deaths that occurred in September 2015, also during a curfew and security operations”.
“Destruction of private property”
* “Human Rights Watch also documented widespread property destruction in Cizre and interviewed people whose homes and property had been damaged during the clashes, and in some areas subsequently demolished.
“Human Rights Watch [...] has identified two distinct demolition zones in the city measuring approximately 95,000 m2 (9.5 hecares) in total area. The majority of building demolition occurred between late February and late May, and was concentrated in the neighborhoods of Cudi and Sur. A second, smaller round of building demolition occurred between late May and early June in the Nur neighborhood.
Decisions of European Court of Human Rights
* “Turkey’s history of failing to carry out effective investigations into killings in the southeast, in particular in cases in which state agents were alleged to have been responsible for unlawful killings, resulted in a series of rulings by the European Court of Human Rights that Turkey violated the right to life.
“The court also ruled on multiple occasions that the laws that required pre-authorization from administrative or political authorities to prosecute state employees for offenses committed when exercising official duties led to violations under the European Convention on Human Rights, as they prevented effective, independent investigations of violations of the convention. The new law is likewise incompatible with Turkey’s obligations under the convention”.
“Extrajudicial executions”
* The deaths of an estimated 130 people trapped in three basements in the Cudi and Sur neighborhoods during security operations in Cizre in early February urgently require a full investigation, as the circumstances that have emerged to date suggest they could be the result of unlawful killings constituting extrajudicial killings or murder”.
"Deaths must be probed"
* “Just before the deaths of those trapped in the basements, the European Court of Human Rights had issued separate injunctions – known as “interim measures” – in five cases involving injured people in Cizre neighborhoods requiring Turkish authorities to protect their life and physical integrity. Only one of the five applicants in whose favor the court had issued an injunction was given medical treatment. The other four died, and their bodies were later recovered.
“The Court had rejected other applications for interim measures, including from those trapped in basements who later died, but will review their cases before the court as a matter of priority”. (YY/DG)
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