Following the publication of its annual report, the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) points to a worrying similarity in numbers of suspicious deaths to the 1990s. While there were two murders committed by unknown assailants in 2007, the number rose to 34 in 2008.
In addition, there were 37 deaths in extrajudicial killings, when people ignoring a call by the police to stop were shot, or died of random gun fire. There were 27 such deaths in 2007.
TIHV statistics of the last eight years:
Year |
murders with unknown assailants |
extrajudicial killings, stop warnings, random gun fire |
deaths in detention or prison |
2000 |
13 |
56 |
59 |
2001 |
24 |
37 |
57 |
2002 |
8 |
38 |
48 |
2003 |
16 |
46 |
22 |
2004 |
8 |
35 |
38 |
2005 |
4 |
61 |
16 |
2006 |
21 |
49 |
11 |
2007 |
2 |
24 |
10 |
2008 |
34 |
37 |
45 |
Total |
130 |
383 |
306 |
Istanbul