Human Rights Association: ‘20 People Killed With a “Stop Warning” in 11 Months’

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The Human Rights Association (İHD) has released its Report on Human Rights Violations Committed in Turkey in 2018.

The report has shown that the right to life of 673 people, including 32 children, was violated during this period.

While 4 thousand 513 incidents of torture, ill treatment and degrading treatment have been documented by the İHD, almost 10 thousand people were detained and 1,107 people were arrested throughout 2018.

The report has consisted of the following chapters: Right to life, torture and ill treatment, prisons, Kurdish question, freedom of thought, expression and belief, freedom of association and pressures on human rights organizations and defenders, freedom of assembly and demonstration, violation of right to vote and stand for election, problem of violence against women, refugees/asylum seekers/migrants, economic and social rights.

Some highlights from the İHD's Report on Human Rights Violations Committed in Turkey in 2018 are as follows:

502 people died in armed conflicts

* In the first 11 months of 2018, 20 people lost their lives and 15 people got wounded due to the extrajudicial executions committed by law enforcement officers, for disobeying their stop warnings or random shots fired by them.

* 502 people in total lost their lives in armed conflicts; while 107 of them were security forces (soldiers, police officers, village guards), 391 of them were militants and 4 of them were civilians.

23 suspicious deaths in prisons

* Seven people died and 26 people got wounded after being hit by armed vehicles of security forces.

* At least 23 people suspiciously died in prisons. At least five people, one of whom was a trand woman, suspiciously lost their lives in detention.

10 young people on mandatory military service died

* 10 young people who were doing their mandatory military service died in a suspicious manner.

* According to the data shared by the Laborers' Health and Occupational Safety (İSİG) Assembly, 1,923 people lost their lives in occupational accidents/homicides throughout 2018.

2,719 people subjected to torture, maltreatment

* 2 thousand 719 people in total were subjected to torture and ill treatment throughout 2018. While 356 of these people were subjected to beating or similar methods in custody, 246 of them experienced a similar treatment outside detention centers. 2 thousand 598 of these people were tortured or maltreated in meetings of demonstrations intervened by police.

* In complaints filed by inmates in prisons, 1,149 people stated that they were subjected to torture and ill treatment. 160 other people indicated that they were tortured or maltreated due to the imposition to become an agent.

458 seriously ill inmates in prisons

* According to the latest data shared by the İHD on April 7, 2019, there are 458 seriously ill inmates in the prisons of Turkey.

* In 86 prisons, there are over 3 thousand inmates who have been on a hunger strike with the demand that the isolation imposed on Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan be ended.

No right of asylum for 4 million refugees

* As of December 2018, there are 3.5 million refugees in Turkey, according to the official figures. However, it is estimated that the actual figure is, in fact, over 4 million. Though these people have been living in Turkey for more than seven years now, they still have "the status of temporary protection." They cannot retain the right of asylum.

* Other rights and services mostly focus on refugees from Syria; around 365 thousand refugees from Afghanistan, Iran and African countries are ignored. (AS/SD)