‘This action plan means there are no human rights in Turkey’

* Photos: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu spoke at the İstanbul 1st Electoral District Janitors Meeting yesterday (March 3).

Touching upon the "Human Rights Action Plan" unveiled by President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday (March 2), Kılıçdaroğlu addressed his audience and asked, "Have all your rights foreseen by the laws been acknowledged?"

Referring to President Erdoğan's statement that "no one will go to jail because of what they think and believe in," Kılıçdaroğlu said, "Jails are now full of people imprisoned because of their thoughts. There are thousands of people in prison because of their beliefs."

Asking, "Why are prisons packed?", CHP's Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu briefly added, "If a political party, having ruled a country for 19 years, comes up and says, 'I am unveiling a Human Rights Action Plan', then it means that there are no human rights in that country. In other words, it means confessing that there are no human rights in the country."

'Will you talk about human rights?'

CHP Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair Engün Altay also addressed the reporters in a press conference at the Parliament in Ankara yesterday.

Altay talked about a series of issues on Turkey's agenda such as inflation, unemployment, Erdoğan's expenditures, Human Rights Action Plan, the summaries of proceedings poised to lift legislative immunity of MPs, the possible closure of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HPD) and the "missing" 128 billion dollars in Central Bank reserves.

Raising concerns about the economic hardships faced by citizens in Turkey, Engin Altay addressed President Erdoğan and said that "he could not save the sinking ship" by talking about the Human Rights Action Plan, space program, domestic plane or new Constitution.

"Before unveiling the Human Rights Action Plan, Erdoğan should have apologized to Boğaziçi University students," said Altay, referring to the students faced with harsh police intervention, investigations, detentions, house arrests and imprisonment for protesting the appointment of Prof. Melih Bulu as a rector to Boğaziçi University by Erdoğan.

Commenting further on the Human Rights Action Plan, CHP's Engin Altay stated, "900 children are currently prosecuted for insulting you. Will you talk about human rights? If human rights is the issue, we want nothing from Erdoğan, he can just stand out of our sunlight."

"You were imprisoned because you read out a poem, that was wrong; now, the ones tweeting about you are sent to jail, which is a bigger wrong," Altay commented further. (DŞ/EKN/SD)