"There have been some very important legal amendments this year. However, there is no improvement in implementation. There have been even more violations of rights this year than past years," said Onen and Sonmez.
According to them, the fact that human rights issues in Turkey are addressed only within the framework of the country's European Union (EU) membership bid prevents a lasting development in this field.
Onen summarized the human rights violations in Turkey in 2002:
"There have been more violations this year"
"158 people were sued in the first six months of the year 2000 because of their thoughts. In the first half of 2001, this number increased to 1,500, and in the first half of 2002, 2,260 people were sued because of their thoughts... This is our reality."
Sonmez gave the following information to better explain the violations in 2002:
* Last year, 345 people claimed they were detained unjustly. This number went up to 2,120 in 2002. We see that 2002 is the year with the highest number of child detainees. Most of those children are girls from the religious high schools.
* Last year, 25 people came to Mazlum-Der saying they were tortured. This year we have had 30 complaints.
* As Turkey switched to the maximum security F-type prison system, there have been increased complaints about violations in prisons.
"Improvement is up to the government"
TIHV chair Onen said that the two most important developments in the year 2002, were the abolishing of death penalty in peace time and granting the right of education in languages other than Turkish.
"But apart from these, the amendments to the 34 articles in the constitution and the regulations of the first, second and third reform packages are solely for show. Even though the articles have changed the content is the same," he said.
Onen and Sonmez believe the improvement of human rights in Turkey in the coming years will be up to the new government's determination."
If the 58th government uses 'state's security, divisiveness, and reaction,' as excuses to limit human rights improvements, nothing will change," said Gulden Sonmez. (HA/BB/NK/EA/NM)
