‘Human Rights Action Plan a window dressing to improve relations with EU’

* Photo: HDP

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Diyarbakır MPs Remziye Tosun, Dersim Dağ and Salihe Aydeniz have submitted a Parliamentary question about the "Human Rights Action Plan" unveiled by President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

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Referring to the violations of rights committed in Turkey, especially over the past five years, the Parliamentary question of the MPs has criticized the content of the action plan, noting that "it is, in essence, described as an attempted window dressing to improve the relations with the EU."

HDP MPs have also underlined that the Ministry of Interior and the prosecutor's offices have been granted new authorities to target civil society organizations with the amendments introduced to the Law no. 5253 on Associations and the Law no. 2860 on Charity Collections.

Tosun, Dağ and Aydeniz have stressed that these amendments have seriously harmed democracy and freedom of association.

The Parliamentary question of the HDP has also attracted attention to the timing for unveiling the action plan, saying:

"In a period when new attacks targeted democratic politics through debates on the HDP's closure and the open threats against civil society organizations increased even further and around the hours when MEBYA-DER executive 79-year-old Meryem Soylu and 71-year-old Hatun Aslan, two of the 14 people detained in Diyarbakır, were arrested, AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unveiled the 'Human Rights Action Plan'."

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'What has been done in five years'

Accordingly, HDP MPs Tosun Dağ and Aydeniz have addressed the following questions to Vice President Fuat Oktay:

"Since the State of Emergency was declared, how many civil society organizations have been closed and for what reasons?

"Since the declaration of the State of Emergency, how many civil society organization members and executives have been detained and arrested?

"How many complaints have been submitted about torture and ill treatment in detention in the last five years? How many security officers have faced an investigation as a result of these complaints and how many of them have faced what kind of sanctions?

"How many complaints have been submitted about torture and ill treatment in prisons in the last five years? How many prison personnel have faced an investigation as a result of these complaints and how many of them have faced what kind of sanctions?

"How many meetings, press statements, demonstrations and marches have been banned in the last five years by provinces and years?

"How many writers, academics and journalists have been detained and arrested in the last five years? How many magazines, publications and newspapers have faced fines, closures, publication bans and access blocks in the last five years? How many people have been detained and arrested due to their social media posts in the last five years?

"How many migrants/refugees have lost their lives for reasons such as death by exposure, drowning and police violence in the last five years?

"How many court cases has Turkey lost at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) due to violations of freedom of thought, belief and expression in the last 20 years? How much compensation has been paid within this context?" (AS/SD)