İHD Relases Annual Report

In 2008, rights violations and problems regarding freedoms escalated; according to Turkey's Human Rights Association (İHD) chair Öztürk Türkdoğan.

As İHD releases its annual report, Türkdoğan proposes a new constitution as a solution. Nevertheless, ruling AKP sacrificed such a opportunity when attempting to a amendment to "free headscarves in universities" – a controversial attempt which was faced with a strong reaction. A closure case was introduced against the party. In return, the government introduced a militarist approach, to cool the reactions down, says Türkdoğan. During this period, the judiciary complied with the "soul of the constitution, formed after the coup in 1980".

The report includes statistics regarding rights violations. In 2008,

• 170 officers and 262 militants died in armed conflicts.
  
• Police killed 33 people and wounded another 45, on grounds that they didn't obeyed a "stop warning", violating its authorization to use guns.
  
• 12 refugees or migrants lost their lives.
  
• There were 448 cases of torture under police custody and 333 cases in prisons.
  
• The European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey in 57 cases involving torture allegations.
• Police intervened in 127 meetings or marches.
• 133 people died in work-related accidents; a further 574 were hurt. 
• Land mines and unowned explosives killed 28 people, among them 11 children.(TK/AGÜ)