Turkey fails to achieve 165 of 261 targets in human rights action plan supported by CoE

Drawing: Selçuk Demirel

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The government has failed to achieve most of the goals set in the Human Rights Action Plan as one year has passed since it was unveiled, an opposition deputy has said.

President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the plan supported by the Council of Europe on March 2, 2021.

Having prepared a report evaluating the first year of the project, Democracy and Progress (DEVA) Party MP Mustafa Yeneroğlu said, "165 of the 261 goals have been forgotten."

"We are facing a mentality that doesn't even comply with the decision it made," said Yeneroğlu, a former AKP deputy who switched to the DEVA Party in 2019.

The MP listed several areas where the situation in the country even worsened and the goals in the plan were not achieved.

Despite the plan saying "freedom of expression would be guaranteed," the Radio and Television Supreme Council continued to intimidating TV outlets with heavy penalties, noted the MP.

Prisoners and torture

The practice of putting political prisoners in provinces far away than their hometowns, Yeneroğlu noted.

Minimum seniority requirement was going to be introduced for assignments of penal judgeships of peace but it was not done, the MP also noted. These judgeships decide whether people should be arrested pending trial or further investigation.

Torture and maltreatment, excessive use of force by law enforcement officers during demonstrations, and violations of rights of suspects and defendants also continue, according to the MPs report.

Inadequate protection measures for women against their husbands or ex-husbands are still an issue, he added.

European Commission report

Citing the European Commission's Communication on EU Enlargement Policy 2021 report, Yeneroğlu said the "principle of separation of powers is not respected" in Turkey and "no measures were foreseen to improve the structure of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK)," the top judicial oversight body of the country.

The government's action plan does not address such important issues in terms of judicial independence, he added.

Also quoting the commission's report, Yeneroğlu said judges and prosecutors who were dismissed from their posts after the 2016 coup attempt were not reinstated despite being acquitted in trials and there are no objective and merit-based criteria for the recruitment and promotion of judges and prosecutors.

CLICK - European Commission: Deterioration of fundamental rights continued in Turkey

(AEK/VK)