UN Calls to Turkey: End State of Emergency

Click to read the article in Turkish

The United Nations (UN) made a call to Turkey today (March 20) to end the State of Emergency. Reuters News Agency has reported that in the statement issued by the UN, it is indicated that the State of Emergency has led to widespread human rights violations including the arrest of 160 thousand people and dismissal of nearly the same number of civil servants, often arbitrarily.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has emphasized that over 20 statutory decrees that have been issued after the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 have often led to the torture of detainees, impunity and interference with the judiciary.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein has said that the number of people arrested or dismissed is "staggering" and added that nearly 160 thousand people have been arrested and 152 thousand civil servants have been sacked in the past 18 months, many of them "totally arbitrarily."

Hussein also added, "Teachers, judges and lawyers dismissed or prosecuted; journalists arrested, media outlets shut down and websites blocked - clearly the successive states of emergency declared in Turkey have been used to severely and arbitrarily curtail the human rights of a very large number of people."

In the 28-page report of the UN, documents as to the use of torture and ill-treatment in custody, including severe beatings, sexual assault, electric shocks and waterboarding by police, gendarmerie, military police and security forces have been included.

The report has also emphasized that in southeast Turkey, "massive and serious" human rights violations have continued to be committed by security forces, including killings, torture, excessive use of force and destruction of homes and Kurdish cultural heritage.

Turkey has reacted to the UN statement and report about the State of Emergency. In the statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it has been stated that "this document which contains distorted, partial and wrong information cannot be accepted." (ŞA/SD)