Aqeel: During Erdogan's era, thousands of Turks were arrested for false reasons
Sharif Abdul Hamid: The international silence over Erdogan's violations amounts to complicity
The Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights released today, June 24, 2020, a new report entitled “In the era of Erdogan ... no one escaped arrest,” which revealed the increase in detention cases among Turkish citizens during May and June 2020 for expressing their views or criticizing the government and the president The Republic, and the report indicated the arrest of 6 journalists and the ratification of the verdicts of 17 others, and 28 civilians were arrested on various charges, 118 soldiers, 5 state governors, and 3 opposition deputies, along with many politicians and citizens critical of the policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party government in Turkey, And those who object to the gross violations of human rights by the Turkish authorities.
Ayman Aqil, head of Maat Foundation, stated that during Erdogan's era, the Turkish authorities arrested and detained thousands of Turks for false reasons, including peaceful dissidents, political prisoners, and completely non-political prisoners, some of whom might have been detained simply for expressing their opinions or criticizing the president and the government. Aqil said that in Turkish detention centers and prisons, all of them are routinely subjected to torture and other forms of brutal treatment, which have become one of the usual things in Turkey, and it has exceeded all expectations, under the oppressive regime led by Erdogan, which he vowed publicly that it will not take. Compassion and no mercy for his critics and opponents.
Aqil added that the mass persecution has resulted in the imprisonment of more than 50,000 people based on trumped-up charges since the attempted coup on July 15, 2016. Since that date, the government has renewed the emergency law three times, and issued the Terrorism Law under which it has arrested thousands of Turkish civilians and military personnel. It also removed preventive measures to protect detainees against ill-treatment and torture, in addition to extending prison terms, as well as reducing prisoners' rights to a fair trial, such as the right of prisoners to appoint a lawyer.
For his part, Sherif Abdel Hamid, Director of the Research and Studies Unit at the Maat Foundation, said that it seems that there is no real opportunity to rein in the repressive policies practiced by the Turkish President's regime against the opposition, due to the silence that may amount to collusion by the major countries that claim to protect human rights, Abdul Hamid added that during the months of May and June 2020, the Turkish government made a series of arrests against Turkish citizens, civilians and soldiers, on charges of joining the service movement, and also made a series of arrests against a number of journalists, MPs and state governors on charges of terrorism and stirring up public opinion, which are ready charges in Turkey. For anyone who opposes the policies of the ruling party or monitors and exposes human rights violations in Turkey.
Abdul Hamid emphasized that the Turkish government not only violated the articles of the Turkish constitution and penal laws that criminalize arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, but also flagrantly violated its international commitments to human rights charters and covenants, as well as the recommendations that were made to it during the course of the human rights file in Turkey undergoing evaluation and follow-up for the third time. By the United Nations Human Rights Council, within the framework of what is known as the universal periodic review process, on January 28, 2020, in which council members submitted more than 16 recommendations calling for the Turkish authorities to release detainees and to investigate crimes of torture and enforced disappearance.
Finally, the report called on the Turkish authorities to release all detainees and political opponents for expressing their opinions or criticizing the government, as well as conducting an urgent investigation without delay into the incidents of torture and abuse, to prohibit these unfair and heinous practices and to prevent the perpetrators' immunity.
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