The Black Book

Each country may criticize the track records of other countries. This is good. Human rights are a universal concept beyond the sovereignty sphere of states. Violation of the human rights of people living in a country by the state itself is the subject area of the international community. Each member of this community may ask the subject state to put an end to the violation of human rights. Besides, the reciprocity principal is not valid either. Human rights violations by a state don’t justify those of another state.

The Turkey section of the report is thick

Turkey’s section of the report is 62 pages, almost a small book. It is a black book, including serious criticisms of Turkey. Everything is in it, whatever you want: restrictions applied by security forces, pressures on non-Muslims and Alevis, violence against women and corruption, etc. One can hardly say the criticisms are not right. We read similar criticisms in other reports released by the European Union, the Council of Europe, foreign and Turkish human rights associations. So, instead of refusing these reports and getting angry about, it is better to benefit from them.

We may group criticisms under a few categories. A long list of people killed by security forces is given in the report. So many incidents indicate security forces apply disproportional force in the absence of a threat against them.

The European Commission organized a seminar titled "Use of force by security forces" on Feb. 26-27 in Ankara. National and international experts examined relevant laws and implementations, and made recommendations at the panel. That shows the EU has similar concerns cited in the report prepared by the United States.

A rise in cases of torture, beatings and abuse by security forces is being stated in the report claiming that security forces committed unlawful killings; the number of arrests and prosecutions in these cases was low compared with the number of incidents, and convictions remained rare.

Lighthouse case and Erdoğan

About detentions, the report reads that terror convicts under arrest can usually not use the assistance of lawyers and that several detainees in the Ergenekon crime gang investigation were exposed to long periods of arrest.

Reservations about the independence of the judiciary are also mentioned in the report. Remarks of the Justice Minister about a person on trial, "I don’t allow anyone to name my state a ’murderer,’" is being evaluated as giving instructions to the Judiciary.

The report asserts that the government continues restrictions on freedom of press. Practices of Article 301 in the Turkish Penal Code and pressures on press members are being criticized. In the news report on corruptions by "charity" organizations, The Lighthouse case in Germany that has ties with the ruling party, the report says Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued statements fiercely criticizing the press and businessmen.

The overall picture after reading this report is not heart-warming. We see what kind of a Turkey we are living in, a country where any kind of human rights are being violated, nondemocratic implementations are part of a daily life, women are killed for nothing, minorities are being discriminated and corruption is rampant.

It is not necessary for the United States to write a report to realize that Turkey needs a thorough political change. Living in Turkey is enough. But it is striking to see all these in a single report.



Rıza Türmen is a columnist for the daily Milliyet in which this piece appeared yesterday. It was translated into English by the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review's staff