"State of emergency made permanent in Turkey"

"State of emergency made permanent in Turkey"
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"The abandonment of the principle of constitutional rule has turned law practices and state institutions into 'instruments' of an oppressive regime," IHD and TIHV have said.

Turkey's two human rights groups held a joint press conference on Friday, on the occasion of the 74th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and released a report on rights violations in Turkey in the first 11 months of 2022.

The Human Rights Association (IHD) and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) said in a statement that "Turkey is currently governed under the regime of a state of emergency that has been made permanent through decrees and legislation after it was formally lifted on 19 July 2018."

They continued:

"This situation/process has resulted in the abandonment of the principle of constitutional rule that restricts government's power, and has turned law practices and state institutions into 'instruments' of an oppressive regime, letting arbitrariness and uncertainty dominate the public sphere."

They added:

"Many violations of right to life have taken place as a result of the government's policy of addressing all issues, from economy to public health, as security problems, of pursuing policies of polarization and violence inside and outside the country, and particularly of addressing the Kurdish question and international issues of conflict only with military means."

Violations of right to life

According to the report, the violations of right to life in the first 11 months of 2022 include the following incidents:

- 15 people, including a child, were killed by state forces, and 23 people, including a child and 12 refugees, were injured.

- One died in suspicious circumstances in police custody.

- At least 96 people, 21 state troops, 70 militants and five civilians among them, were killed in armed clashes, and 55, including 22 civilians, were injured.

- In the context of Turkey's military campaign in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), 274 people - 85 state troops, 188 militants and a civilian - were killed, and 44 people - 20 troops and 24 civilians - were injured.

- At least three people were fatally run over by military or other kind of official vehicles, and two were injured.

- At least a child was killed, and seven people, including three children, were injured by explosion of mines or other ordnance.

- At least 61 people died in prison because of illness, suicide, violence or neglect.

- 15 people were killed and 41 were injured in attacks motivated by racism and hatred, targeting migrants, Kurds, LGBTQIA+ individuals and Alevis.

- Six people, including two children, were killed by a bomb attack.

- A journalist was killed and at least three journalists were injured in attacks.

- At least 10 people died and six people were injured in suspicious circumstance while they were serving in the military.

- At least 1,521 people were killed in the workplace in the first 10 months of 2022, according to a report by the Council for Workers' Health and Job Security.

- At least 308 women and 36 children were killed by men.

Torture and ill treatment

The human rights groups also stressed that "torture has become a major human rights issue in 2022."

According to the report:

- While 1,130 people applied to TIHV with allegations that they have been subjected to torture and ill treatment, IHD documented that at least 980 people were subjected to torture and ill treatment in detention centers.

- At least 5,148 people, including 143 children, were subjected to physical harassment and ill treatment as they were detained by the police during peaceful protests. At least 42 people were injured in such incidents. IHD puts the number of people who were violently detained in protests at 5,323.

- At least 225 people were subjected to some form of torture and ill treatment in the street, and 28 to similar mistreatment during house raids by the police.

The report also says that at least three people have been abducted in the first 11 months of 2022, and there is still no information about Yusuf Bilge who was abducted on 6 August 2019.