Amnesty International’s latest annual publication reports a decline in human rights in Turkey. People are feeling increasing restrictions in the exercise of these rights, especially after the June 7, 2015 general election.
“The human rights situation deteriorated markedly following parliamentary elections in June and the outbreak of violence between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK] and the Turkish armed forces in July. The media faced unprecedented pressure from the government; free expression online and offline suffered significantly. The right to freedom of peaceful assembly continued to be violated. Cases of excessive use of force by police and ill-treatment in detention increased. Impunity for human rights abuses persisted. The independence of the judiciary was further eroded,” the report said.
Amnesty’s report also said separate suicide bombings attributed to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targeting left-wing and pro-Kurdish activists and demonstrators killed 139 people, adding that an estimated 2.5 million refugees and asylum seekers were accommodated in Turkey but that individuals increasingly faced arbitrary detention and deportation as the government negotiated a migration deal with the European Union.
Zaman
