Turkey recently called snap elections to be held June 24, even as it extended the state of emergency for a seventh time since a failed coup attempt in 2016. And in the wake of a 2017 constitutional referendum that vested extraordinary powers in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, observers warn that Turkey is on the fast track to authoritarianism.Continue reading
Turkey acted illegally by detaining two prominent journalists who were arrested in the wake of the military coup attempt in July 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled.
It is the first judgement by the Strasbourg court relating to the situation facing journalists in the country, which imprisons more media workers than any other in the world – according to one campaign group.Continue reading
UN rights office calls for halt to ‘continued deterioration of human rights’ in a report described by Ankara as biased.
Turkey has slammed a United Nations report, which says the state of emergency in the country have led to profound human rights violations, as “biased” and “unacceptable”.Continue reading
After 435 days, Taner was finally released from prison yesterday and reunited with his overjoyed family. I don’t think I was the only one who got teary-eyed when I saw the images of Taner, his wife, and daughters meeting for the first time in over a year.Continue reading
June marked 50 years since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories and the start of the 11th year of its illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip, subjecting approximately 2 million inhabitants to collective punishment and a growing humanitarian crisis. The Israeli authorities intensified expansion of settlements and related infrastructure across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and severely restricted the freedom of movement of Palestinians.
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Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has overseen what is said to be the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis, as hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.
Risking death by sea or on foot, more than half a million have fled persecution in northern Rakhine state since August 2017. The government sees the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenshipContinue reading
Widespread human rights violations continue in war-torn Syria despite a decrease in fighting between warring parties, according to a report released Wednesday by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, an investigatory branch of the UN Human Rights Council.
The alleged violations, characterized by the report as “unthinkable crimes against civilians,” include “forced displacement, deliberate attacks against civilians, and the use of chemical weapons” such as sarin and weaponized chlorine.Continue reading
On July 15, 2016, elements of the military attempted to carry out a coup d’état against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. The attempted coup left at least 241 citizens and government law enforcement dead.
During the attempted coup fighter jets bombed Turkey’s parliament. In the aftermath, the government declared a state of emergency, jailed thousands of soldiers and embarked on a wholesale purge of public officials, police, teachers, judges, and prosecutors.
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