PRESS RELEASE: International Day in Support of the Victims of Torture

PRESSE MITTEILUNG

BASIN AÇIKLAMASI

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS ON THE GREEK-TURKISH BORDER

On the occasion of the World Refugee Day 2022 we are publishing our new Report: Human Rights Violations on the Greek-Turkish Border & Testimonies of Push Back Victims. 

This report has been prepared to draw attention to the human rights violations that are occurring on the Turkish-Greek border, with a special focus on Turkish asylum seekers, who are trying to take refuge in European countries, fleeing from the AKP Government of the Republic of Turkey, which has recently become increasingly authoritarian. Turkey is gradually moving away from contemporary and institutional democratic values1,2 and is increasingly turning into a kleptocratic authoritarian country that is ruled by the oppression and unlawful practices of the AKP government. Treatment of dissident groups, especially that against members of the Gülen movement, Alevis and Kurds, has become intolerable. According to statistical data, since 2015, 2 million citizens have been investigated on the grounds of their membership of a terrorist organization. Furthermore, nearly 125,000 public officials have been dismissed from their duties, and 4,500 judges and prosecutors were summarily dismissed after the coup attempt in 20163. Executive control and political influence over the judiciary in Turkey has led to courts systematically accepting bogus indictments, detaining and convicting, without compelling evidence of criminal activity, individuals and groups that the Erdoğan government regards as political opponents4. This concern is also mentioned in the European Commission’s Turkey 2021 Report, in its country evaluation, under the section “Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights”5 . Furthermore, the United Nations (“UN”) Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has underlined the following: “The Working Group expresses grave concern about the pattern established by all these [FETO related] cases […] may constitute crimes against humanity”. It is worth emphasizing here that, under its decision, the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention not only found those measures to be illegal, but also considered them to be a “crime against humanity”6. Since they are not allowed to receive treatment, many prisoners have to try to survive, under difficult conditions, in prisons, and they cannot access adequate health services. People who belong to groups that are considered to be in opposition to the AKP Government under President Erdoğan are found guilty of completely legal acts, such as subscribing to certain newspapers and/ or magazines, being members of certain unions, associations, and foundations, making donations to specific social institutions, or even merely due to the schools that they attended. Opposition members living in Turkey, who find it hard to survive in these harsh conditions, are trying to seek political asylum in European countries by crossing to Greece via the Aegean Sea or the River Maritsa. These people are not economic refugees, but political refugees, who are seen as being enemies by Erdogan’s government. Although international human rights documents grant legal protection to persons with political refugee status, and although Greece, like all other European democracies, has ratified these agreements and included them in its domestic legal code, we are witnessing more frequent push back incidents on the Greek – Turkish border, such actions thus ending with the imprisonment of most Turkish asylum seekers, who are being pushed back into Turkish territory and into the hands of the Turkish security forces. As a result of this, they are being sentenced to prison in Turkey after they are caught. This report has been prepared in order to draw attention to the situations of those political refugees who are fleeing from Turkey, which is happening alongside the problem that Greece has been facing caused by economic migrants from the Middle East who are seeking asylum in EU countries. The current point that has been reached in the migrant crisis has been documented with the testimonies of the victims of these events and their close relatives, and the resulting texts speak of Greece’s concern to protect its borders, the legal situation and the guarantees made by international human rights documents and conventions for political refugees, the severe human rights violations that are experienced by Turkish political refugees, and the push-back experiences of those same asylum seekers who have tried to take refuge in Greece. Chapter 1: Executive Summary & Methodology 2 While there have been Turkish citizens who have drowned and lost their lives7 during these push-back events, there have even been people who, although they were citizens of European countries or had the legal right to reside in European countries8, were still pushed back into Turkey in violation of UN and European human rights accords. These include victims who are citizens of EU countries, such as Germany or France, who were not allowed to leave Turkey by legal means, and who, as a result, crossed the Turkish-Greek border by clandestine means in order to take refuge in Greece, and who were then pushed back into Turkey At the end of this report, we have tried to propose a humane migrant crisis management process by including suggestions that fall within the framework of the guarantees that have been brought by international law and universal human rights documents. This report has been prepared jointly by nongovernmental human rights organizations that are located in the European Union countries and in the United States of America. 

METHODOLOGY 

The events and narratives in this report have been prepared by interviewing victims who have experienced push-back from Greece into Turkey. Information about the identities of those people who are involved in the events that are mentioned in the report are kept confidential, and in the case that there is any international investigation or research, the identity and contact information relating to these victims will be shared with the relevant authorities. Some of the victims were able to evade capture by the Turkish security forces upon their forced return, but the majority of those Turkish citizens who have been pushed back over the border have been detained by Turkish security forces, and have eventually been arrested and incarceratedby the courts. The majority of these victims are still imprisoned. Based on letters that these victims have written from prison, or the letters and documents that they have sent to their relatives, all the events have been turned into written documents. A certain number of victims, after being pushed back during their first border crossing attempt, were finally successful as a result of their 2nd or 3rd attempts to cross the border did not have the consequence of their being caught and pushed back. Part of the narrative in this report is based on the testimonies of those people who were able to reach European countries without being caught by the Turkish and Greek security forces, and who have achieved residency status in Europe as a result of family reunification decisions. During the preparation of the report, the testimonies of those lawyers in Greece who represented political refugees from Turkey were also consulted. Above all, we would like to thank Rana Özcelik form the European Justice Initiative, who helped us in conducting the interviews. This report was written by Lawyers, Political Scientists and Journalists in both Europe and the United States. Dr. Mustafa Yasar Demircioglu HRD e.V. Law Commission

 

The Report in German Language: 

Hexenjag auf die Gülen – Bewegung

Seit 2014 geht der türkische Staatsapparat gezielt gegen die Gülen Bewegung und

dessen Sympathisanten vor. Eins der wichtigsten Instrumente, welches von den türkischen

Sicherheitsbehörden und der Justiz benutzt wird, sind die täglichen Wellen von willkürlichen

Verhaftungen von Menschen, denen vorgeworfen wird, von Gülen inspiriert zu sein.

Insgesamt wurden seit 2014 mehr als 5.830 Massen-Verhaftungswellen1 durchgeführt und mehr

als 134.000 Menschen festgenommen. Durchschnittlich werden täglich in mindestens drei

Operationen bis zu 70 Personen inhaftiert. Als HRD e.V. präsentieren wir hier unser neues Bericht dass auch in Englisch. 

TURKEY: STATE OF EMERGENCY INQUIRY COMMISSION (SoEC)

Nor Independent, Nor Impartial: An Obstacle To Access To Justice




REPORT: NO COUNTRY FOR PURGE VICTIMS

Lives of the purge victims are in shambles three and half years after the end of the state of emergency

Purged civil servants in Turkey and their next of kins are being discriminated against and blacklisted from public programmes and applying for new jobs.

 

The Arrested Lawyers Initiative and Human Rights Defenders e.V documented at least 30 types discriminatory practices denting the sacked officials’ ability to work in an attack on their livelihoods in their new report titled No Country for Purge Victims.

 

Besides being sacked from their positions these practices are affecting all aspects of their social and economic lives including areas such as care allowance insurance, disability subsidies, tax concessions and the right to work.

 

The report reveals that purged civil servants are blacklisted in the databases of the Employment and the Social Security Agencies and consequently in all of the databases of all public and quasi-public entities – how these people were dismissed under an Emergency Decree is also recorded in such databases.

 

Besides having been blacklisted, circulars and dictums published by various public entities ban the purge victims from either participating in public programmes such as employment courses, benefitting tax concessions or scholarships, acquiring a new profession, or working in the most basic jobs such as school bus driver.

 

In addition, purged civil servants cannot be foster families or even worse have their adopted child taken away from them, plus purged civil servants are also discriminated against in relation to Covid-19 economic relief and natural disaster aid.

 

The report finds that these indefinite secondary sanctions constitute a penalty under Article 7 of ECHR.

 

Turkey’s ad hominem dismissal decrees may be characterized as a penalty, rather than a temporary measure in light of: (i) the scope and severity of consequences of dismissals and its perpetual status (explained in the first blog post); (ii) that dismissals entail deprivations heavier than those for a convicted felon; (iii)  that dismissals do not comply with PACE Resolution 1096 and the Guideline on Lustration; and (iv) ECtHR’s case law on the definition of punishment within the meaning of Art 7 § 1 of the ECHR.

 

In conclusion, the report reveals how the basic fabric of daily life is being denied to those officials that have been dismissed.

 

“Even opening a bank account becomes a difficult challenge as laws are tailored to make it inaccessible to them. While military service, whose structure is clearly defined in laws, is imposed on purge victims in different ways, in clear departure from the procedure,” says the report.

 

The list of bans or practices, as documented by the report, illustrates the depth of agony and sufferings inflicted on sacked workers as private companies increasingly collaborate with authorities or act in fear of political backlash to deny the basic services to people in the post-coup era.

 

 

The report adds: “The emergency rule, more than one and a half years after its end, remains to be in place with dire consequences for its targeted population. This reality, often overlooked and ignored by observers, needs to be taken into account when analyzing the state of political and legal affairs in Turkey.”

 

Professor Helen Duffy (@HelenDuffy_HRP), Prof. of International Human Rights & Humanitarian Law at  Leiden University, Director of Human Rights in Practice:

Where vague and broad-reaching ’emergency’ measures are imposed without a clear legal framework, due process of law and effective remedies before independent courts, and  their effects are extended beyond the state of emergency to become the new normal, it is the death knell for a society governed by law. The implications of the purging of public sector workers, human rights defenders and others in Turkey are profound, for the full range of economic, social, civil and political rights of those directly affected and their families, for democracy and rule of law.

 Professor of law, Kerem Altıparmak (https://twitter.com/KeremALTIPARMAK)

Although state of emergency decrees are not, as far as the domestic law is concerned, the same as conviction handed out following criminal proceedings, they, as far as their implications are concerned, have even more serious implications than having been convicted and having served the sentence. This shows that having been purged by a state of emergency decree has, in terms of the nature of crime and its condemnability, very similar implications to that of being punished through criminal proceedings. This has nevertheless been carried out without a fair trial and without allowing the people concerned a right to defense. Since the enactment of first state of emergency decree, I have been arguing from the start that ad hominem listing of people in state of emergency laws is punishment in the sense of Article 6 of European Convention of Human Rights and I am in the opinion that no one may be punished as such without having a fair trial first. 

Professor of political science, Ümit Cizre (https://twitter.com/umitcizre)

Let us voice and support the struggle to remain alive of the victims of emergency decree laws who have truly been condemned to civil death through outright bans, deprivation of rights and discrimination. Those valued brothers and sisters of us have for years been in a heart-wrenching struggle to exist which should shake to the core even the most apolitical person. It is not possible to give them back what they might have already lost. All in all, what needs to be done is quite usual, natural and minimum: as individuals and the society as a whole, to demonstrate sensibility instead of “ignorance”; as politicians/political parties, press on with determined intervention and pressure.

 

A list of other discriminatory practices can be found below:

  1. Purged civil servants are blacklisted in the databases of the Employment and the Social Security Agencies with the code 36/OHAL/KHK
  2. Purged civil servants cannot be foster families
  1. Purged civil servants cannot be mayors, aldermen or mukhtars (a local elected administrator for villages).
  2. Purged civil servants cannot be lawyers
  3. Purged civil servants cannot be accountants
  4. Purged civil servants cannot work as architects, engineers, laboratory workers, or as technicians in building inspection companies
  5. Purged civil servants cannot attend vocational courses
  6. Purged civil servants cannot work in private educational institutions
  7. Purged civil servants cannot work as sailors
  8. Purged civil servants cannot work as on-site (workplace) doctors, or as occupational safety specialists.
  9. Purged civil servants are denied the licenses needed to run businesses.
  10. Purged civil servants who work as veterinarians cannot have an artificial insemination certificate and cannot perform their professional duties in agricultural support programs.
  11. The database of the General Directorate of the Land Registry (TAKBIS) includes a list of suspicious people which consists of those dismissed under emergency decrees. Those included on this list cannot participate in real estate transactions, either as a party (vendee or vendor) or as a witness.
  12. Upon an instruction by the Ministry of Justice, the Union of Turkish Public Notaries produced a list of suspicious people, which consists of those dismissed under emergency decrees. People included on this list cannot carry out any procedures as notaries, other than giving power of attorney. This means that they cannot carry out hundreds of legal procedures, including selling their cars or signing construction contracts.
  1. The database for the Social Relief Program (SOYBIS) includes a list of those who have been dismissed under emergency decrees. Disabled people whose first caregivers (such as parents, sons, daughters, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law) are dismissed under emergency decrees, cannot benefit from social care funds.
  1. Those dismissed under emergency decrees, and their spouses and children, cannot benefit from the General Health Insurance for people with a low income and from the social rights that are offered to disabled people.
  2. Purged public servants cannot have passports and travel documents.
  3. Purged public servants cannot open bank accounts and are discriminated against in financial transactions and procedures
  4. Purged public servants are discriminated against in regard to insurance services
  5. Purged public servants are discriminated against in relation to business development and incentive credits.
  6. Purged public servants are discriminated against in relation to mandatory military services
  7. Purged academics are discriminated against in academic publishing.
  8. Purged public servants cannot enter the exams for associate professorships.
  9. Purged public servants cannot receive science scholarships.
  10. Purged public servants and their families are discriminated against in relation to university admissions and tuition fees.
  11. Purged public servants cannot be school bus drivers.
  12. Purged public servants are discriminated against in taxation.
  13. Purged physicians (M.D.) are not admitted to programmes leading to specializations in medicine
  14. Purged public servants are discriminated against in relation to COVID19 economic reliefs.
  15. Purged public servants are discriminated against in terms of natural disaster aid.

Erdogan’s kidnapping network strikes in Kyrgyzstan Information statement on the kidnapping of Orhan İnandi – Bishkek/Kyrgyzstan

Berlin, June 1, 2021

With this statement we would like to inform you about the recent abduction cases of civilians of Turkish origin abroad by the Turkish Intelligence Service. Since the coup attempt in July 2016, the Turkish government has repeatedly attempted to intimidate or even eliminate supporters of the global Hizmet movement (“Gülen movement”) and opponents of the Erdogan regime through illegal means. Even abroad, Turkish intelligence has not shied away from kidnapping civilians.

The most recent cases of such abductions are Selahaddin Gülen and Orhan İnandi. On the morning of June 1, Orhan İnandı, the founder and president of the Turkish-Kyrgyz Sapat School Network operating in Kyrgyzstan, was abducted from his personal passenger car outside his own home. İnandı was last contacted by his family at 6 p.m. Monday. His car was found near his house with the doors open. His family immediately informed Kyrgyz police about the teacher’s disappearance and called for an urgent investigation.

In Kyrgyzstan, the Sapat network has been active in Kyrgyz education since 1992. Today, 30 percent of the school network’s shares belong to the Kyrgyz Republic. Within the school network there are 16 high schools, one international university, one international school and three elementary school.

İnandı had been working in Kyrgyzstan since 1995 and had been the president of the school network since 2001. According to the Sapat Schools, İnandı received the title of “Excellence in Education of the Kyrgyz Republic” and the Honorary Diploma of the Kyrgyz Republic in 2002, and the Medal of Gratitude of the Kyrgyz Republic in 2003 for his contribution to the improvement of the education system in the country. İnandı also holds citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic.
According to İnandı’s family, there are reportedly two planes waiting at the airport in Bishkek and the Uzbek capital Tashkent that are not on the flight lists of any of the airlines operating at those airports, raising suspicions that these planes could be used to return the teacher to Turkey.

In early May, Erdoğan made a public rally that notable arrests would be made in a timely manner. According to a recent Freedom House report on global transnational repression, Turkey is the number one country that has conducted renditions from host states since 2014. The Turkish government has been persecuting its perceived enemies in at least 30 different countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia since July 2016. “Ankara’s campaign has primarily targeted people associated with religious leader Fethullah Gülen’s movement, which the government blames for the coup attempt,” the report states.

We hereby wish to create public awareness of human rights violations in the form of illegal abductions and kidnappings of people outside Turkey and welcome all forms of support and solidarity.

Erdogans Entführungsnetzwerk schlägt in Kirgisistan zu Informationsbekundung zur Entführung von Orhan İnandi – Bishkek/Kirgisistan

Wir möchten Sie über die jüngsten Entführungsfälle von türkischstämmigen Zivilisten im Ausland durch den Türkischen Geheimdienst in Kenntnis setzen. 

Die türkische Regierung versucht seit dem Putschversuch vom Juli 2016 immer wieder Anhänger der globalen Hizmet-Bewegung (“Gülen-Bewegung”) und Gegner des Erdogan-Regimes auf illegale Wege einzuschüchtern oder gar zu beseitigen. Selbst im Ausland hat der Türkische Geheimdienst keine Scheu davor, Zivilisten zu entführen.

Die jüngsten Fälle derartiger Entführungen sind Selahaddin Gülen und Orhan İnandi. Am Morgen des 1. Juni wurde Orhan İnandı, der Gründer und Präsident des in Kirgisistan tätigen türkisch-kirgisischen Sapat-Schulnetzwerks vor seinem eigenen Haus aus seinem persönlichen PKW entführt. İnandı wurde zuletzt am Montag um 18 Uhr von seiner Familie kontaktiert. Sein Auto wurde in der Nähe seines Hauses mit geöffneten Türen gefunden. Seine Familie informierte sofort die kirgisische Polizei über das Verschwinden des Lehrers und forderte eine dringende Untersuchung.

In Kirgisistan ist seit 1992 das Sapat-Netzwerk im kirgisischen Bildungswesen tätig. Heute gehören 30 Prozent der Anteile des Schulnetzwerks der Kirgisischen Republik. Im Rahmen des Schulnetzwerks gibt es 16 Gymnasien, eine internationale Universität, eine internationale Schule und drei Grundschulen.

İnandı war seit 1995 in Kirgisistan tätig und seit 2001 Präsident des Schulnetzwerks. Laut Aussage der Sapat-Schulen erhielt İnandı 2002 den Titel „Exzellenz in der Bildung der Kirgisischen Republik“ und das Ehrendiplom der Kirgisischen Republik, sowie 2003 die Dank-Medaille der Kirgisischen Republik für seinen Beitrag zur Verbesserung des Bildungssystems im Land. İnandı besitzt außerdem die Staatsbürgerschaft der Kirgisischen Republik.

Laut Angaben der Familie İnandı sollen am Flughafen von Bischkek und der usbekischen Hauptstadt Taschkent zwei Flugzeuge warten, die nicht auf den Fluglisten einer der an diesen Flughäfen tätigen Fluggesellschaften aufgeführt sind, was den Verdacht aufkommen lässt, diese Flugzeuge könnten verwendet werden, um den Lehrer in die Türkei zurückzubringen.

Anfang Mai machte Erdoğan öffentlich eine Kundgebung, dass zeitnah namhafte Festnahmen erfolgen würden. Laut einem kürzlich veröffentlichten Bericht von Freedom House über globale transnationale Repression ist die Türkei die Nummer eins unter den Ländern, die seit 2014 Überstellungen aus Gaststaaten durchgeführt haben. Die türkische Regierung verfolgt ihre vermeintlichen Feinde seit Juli 2016 in mindestens 30 verschiedenen Ländern in ganz Amerika, Europa, dem Nahen Osten, Afrika und Asien. „Ankaras Kampagne hat sich in erster Linie gegen Menschen gerichtet, die mit der Bewegung des religiösen Führers Fethullah Gülen verbunden sind, die die Regierung für den Putschversuch verantwortlich macht“, heißt es in dem Bericht.

Wir möchten hiermit eine öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit für die Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Form von illegalen Verschleppungen und Entführungen von Menschen außerhalb der Türkei schaffen und heißen jede Form der Unterstützung und Solidarisierung willkommen.

Human Rights Defenders e.V. – info@humanrights-ev.com

Berlin, 1. Juni 2021

UNLAWFULLNESS IN TURKEY

In this brochure; the violation of fundamental and

universal human rights such as the right to life, the right to respect for private and family life, the right to property and the right to a fair trial in Turkey are examined.

The findings in the brochure are presented chronologically, with

information compiled from reports of local and international institutions and open sources.

The study analyzes the period between 2013 – April 2021 to determine whether or not there is an independent and impartial judiciary and a fair trial in Turkey. Additionally, it reviews the outcomes of the political intervention in the judicial proceedings.

It also examines whether the current administration abuses the

international mechanisms to capture dissidents abroad and the

extradition requests lack legal basis and are politically motivated.

The data and examples published in the brochure have been selected among a large number of cases to show the whole framework.

Please use the link to get the full report: Unlawfulness in Turkey_Pages Final

Press Release: Immediate stop of violence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories

We are deeply concerned at the escalation of violence in the Palestinian territories and in Israel during the past days. We condemn in the strongest terms all acts of terrorism or violence and extend our condolences to the families of the victims on both sides.

We denounce the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas and militant groups in the Gaza Strip, directly harming civilians. These are criminal and unjustifiable acts. All terrorist groups in Gaza must disarm.

 

We also condemn the loss of hundreds of Palestinians, among them many women and children. While recognizing Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself against any attacks, the Israeli military operation must be proportionate and in line with international humanitarian law.

 

Bearing in mind that that the recent upsurge of violence in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza was triggered due to Israel’s settlement policy, we do stress that all settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law. The Israeli authorities should cease these activities and provide adequate permits for legal construction and development of Palestinian communities.

 

Furthermore, we appeal for full respect of the Holy Sites. Any changes in the status quo would only have seriously destabilizing effects on the already tense atmosphere.

 

We underline that any violent action can only fuel extremism on both sides; urging all parties to refrain from any action that would worsen the situation by way of incitement, provocation, excessive use of force or retaliation.

 

We call on political leaders from all sides to work together through visible actions to de-escalate the situation and stress that non-violent means and respect for human rights and humanitarian law are the only way to achieve a sustainable solution and a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.