REPORT: Human Rights Violations Suffered by the Teachers in Turkey

On the occasion of the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review of Turkey – 2020 (35th Session) we, Human Rights Defenders and Victim Educators submitted a joint report on “Human Rights Violations Suffered By The Teachers In Turkey”

In our report we bring into the light how the Turkish government, with state of emergency decrees, dismissed 34000 teachers in violation of both the international legislation and Turkish Constitution. Despite the provisions of the Constitution the Turkish Government, has violated its obligations under international law, teachers were purged without any investigation, the thoughts and opinions of these teachers were considered as “crime”, teachers were tortured to explain their thoughts, the principle of non-retroactivity of crimes and punishments is infringed (e.g. being a member of legally functioning trade union or having an account in a legally functioning bank are declared as crime some years after the action occurred), 34000 teachers were considered guilty without any trial and court decision.

Furthermore, we have summarized that the purge of teachers is also in contradiction with international conventions to which Turkey is a party e.g. the Termination of Employment Convention of ILO (C158).

In our report we also deliberated how the “presumption of innocence” of Teachers were neglected, how the right to defense was not provided before the dismissal of the teachers, how the teacher were not only purged but also were deprived of their employee personal benefits but also denied to work in diverse private institutions.

The purged teachers are seeking their rights. Nevertheless, it is not possible for them to get back their rights in Turkey where became an empire of fear and the principle of rule of law is annihilated. In our report, we have made following recommendations to end ongoing violations with regard to the right to association:

  1. Turkey should immediately get back purged teachers to their work
  2. Judicial proceedings should be conducted in compliance with universal legal rules and principles including but not limited to the presumption of innocence, individuality of offences and right to defence.
  3. Purged teachers’ financial, social and personal rights should be compensated.
  4. Turkey should apologize from these purged teachers due to her injustice and unlawfulness treatment.
  5. Turkey should rehabilitate the purged teachers by declaring their names in the Official Gazette as innocent.

For the report please follow this link.  

REPORT: Right of Association has been breached by Turkey

Regarding the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review – Turkey (35th Session – 2020), Human Rights Defenders e.V., Victim Laborers Platform and the Victim Educator Platform submitted a report entitled “Right of Association in Turkey- in the aftermath of July 2016”

As the co-authors of the mentioned Report, we explained the legal framework concerning the right of Association in Turkey and its obligations derived from international agreements Turkey is signatory.

During the emergency rule, the Turkish Government enacted thirty-two Emergency Decrees. With these decrees, 125.678 individuals were dismissed from public service, more than 4,000 legal persons, consisting of foundations, associations, foundation-owned universities, trade unions, private health institutions, private education companies, and 174 media outlets, were closed down. Assets of all those legal persons were transferred to the Treasury without cost, compensation. Besides the measures targeted real and legal persons, Emergency Decrees, which were comprised of some 1200 Articles, led to over 1,000 permanent amendments to national laws.

Under Art 2§1(d) of Emergency Decree 667, 19 trade unions were closed and all of their assets were confiscated without compensation on grounds of their (alleged) attachment, affiliation or connection with the pro-Fetullah [Gulenist] Terrorist Organization (FTÖ/PDY). As of the date of closure, the closed unions had a total of 29.589 members. All of these members have lost their jobs, what is worse is they have been subjected to the prosecution under Article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code which stipulates the membership to a terrorist organization.

In our joint submission we evaluated how Turkey has fallen short of its obligation under the ICCPR and the ICECSR and urged the government of Turkey to Repeal legislation and decrees implemented under the state of emergency, take immediate steps to ensure that all legislation is compliant with its obligations under international human rights law, Reinstate dismissed public servants, amend its anti-terrorism legislation in order to have a legislation compliant with the ECHR case law, lift the closure of trade unions and other legal persons, ensure that labour law complies with the ILO conventions.

For our the report please follow this link.

Recent Political Developments in Turkish Politics in the Context of Radicalisation

We as, Human Rights Defenders e.V.(HRD) and Stiftung Dialog und Bildung have submitted an Universal Periodic Review Report on Turkey (January 2020) concerning the Recent Political Developments In Turkish Politics In The Context Of Radicalisation.

Note: This Report was written by Mr.Sammas Salur, PhD, and is also published on OHCHR website under “Joint Submission 17” https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRTRStakeholdersInfoS35.aspx

In our submission we summarized the political developments during the last 17 years, whereas Turkey has been governed by Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP or ‘the
party’ hereafter).  In this report both core and mundane nature of Turkish politics are going to be depicted under recent developments in a context: radicalization.

The Turkish experience of radicalization can be
considered at three levels; consciousness, discourse and action. Regarding the manifest,
high value of religion in Turkish society and the fact that religion is a
fertile ground for radicalization in the AKP period, we can examine the topic
mostly through religious lexicon.

After giving a summary of religious information
we put into our focus the categorical and juvenile anti-west discourse (with
aggressive and abusive discourse) of the Turkish government as well as the
violations of fundamental human rights.

Furthermore,
one of the most important examples of ideological radicalization is the efforts
to turn Islamist ideology into the basic teleology of the state. In fact, the
ideological stance of AKP’s founder Erdogan’s first political views and the
political movement from which he came from is known to the public.

Among
other interesting facts and information we summarized eight recommendations on
how the political radicalization in Turkey can be reversed.

For our UPR-Report on Radicalization in Turkey please follow this Link.

REPORT: Turkey’s Non-Compliance with Its International Human Rights Obligations Relating to Children’s Rights

As Human Rights Defenders e.V. (HRD) and London Advocacy we have submitted a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Report concerning Turkey’s Non-Compliance with Its International Human Rights Obligations Relating to Children’s Rights. This submission highlights several key areas of concern regarding Turkey’s non-compliance with its international human rights obligations relating to children’s rights.

In our Report we have evaluated the implementation of regulations on Children´s Rights concerning its international obligations and the recommendations it received in the Second Cycle of the UPR in 2015. Turkey received 34 recommendations from participant countries, 33 of which, the Turkish delegation supported. The only exception was the recommendation to “allow children of Greek citizens working in Istanbul to attend the Greek minority schools as fully-fledged students,” which was noted by the delegation.

Furthermore, we emphasized in our Report that Under the State of Emergency that was declared after the coup attempt of 2016, more than a thousand schools and education institutions, including dorms and education charities were dissolved. This caused direct and indirect suffering to children, from the kindergartens to universities. Also, we brought to attention the denials of passports as well as the refusing to assign National IDs to new-borns.

As co-authors we call upon the Government of Turkey to significantly improve the overall conditions for the rights of the child in the country. In particular, the government of Turkey must, immediately end its pattern of detaining or arresting women just before or immediately after giving birth; ensure that children held with their imprisoned mothers are never treated as prisoners; prefer non-custodial measures for pregnant women and those with dependent children; provide citizenship to all babies born to Turkish citizens; ensure that all legal, administrative, and practical measures are taken to end discrimination of children whose parents have been targeted due to alleged links to the Gulen Movement.

For the report please follow this links

TR Governments Decision Regarding the Dismissal of Elected Mayors

Press Release – August 22, 2019

We express our grave concern about the decision of the Turkish Government to suspend the elected mayors of three cities in the south-east of the country, namely Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van, and to replace them with governors.



These mayors were elected as a result of the free and fair expression of the will of the Turkish people during the local elections held on 31 March 2019, which were observed by relevant international organizations. 

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Joint submission to the UN Human Rights Council’s universal periodic review of the Republic of Turkey

As Human Rights Defenders we have submitted to the UPR-Turkey a report concerning Labour Rights. In our Report we summarized the situation of the Private Sector workers, whose rights have been systematically violated after the 15/7/2016.

The Turkish Government committed the most serious human rights violations especially in the last three years with the help of “trustees” and “decree-laws” (KHK). The Republic of Turkey dismissed 140.000 public servants with decree laws and more than 100.000 workers by assigning trustees or closing down their workplaces by violating all the responsibilities it has which were guaranteed by the international agreements it signed.

These are all done by associating the victims with the coup and terrorism, without any investigations, without considering “the presumption of innocence” and by “violating the ILO (International Labor Organization) conventions”. The people who were dismissed from their duties within this process could not express their situation and victimhood in front of any authority as they were limited by the State of Emergency and decree-laws and as they were accused of the coup attempt.

Turkish State is seriously violating the “Termination of Employment Convention no. 158” of ILO which it signed and made an important part of its national legislation.

The OHAL (State of Emergency) Commission which is made up later because of the international pressure does not change this fact. This situation is described in detail in the report of Amnesty International named “Purged Beyond Return? No Remedy For Turkey’s Dismissed Public Sector Workers”.

The Government prevents the worker who are unemployed because of the trustees or closed institutions to find other jobs. The state makes sure that those persons are fired from their jobs again by threatening, harassing and sending inspectors to the workplaces of the employers. This is done by the Social Security Institution. SSI added 36th reason of dismissal (dismissal because of the connection to Gülen) to the list of 35 reasons to quit from job. The “code 036” is written to the social security registries of the people who worked in the workplaces closed by decree-laws, who were dismissed directly by decree-laws or who were fired by the employers with their opinion of being connected to the Gülen Movement.

We urge the Turkish Government to return all the assets which were stolen by confiscation. To pay back all the losses with adding positive and negative interests. Pay the rents with interest to the owners of all the assets which were confiscated. Return the people who were dismissed from their jobs by decree-laws. Pay all the salaries and compensations with interest to the people who were dismissed by trustees or by closing their workplaces for the period when they couldn’t work. Returning all the personal rights which were stolen. Apologize by the state because of all the pain they have been through during the time they were victimized and to pay compensations to them to compensate all the harm done to them.

Restore the honor of the people and institutions, declare their innocence by the Official Gazette and making sure they are returned to their jobs. Removing all the legislations in Turkey which does not fit to international law and signed international conventions.


For the report please follow these links.

Fox-IT debunks report on ByLock app that landed 75,000 people in jail in Turkey

The Turkish government has been actively pursuing the prosecution of the participants of the Gülen movement in what it calls“the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure (FETÖ/PDY)”. To this end, the Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı or MİT in Turkish) has investigated the relation of a publicly available smart phone messaging application called ByLock to “FETÖ/PDY”, which is alleged to have been used during the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016.

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Bedford Row Report: Opinion on the Legality of the Actions of the Turkish State

A summary of an opinion on the legality of the actions of the Turkish State in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt in 2016 and the reliance on use of the Bylock messaging application as evidence of membership of a terrorist organisation by William Clegg QC who was assisted by Simon Baker. The opinion also contains a digital forensic report by Thomas K Moore, whose main findings have also been summarised below.

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Communiqué de presse à l’occasion de la journée internationale pour le soutien aux victimes de la torture

Nous célébrons aujourd’hui la « Journée internationale pour le soutien aux victimes de la torture ». En solidarité avec toutes les victimes de la torture, nous souhaitons attirer votre attention sur les points suivants :

La torture est un acte inexplicable et horrible qui ignore les valeurs humanitaires fondamentales et dévalorise l’individu jusqu’à le considérer comme un objet. La torture est une invention honteuse de l’humanité et une caractéristique indispensable des systèmes « légaux » qui permettent de recueillir des preuves émanant de suspects ou d’inculpés et est utilisée comme tactique de punition inhumaine et d’intimidation par des États dans une grande partie du monde. La torture, un crime au regard du droit international, est interdite définitivement et ne peut être justifiée en aucune circonstance. La pratique systématique ou généralisée de la torture constitue un crime contre l’humanité.

En gardant cela à l’esprit, nous, HRD, avons lancé une campagne juridique sous la compétence universelle en Allemagne, dans le contexte de cas de torture et de mauvais traitements en Turquie. Nous avons présenté aujourd’hui, notamment, 5 plaintes individuelles, qui ont été soumises à la torture et à de mauvais traitements en Turquie et qui vivent maintenant en Allemagne. Outre notre déclaration, une liste des auteurs présumés d’actes de torture ou de mauvais traitements est également soumise au Procureur fédéral en annexe.

À la suite des investigations du 17 et 25 décembre 2013 qui ont révélé la corruption régnant au sein du gouvernement ; le Premier ministre turc à l’époque, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a lancé un plan sinistre pour prendre le contrôle au niveau de toutes les couches de la société turque. La tentative de coup d’Etat monté du 15 juillet 2016 a donné au Régime d’Erdogan « la carte blanche » dont il avait besoin. Le régime, avec tous les appareils de l’Etat, y compris l’appareil judiciaire sous sa main et une machine de propagande bien fonctionnée alimentée par des fonds publics appropriés, a transformé le mouvement Gülen en un bouc émissaire et a déchaîné sa colère contre des innocents en Turquie et dans le monde.

La torture systématique, délibérée et généralisée en tant que politique gouvernementale, qui s’est manifestée dernièrement par la torture de diplomates au siège du commissariat de la police d’Ankara, ainsi que dans le cas de Deniz Yücel, est rendue possible notamment par les pratiques de détention provisoire prolongée, interdiction des réunions entre les avocats et clients et/ou violation de leur confidentialité, dissolution de tous les conseils de surveillance pénitentiaire et interdiction d’obtenir des rapports d’examen médical équitables. Le Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l’homme (HCDH) et Human Rights Watch (HRW) ont bien documenté la pratique de la torture pour obtenir des aveux. Ces pratiques comprennent les violences physiques, le viol, les agressions sexuelles et leurs menaces, les électrochocs et le simulacre de noyade. Les actes de torture ont lieu en particulier au moment de l’arrestation et pendant la détention provisoire.

Non seulement la Turquie ne dispose pas d’organes judiciaires compétents et bienveillants à enquêter sur des allégations bien fondées de torture, mais elle souffre également de dissimulation des preuves de torture. Par exemple, dans un document confidentiel divulgué, la Direction Générale de la Sécurité (Police nationale) demande aux 81 départements de la police provinciale de dissimuler les traces de torture dans les centres de détention et de ne pas utiliser les centres de détention officiels [pour la torture] avant la visite d’enquête du Comité pour la prévention de la torture (CPT) du Conseil de l’Europe (CdE). Le HCDH et HRW soulignent tous deux le climat de peur envahissant qui règne et la difficulté de se documenter et d’enquêter sur des actes de torture et sur d’autres formes de mauvais traitements.

En outre, il y a 26 cas de disparitions forcées en Turquie. Tous suivent un schéma similaire, ce qui prouve qu’il s’agit d’un fait systématique. Les victimes passent des mois dans des lieux inconnus et dans des conditions non connues, sont soumises à la torture et à d’autres formes de mauvais traitements. Les disparitions forcées ne se limitent pas aux frontières de la Turquie, le gouvernement enlève également des personnes à l’étranger. Le ministre turc des Affaires étrangères s’est vanté de l’enlèvement de 100 personnes par l’Agence nationale de renseignement (MIT) dans 18 pays. Ces victimes ont également signalé avoir été soumises à de graves actes de torture.

La détention provisoire prolongée à l’isolement est une peine dégradante en soi, mais elle favorise surtout d’autres actes de torture et de mauvais traitements. À ce titre, il y a 54 cas documentés de suicides obscurs dans les pénitenciers. Ces morts suspectes sont en fait dues à la torture et au manque de soins médicaux adéquats.

Le régime d’Erdogan a également systématiquement ciblé des groupes vulnérables tels que les femmes enceintes ou les nouvelles mères, les personnes âgées, les personnes malades et/ou handicapées. Le HCDH a signalé 50 cas de femmes arrêtées juste avant ou après l’accouchement et estime à 600 le nombre de mères détenues avec leurs enfants en bas âge. Dans presque tous les cas, ces femmes ont été inculpées d’infractions présumées de leur mari, au mépris total du principe de personnalité des peines.

Les informations acquises constituent une base raisonnable pour croire que de multiples crimes commis après la tentative de coup d’État dans le contexte d’une attaque généralisée et systématique contre les disciples du Mouvement Gülen en Turquie, en application d’une politique de l’État ou de l’organisation, au sens des articles 6 (3) et 7 – 1, 5,6,7,8, 9,10 du Code pénal à l’encontre du droit international (Völkerstrafgesetzbuch –VStGB). Après une tentative de coup d’Etat monté en juillet 2016, les actes suivants ont été commis :

Génocide défini au paragraphe 6 (3) de VStGB comme suit : “Dans l’intention de détruire, en tout ou en partie, un groupe national, ethnique, racial ou religieux, en infligeant au groupe à des conditions d’existence devant entraîner sa destruction physique totale ou partielle. ”

Crimes contre l’humanité au titre de l’article 7 de la VStGB:

A. L’homicide volontaire constitue un crime contre l’humanité au sens de l’article 7 (1) du Statut;

B. infliger, dans l’intention de détruire une population, en tout ou en partie, des conditions d’existence de cette population ou des parties de celle-ci, à des conditions propres à provoquer sa destruction physique totale ou partielle, constitue un crime contre l’humanité au sens de l’article 7 (2) du Statut ;

C. La torture en tant que crime contre l’humanité, conformément à l’article 7 (5) du Statut ;

D. Viol et autres formes de violence sexuelle constitue un crime contre l’humanité au sens de l’article 7 (6) du Statut;

E. Disparitions forcées de personnes sous l’article 7 (7) du Statut

F. L’atteinte grave à l’intégrité physique ou mentale constitue un crime contre l’humanité au sens de l’article 7(8) du Statut;

G. Privation illégale de liberté physique ou violation des règles fondamentales du droit international énoncées à l’article 7 (9) du Statut;

H. Persécution “constituant un crime contre l’humanité” au sens de l’article 7 (10) du Statut;

Nous saisissons cette occasion pour appeler le Bureau du Procureur fédéral à ouvrir des enquêtes et à rester vigilants pour prévenir les pratiques de torture systématiques et généralisées et d’autres formes de mauvais traitements infligés par le régime d’Erdogan et traduire en justice les auteurs de tels actes. Nous nous engageons à rester vigilants dans nos efforts en ce sens.

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