IHD said that there were 440 violations of right to life, 447 torture and ill-treatment violations in 2019. IHD co-chair Öztürk Türkdoğan said that most of the violations were caused by the Kurdish problem.
The Human Rights Association (IHD) organised a press conference to present the 2019 Human Rights Violations Report in Turkey.
Due to the coronavirus epidemic, only IHD co-chair Öztürk Türkdoğan and members of the press attended the meeting held at the IHD headquarters.
Türkdoğan said that the last five years in Turkey were marked by an “increasingly authoritarian regime.”
The following are some of the violations of rights listed by Türkdoğan:
“* 9 people lost their lives and 16 people were injured as a result of extrajudicial execution of law enforcement officers, the stop warning was not complied with or due to random fire. 8 people lost their lives in unknown assaults.
At least 98 security guards (soldiers, police and village guards), 324 militants and 18 civilians, a total of 440 lost their lives due to armed conflicts.
- At least 69 people died for various reasons like diseases, suicide, violence in prisons, and 4 people were injured. At least 17 people lost their lives suspiciously and 5 were injured while doing their military service. One person was killed as a result of illegal organization attacks.
- According to the occupational Health and Safety Council 1,726 workers lost their life due to accidents / crimes in 2019.
- The number of people who claimed to have been tortured and ill-treated while in custody and in places other than detention was 1,477.
- Police attacked 1,344 meetings and demonstrations. In these interventions, the number of people who claimed to have been beaten and mistreated was 3,935.
Kurdish question
- At least 381 curfews have been announced from 16 August 2015 to 1 January 2020, in 11 provinces and at least 51 districts.
- Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Turkey 154th (of 180 countries) in the World Press Freedom Index, published in April 2020. In 2002, Turkey was ranked 99th.
- According to the data of the IHD Documentation Center, a total of 43 events were banned in 2019, including 24 press releases, 13 marches, 3 rallies, 2 festivals and 1 party congress.