MESOP TODAYS RECOMMENDATION “FULL TEXT” – HRW Report: Turkish People Faced Massive Rights Violations in 2016

17 Jan 2017 – Human rights in Turkey were increasingly trampled on in 2016 especially after the failed July 15, 2016, military coup, which punished more than 100,000 public workers and officials, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization outlined in its 687-page World Report 2017.

“The scale of dismissals and prosecutions in connection with the coup and weakened safeguards gave rise to serious concerns that the legitimate prosecution of those suspected of involvement in the coup attempt is being conducted without due process,” HRW summarized in the report that was released Jan. 12.More than 100,000 public officials and civil servants, including around 28,000 teachers, have been dismissed or suspended since the attempted coup which killed at least 241 citizens and police. During the attempted coup fighter jets bombed the country’s parliament.

“Many detainees — including teachers, police, public officials — are placed in pretrial detention despite a lack of evidence of criminal wrong-doing or compelling grounds for custody,” HRW chronicled. Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) led government contended the coup was organized by Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric. The Gulen movement is labelled a terrorist organization by the government of Turkey.

However, the government’s crackdown extended beyond the suspected coup conspirators, and led to the arrests of nine pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) parliamentarians including leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. Mayors in Kurdish cities were also detained, then replaced by politically-appointed trustees, which denied millions of voters their elected representatives, according to the HRW.   READ FULL PDF DOCUMENT  https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2016