10 December 2013
10 – 17 DECEMBER HUMAN RIGHTS WEEK
We have been witnessing the effective struggles of peoples and societies that have been conducted by using the right to rebellion for the human rights values on the 65th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Against the deterioration of the human rights values created with the states’ policies, the struggle of humanity for dignity is going on.
According to the Charter of the United Nations dated 26 June 1945 the ends of the Charter are “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom”.
In the preamble section of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights dated 10 December 1948 it is mentioned that the “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” and “it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law”. In 2013 we have been witnessing the struggle for peace and the use of the right to rebellion against tyranny and oppression both in Turkey and in Middle East.
Whereas people, who attempted to take the streets, to organise themselves, and to protect their life spheres in Turkey and all around the world, are trying to resist and say that another life is possible the authoritarian regimes are trying to control and to oppress the resistance by police violence.
Throughout the year gross human rights violations including right to life violations and torture were experienced due to coup d’états (i.e. Egypt), civil wars, wars and invasions. Our region Middle East and especially our neighbour Syria come to the fore because of the intensity and extension of the violations.
Unfortunately 2013 became a year that gross human rights violations were experienced.
Of course the shift in the efforts for the peaceful solution of the Kurdish Issue -which has been the most important ring of the Turkey’s human rights and democracy general issue- and in relation to this no one was killed due to clashes, are very important developments that are desired. We, as human rights defenders, are pleased due to the situation and have been intensified our efforts to make it permanent.
However in 2013 there was virtually an outburst in torture and violations of freedom of assembly in Turkey foremost in the process of Taksim Gezi Park Protests.
According to the statement of the Security General Directorate, in 80 provinces of Turkey approximately 3,600,000 people demonstrated during 112 days. Probably the Gezi Park Protests, the biggest social movement of the history of the republic, gross human rights violations primarily violations of right to life and ban of torture were experienced as a result of the excessive/unproportional/without restriction intervention of the law enforcement.
Another issue that came to the forefront in the context of human rights is the negative effects of the civil war in Syria on Turkey.
Let’s see the violations in 2013 in the light of specific categories:
Right to Life
The main reason of the right to life violations in 2013 is the misconduct of the authority to use arms and force which is too broad and with obscure limits, given to the law-enforcement with the regulations of the Turkish Penal Law in 2005, the Penal Proceedings Law (CMK), and the Fighting with Terror Law (TMK) in 2006, and the Law on Duties and Authority of Police (PVSK) in 2007. This situation, which has been accelerating during the previous years, reached its peak with Gezi Park Protests.
According to the findings of the documentation centre of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT) and Human Rights Association (İHD) between 1 January and 30 November 2013:
– 25 people were killed and 26 people were wounded in extra-judicial killing, in “stop” warnings, and random firings by the law enforcement.
– 6 people were killed and 4 people were wounded by over speeding vehicles of the law enforcement or intentionally driven vehicles on demonstrators by law-enforcement.
– 9 people were killed in the interventions of law-enforcement to the demonstrations.
– 7 people were killed in murder by unknown assailants.
– 25 people died in the prisons for various reasons.
Moreover due to the wrong policies of the Government, the civil war in Syria has repercussions as right to life violations in Turkey. 71 people were killed and 219 people were wounded in the bomb attacks, with stray bullets and firings of the law-enforcement to the people who were trying to cross the border.
According to the Ministry of National Defence 52 soldiers committed suicide or died in a suspicious way between 1 January and 30 October 2013.
Torture and Ill-treatment
Torture still has an important place among the human rights violations in Turkey. Torture is still taking place in the places under the surveillance and control of the law enforcement, detention places, prisons, army units. Torture and ill-treatment acts were conducted in open areas, as it was seen in its extreme form, in the excessive/unproportional/without restriction intervention of the law enforcement to the meetings and demonstrations in the process of Taksim Gezi Park Protests.
· In the first 11 months of the 2013, 884 people who had been allegedly subjected to torture, applied to the HRFT. 477 of the applicants claimed that they were tortured in the same year.
· 338 people with torture complaints applied to the İHD in the first 10 months of 2013. This number does not cover the applications during the Gezi Park Protests.
· The army penitentiary units, despite the torture and ill-treatment claims, are still closed to any kind of supervision. The Monitoring Boards of the Prisons and Detention Places which was established to monitor and to supervise the prisons in accordance with the Law No. 4681, not only could not effectively perform the monitoring functions but also could not monitor or supervise the army units due to legal restrictions. The public opinion could get information on the torture and ill-treatment incidents in those places only after a murder that took place due to torture and ill-treatment.
· Impunity is the most serious obstacle to the struggle against torture. In connection with the torture incidents, and very few investigations were launched against the perpetrators; most of the investigation could not turn into an indictment; most of the indictments were launched charging the perpetrators with minor crimes; the defendants were not convicted or if they were convicted they were convicted not from torture charges but from other charges with minor sentences; and the sentences were postponed. Because of these, the fact of impunity which is the one of the most basic factors that allows torture is still in front of us. Thus, an effective investigation on the torture inflicted by law enforcement during the Gezi Park Protests which was documented via, camera and forensic medicine reports and also mentioned in the reports of the international human rights organisations reports, was not conducted. Despite the official complaints the perpetrators of the torture and their superiors who had ordered and neglected the torture were not tried. False cases on the murder of Ethem Sarısülük, Mehmet Ayvalıtaş and Ali İsmail Korkmaz are the indicators of the judiciary’s attitude regarding impunity. The political power’s “I will not let you eat the police” discourse was recorded as the expression of the impunity policy in Turkey.
· The cases launched few days before the time limitation on the murder by unknown assailants and forced disappearance in detention incidents could not be more than a facade. The assignment of these cases to the places where the relatives of victims could not follow the case and the protection of the defendants in courts are the indicators of the impunity in Turkey.
Kurdish Issue
As we have mentioned above, 2013 is the year that serious steps were taken for the peaceful and democratic solution of the Kurdish Issue. The dialogue started between the Leader of the KCK Abdullah Öcalan and the State officials leads to the 8th ceasefire of the KCK and to the stop of the armed clashes since February 2013 and armistice. In the new process that we called Peace and Solution Process, the Board of Wise Persons was constituted and it contributed to discussion of the people’s issues and reported the expectations to the government. During this process the IHD realised the Peoples’ Rights Workshop and developed suggestions for the solution of the Kurdish Issue. The IHD also established central and local monitoring commissions and prepared reports on the negative developments in the process and shared it with the public opinion.
The Democracy Package announced by the Government, which is important for the advancement of the Peace and Solution Process, remained below the expectations left the process face to face with obstruction. The Solution Commission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey did not propose anything other than the solution of the issues through dialogue. This showed the political power’s desire to unilaterally control the solution process once again. We would like to stress once again that Truth and Justice Commission should be set up for the Peace and Solution Process to provide social peace and to construct a just peace. This will contribute to base the process on a judicial level and the move from dialogue to negotiations. Despite the obstacles in the process of dialog and solution which has its own ups and downs, the fact that nobody was killed in direct conflict/war since 18 January 2013 has been strengthening society’s hopes for peace.
However;
· On 6 December 2013 two people were killed in an extra-judicial killing incident by law enforcement officers in Yüksekova District of Hakkari Province and the violence that they had resorted to after the incident including the hospital, is a matter of serious concerns and this incident should be effectively investigated.
· According to the İHD and the HRFT;
$1üIn 2013, 34 people were killed, 8 people were wounded in the clashes.
$1ü7 people were killed and 18 people were wounded with land mines.
$1üIn last few months the new arrests in the context of the KCK investigations created the concerns about the peace process.
· Crucial regulations concerning the use of mother tongue (Kurdish language) were not made and the issue is still a material of the politics.
· There is any development noteworthy in the proceedings of the KCK which have been an instrument of coercion on the people who had carried the various aspects of the Kurdish Issue to agenda of politics and public opinion. Perpetuated pre-trial detention periods became a punishment in itself.
· Although the state of emergency had been annulled, temporary village guard system is still active. According to the statement of the Ministry of Interior Affairs the number of guards became 48,130 with the new enrolments. The appropriate living conditions, for people who had to left their house during the clashes and would like to return back to the their villages, were not provided yet.
Freedom of Expression and Belief
In 2013 the violations in the field of freedom of thought and expression, especially the ones during the Gezi Park Protests, clearly showed that freedom of thought and expression is closely linked with freedom of media, organisation, meetings and demonstrations and should be evaluated together.
During the Gezi Park Protests the political power asked the media to use auto-censor; journalists/reporters who have been working for the right to be informed of the people were coerced and hindered from illustrating bare police violence. Several reporters were battered, beaten and detained and they were restricted from doing their job. According to the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) the number of journalists subjected to such practices is nearly 100.
Several cases were launched against journalists, writers, human rights defenders etc; several magazines and newspapers were confiscated; and newspapers were closed down in 2013. The number of journalists in prison was not declined. But due to the speculations on the subject we cannot provide an accurate number. However, we can claim that Turkey ranks first for the number of journalists in prisons.
In 2013 the equality demand of the Alevis was not met. Hence, the official annulment of the ban of scarf should be noted as an important development.
Despite the verdict of the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR on the conscientious objection to military service, Turkey did not accept this right which constitutes a severe violation.
– Although the Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code had been amended in 2008 there are at least 13 articles which have been an obstacle to freedom of expression and that can be used in place of another article (Articles 84, 125, 132, 134, 215, 216, 218, 285, 286, 288, 299, 305, 318 of the TPC). Besides these articles, there are several articles that could be restrictive for freedom of expression in other laws. Yet, we have to evaluate the Anti-Terror Law. This law is not only a source of violation of freedom of expression and organisation but also a source of violation in the fields of rights of child, defendants and etc.
– According to the findings of the documentation centre of the HRFT on charges of the mentioned articled in the first 11 months of 2013:
– 8 out of 21 detainees were arrested,
– 115 people were sentenced to 200 years, 6 months and 17 days of imprisonment,
– 50 people sentenced to a fine of TL 145,374,
– 153 people were acquitted, The trial of 329 people were prolonged to 2014,
– 31 people were benefited from 3rd and 4th Judicial Reform Packages;
– In the same period 13 printed material -3 of them periodicals- were confiscated.
– The number of the websites that were restricted 35,001.
Freedom of Association
· In 2013 1280 people (389 of the detainees are from the investigations against Kurdish politicians) were detained and 445 of them were arrested within the framework of freedom of association. It is should be noted that in the first 9 months of the year 164 people were detained and in the last 2 months the number shifted to 225 people.
· 1288 people, mostly defendants from the KCK cases, were sentenced to 2502 years, 11 months and 15 days of imprisonment.
· İHD’s former vice General Chairperson Diyarbakır Branch Chairperson Muharrem Erbey is still a pre-trial detainee (as of today, 10 December 2013 is his 1447th day). Muharrem Erbey’s case, although it has been going on in last five years, could not even reach to the essence phase. The prolonged pre-trial detention period became a sentence in itself.
- Forty-seven (12 female and 35 male) executives of the Confederation of Public Sector Unions (KESK) are still pre-trial detainees.
- Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) Chairperson Lawyer Selçuk Kozağaçlı and 8other executives and members of the ÇHD are pre-trial detainees.
With the verdict on pre-trial detainee deputies of the Constitution Court Mustafa Balbay was released on 9 December 2013. Other deputies should immediately be released, too.
Freedom of Assembly
The year 2013 is a period that experienced extraordinary violations and restrictions in freedom of meetings and demonstrations. Law enforcement has been accelerating its resort to excessive/ unproportional/without restriction power and violence during their interventions to the peaceful demonstrations with water cannons, plastic bullets and chemical weapons/demonstration control agents. While the intervention in the last May Day Demonstrations in İstanbul Province accelerated the violence and it reached its peak in Taksim Gezi Park Protests.
· As of 30 November 2013 law enforcement officials killed 9 people in their direct or indirect interventions.
· According to the findings of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) 8163 people applied to the hospitals/voluntary infirmaries during the Gezi Park Protests till 1 August 2013.
· 11,155 people who had participated to the survey in the website of the TTB stated that they had been subjected to chemical weapons/demonstration control agents. The rate of the participants who had been hospitalised to the total number of the participants was only 5% and this rate shows us that the actual number of the wounded people are much more than the number of wounded that could be determined.
- According to the data gathered by the documentation centres of the HRFT and the İHD, 6447 were detained and 217 people were arrested in 2013. In relation with the Gezi Park Process the numbers are respectively 4070 and 182. The reason that were shown for the arrest verdicts are “being a member or an executive of an illegal organisation”, “inciting people to riot”, “harming public goods”, “having firearms and bullets” and “intruding to mosques”.
· Indictments have been launched after the investigations on the incidents. In an environment that law enforcement and real perpetrators of the gross human rights violations have been protected, in 30 indictments 1204 people were asked to be tried on charges of “opposing to the Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations” and “resisting public officers due to his duty”.
· 52 people were sentenced to 184 years, 6 months and 12 days of imprisonment and 28 people were sentenced to a fine of 85,318 TL.
· Total 53 activities were banned.
Prisons
In 2013, prisons maintained their feature of being the areas of extensive human rights violations.
· As of 4 November 2013 there are 141,161 prisoners. As it is known after some regulations the number of prisoners decreased to 129,506 as of 15 April 2013 but it is noteworthy that in 7 months the number of prisoners increased approximately 12,000. The number of prisoners when the AKP came to power in 2002 was 59,429.
· The number of juveniles in prisons is 1878.
· The documentation centres of the İHD and the HRFT found that 26 pre-trial detainees and convicts –including the 51 days-old baby- died in prisons due to suicide, torture and ill-treatment, accident, negligence, illnesses and fights between the prisoners etc. The Ministry of Justice stated that 64 people died in the first 3 months of 2013.
· Prisons have serious problems concerning right to health. We observed that pre-trial detainees and convicts have been having serious obstacles to get medical service, and there are not enough, necessary medical staff and instruments in the prisons. According the data of the İHD 544 prisoners with acute illnesses -162 of them are on the verge of death- have been waiting to get medical treatment. Although on 05 March 2013 the European Court of Human Rights in the case Gülay Çetin vs Turkey sentenced Turkey in connection with current regulation regarding the protection of the pre-trial detainees with acute illnesses on charges of ban on torture under Article 3 of the ECHR, it is impossible to understand why the authorities do not postpone the execution of the sentences of the ill prisoners. The Law No. 6411 which was approved on 24 January 2013, preconditioned the postponing of the execution of the sentences of the ill prisoners, with “in case of they would not constitute danger regarding social security”. Several pre-trial detainees and convicts whose illnesses documented by the forensic medicine institutes were made to wait in front of the prosecution offices and moreover some of the applications were rejected. It is unacceptable in terms of conscience and justice.
· Penitentiary system based on isolation and treatment has been practised since 2000, still has been threatening the physical-social and psychological wholeness of the pre-trial detainees and convicts. The prisoners have been hindered to establish social relations with the units for one and three persons. These hard conditions lead to severe harms on their psychological health. The degree of the Ministry of Justice dated on 22 January 2007, No. 45/1 to alleviate the severe isolation conditions by predicting meeting of 10 prisoners up to 10 hours in week was not practised effectively and smoothly until today.
· Again there is not any improvement about opening the prisons to civil supervision of the representatives of the independent, democratic and vocational institutions which was promised by the Ministry of Justice in 2000.
· The Human Rights Association’s Prison Commission identified that 134 prisoners were transferred from the prisons in Kurdish provinces to the others between 23.09.2013 and 13.11.2013 (approximately in 1.5 months) against their will. During these transfers, cavity search have been practiced and it is evaluated as a new torture method. According to the IHD during the first 9 months of 2013 544 people were tortured in the form of cavity search, and derogatory and violent behaviours during these searches, saliva sampling and battering in the raids on the units.
$1· With the applications of the juveniles in prisons, their families and other prisoners, it is observed that the juveniles could not deal with the psychology of prisons and having serious blockages; moreover they were harming themselves, attempting suicides.
Economy and Work Relations
The relations with the global capital and financial-economic crisis in the world scale continue its attacks on the rights of the workers also in 2013. The workers were forced to pay the prize of the crisis and in order to pull down the labour costs flexible and unsecure working conditions were forced to be rule. As a result of neoliberal policies brutal working conditions are imposed with flexible manufacturing and performance. “Individual contracts” model has been associating the flexible working model which is the modern slavery in its final form.
· According to the findings of the Ministry of Labour which was released in July 2013, the total number of workers is 11,628,806 and the number of unionized workers is 1,032,166.
· Workers right to health and right to life are taken away from them a result of accidents at work and occupational diseases which are increasing every day due to the lack of effective control mechanism in terms of health and safety in the workplace.
· Regarding fatal occupational accidents, Turkey ranks at the forefront of world rankings. In the first 11 months of 2013 in all business areas as a result work accidents/murders, 1,145 workers died.
· Turkey’s the most important problem in working life is the contract labour. Contract workers are often laid off on the grounds that they struggled for their rights and became a member of the trade unions.
· On 28 August 2013, earthquake victims stated that the authorities did not solve the housing problems despite all their applicants and they began a hunger strike which would continue until their voices are heard. Two years after the earthquake in Van Province passed yet the promises given to the earthquake survivors who had been placed in the container cities were not fulfilled. Their electricity was cut off with the decision of the governorate and the authorities forcibly remove them. The hunger strike is still going on.
Right to Environment
· Although the right to live in a healthy environment was accepted in several international conventions, national codes and in our constitution, unfortunately people could not live in an environment that provides freedom, equality and satisfactory living conditions in dignity and welfare in our country. Turkey ranks 23rd on world scale regarding carbon emission per person which is one of the causes of global climate change.
· Economic growth, ambition of profit and rent, searching gold with cyanide, construction of Hydroelectric power plants on small rivers, construction dam which destroy cultural, historical and natural heritage, water resources given to the international monopolies, the love of coal power plants and nuclear power plants which have been threatening our cities are attacking our living space and our right to life is violated.
Discrimination Based on Gender and Sexual Orientation
Discrimination and violence against women is very intense in Turkey. Free of sexist elements of the legal system still lacks the judiciary and Law enforcement practices of women in the male-dominated view of identity alienating our country makes it a difficult country for women to live. On the one hand, status of women in the society and in the family experienced a rapid transformation on the other hand women’s efforts to obtain more effective, more free identity are suppressed with violence and death.
According to the IHD 199 women were killed 182 women were wounded in the first 9 months of 2013.
· Also LGBT individuals, when they faced with the patriarchal mentality in our country which sharply distinguishes sexual identities as male and female, not only discriminated because of their gender identity and sexual orientation in social level but also discriminated by the public authorities. Besides the humiliation and exclusion, the violence used against them has been aiming their physical integrity, and in several cases it would result with violation of right to life.
· Torture, ill-treatment and degrading behaviours of the security forces has an important part in the violence targeting LGBT individuals who cannot avoid being the target of hate speech.
· At least 4 trans women were killed and 8 trans women were wounded in the first 9 months of 2013.
Refugees and Asylum-Seekers
States are obliged to protect the right to life of their citizens but not just their citizens. Our country is a “transit country” for the movement of refugees and asylum seeker population. These people who had to leave their countries because of severe human rights violations, have been exposed to deception and abuse of human traffickers, even they can lose their lives.
· The detention centres, in which the refugees have been held in before their deportation to their countries, have also serious problems. Poor physical conditions in these centres for asylum seekers necessary and humanitarian needs remain unmet. A law regulating the legal status of deportation centres have yet been introduced.
· Turkey perpetuated its attitude regarding refugees and asylum seekers that abstains making legal regulations and improving the conditions to satisfy the humanitarian needs also in 2013.
· The number of refugees from Syria has exceeded 800,000. Approximately 200,000 of these refugees are in “refugee camps”. These camps are still closed to the monitoring visits of human rights organisations and independent observers.
Moreover;
As steps were taken for the progress of peace and solution process in Turkey, the autonomous administration in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) was not recognised by Turkey and it has been supporting fundamentalists in the region which is a creates a full contradiction. This situation also harms the peace process in Turkey. Meanwhile the civilians in Rojava have been facing with humanitarian tragedy due to the clashes in the region. It is impossible to understand the Government’s indifference to the applications of the NGOs like the Solidarity Committee for Rojava and the İHD to open the border gates. According to the İHD’s Fact-Finding Mission Report on the border region dated 5-6-7 October 2013 contrary to the Turkey’s positive attitude the border gates and border transit points which are under the control of the Syrian Freedom Army, PYD has been facing negative attitude of Turkey and there has been a discrimination. Turkey should change its policy against Syria and Rojava in line with the suggestions mentioned in the report of the İHD and should step forward for peace.
Minimum Demands
We would like to reiterate our minimum demands in order to stop this picture, which we tried to illustrate, to be our fate:
· The attempts to improve the basic rights and freedoms should not be conducted as a part of the EU harmonisation process or with “homework” attitude, however;, rights and freedoms should be improved as the demand and requirement of the people of this country and as a part of the internalisation of the democracy.
· From this point of view the improvement of the basic rights and freedoms is essential; this improvement should not hinder freedoms and security dichotomy; and the basic rights and freedoms should not be deteriorated.
· The dispersion of the GNAT’s Constitutional Reconciliation Commission due to the political power is a grave development. Turkey could not solve the problems of democracy and human rights as long as a new and democratic constitution could not be made. In this regard, any efforts should be attempted the finalisation of the new constitution is finalised
· Legal process should be prepared for the solution of the Kurdish Issue, the authorities should move from dialogue to negotiations and a democratisation process should be passed as a way of cleaning the road to meet the expectations.
· Obstructions concerning right to fair trial and the right of defence should be removed; the immunity of defence should effectively be implemented; the confidential relationship between lawyer and client should be respected; long pre- trial detention periods should be reduced and the conditions for fast and fair trial must be created. Any practice that eliminates the right to fair trial, innocence and immunity from defamation regardless of the individual and the case must be abandoned. In this context, primarily the Anti-Terrorism Law should be repealed.
· Investigations of torture allegations should be launched immediately and unconditionally; Investigations and examinations concerning the tortured people must take place within the framework of the Istanbul Protocol. Investigations must be conducted by Public Prosecutors.
· Administrative, legislative, judicial, or other obstacles that facilitate the perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment crimes go unpunished, should be removed; the mechanism of the prompt and fair trial and punishment of all criminals must be enabled.
· The investigations of the perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment at all levels during the events of Gezi Park must be conducted in a more effective manner, and those people should promptly be brought to judiciary and must be punished.
· Public officials who are charged with torture and ill-treatment should be dismissed until the conclusion of the investigation.
· The Law on Duties and Authority of Police (PVSK) should be amended in order to shrink the authority of the law enforcement to body search, ask for identification, use weapons and force.
· Detention units and prisons should be open to the supervision of the “Independent Monitoring Boards.
· Newly established the Human Rights Institute of Turkey should be restructured according to the Paris Principles and operated effectively moreover a national preventive mechanism in line with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) and the Paris Principles should be immediately established.
· Judicial regulation should be made in line with the international standards of the law against discrimination. Racist, discriminative and sexist expressions the hate speech and together with the violence and attacks on the people or groups due to their identity, values, political view, sex or sexual orientation should be included to the scope of the crimes against human dignity.
· Turkey should accept the judicial authority of the International Criminal Court and ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
· Turkey should be a State party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance without any reservation. According to the IHD 250 mass graves were determined and whether determined or not all mass graves should be exhumed in accordance with the Minnesota Protocol, the United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, and the Red Cross Manual.
· The practices that restrict freedom of association and expression should be halted and all related laws should be annulled.
· The judicial and administrative restrictions and obstacles that the persons and institutions working in the field of human rights should be removed.
· In order to strengthen the respect to the human rights in Turkey are in need of a new constitution.
· Turkey needs a new constitution that prohibits all forms of discrimination and safeguards the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens, the economic and social rights of the workers, the protection of natural environment and cultural properties. The process of writing the new constitution should not be stopped.
· The ongoing results of de facto state of emergency and its institutions should be completely abolished. Everyone must fulfil their responsibility and the necessary economic, social and political precautions should be taken immediately, for a peaceful and democratic solution of the Kurdish Issue and for the establishment an environment for a lasting peace.
· Taking into consideration that the perpetrators of the Roboski Massacre, in which 34 people -19 of them juveniles- had been killed with the bombs dropped from the aircrafts, could not be revealed two years after the incident and as a result of this the justice could not be ensured, an effective, independent investigation should be immediately launched and rapidly finalised.
· F Type Prison system and isolation policy in general should be abandoned. Ill Prisoners should be released immediately or the execution of their sentences should be postponed until they recover their health.
· Necessary administrative and practical precautions should be taken and necessary legal amendments should be made for the protection of children and disabled persons and for their development and to sustain their lives in a healthy and dignified social environment.
· The consent of the people living in the vicinity of the investments which have risk to give harm to environment and the nature; the administrative court verdicts on the protection of the environment and the nature should be implemented; the Law on the Mines (No. 5177) which does not have any concern for the environment and which opens the way to the pollution and destruction of the living spaces, should be amended.
· Turkey should take necessary steps for the global warming that it undertook with at least Kyoto Convention.
· Searching gold with cyanide should be halted until a new method will be developed which would not pollute the environment and harm the ecological balances. Bergama-Ovacık, Uşak-Eşme Kışladağ gold mines should be shut down. Other projects in Efemçukuru and Kaz Mountain should be cancelled. Mine firms should undertake the cleaning of the pollution that they caused.
· The construction of the Hydroelectric Power Plants should be halted and nuclear power plant projects should be abandoned.
· The obstacles to the workers’ rights to strike and to collective bargaining must be removed, job security, employment opportunities, social security, the freedom of association should be guaranteed for all employees. Civil Servants System should be removed.
As the most contemporary human rights document of the world which left 65 years behind and proceeds to its 66th anniversary, it seems that it is impossible to wholly constitute human rights values both in Turkey and all over world. Our hopes will last as long as the struggle of the working class, oppressed, exploited and marginalised sects and people for their personal, political, economic, cultural, solidarity and community rights goes on.
Human Rights Association Human Rights Foundation of Turkey