Criminal Proceedings Brought against
Human Rights Association Co-Chairperson Öztürk Türkdoğan
due to His Activities in His Capacity as Chairperson
Are Unacceptable
20 January 2022
The Human Rights Association (İnsan Hakları Derneği -İHD) has been working in the human rights field nonstop since 1986 as the largest and oldest human rights organization in Turkey. İHD’s special report on the political power’s repressive policies against both the association and its members was issued in June 2020.[1] As was also suggested by the report, the political power has always resorted to such repressive policies but İHD, in the person of its chair, is facing such a grave judicial process for the first time since the 1990s.
Three successive criminal proceedings initiated into İHD’s chair Öztürk Türkdoğan in his capacity as chair signify that the authorities attempt to clamp down on İHD, the largest and oldest human rights organization in Turkey, and the struggle for human rights through the judiciary. The political power and public prosecutors’ offices have shown that they were blind to the case laws of both the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) with these lawsuits brought against Mr. Türkdoğan, while judicial reform and human rights action plans could not go beyond paying lip service.
The first hearing of the case, which we regard to be the gravest, will be held on 22 February 2022 at 09.15 before Ankara 19th Heavy Penal Court. We invite everyone and all institutions that defend human rights and freedoms to be present at this hearing, to mobilize international human rights mechanisms and to stand in solidarity with the Human Rights Association.
Human Rights Association
Central Executive Board
[1] https://ihd.org.tr/en/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sr20200707_IHD-HRD-Repression-Report-2020.pdf
Click to read the information on the charges brought against İHD’s chairperson: Info Note_O Turkdogan_Jan 2022