Our association released various statements concerning Turkey’s leading into a spiral of violence through the discourse and implementations of the recent months and called on everyone, especially the responsible authorities within the state, to avoid policies that could harm the peace in the country.
However, instead of taking steps toward the protection of democratic environment and tolerance, what is being insisted on is the policies of provoking different groups of society against each other and implementations that will deepen the existing problems. More important is the supporting of the lynching attempts that were occurred following the provocations of some political groups and legitimization of them as “innocent reactions of people.” This means a step forward in using violence as a means of governance. Attacks and oppression over certain social groups is increasing in each day. Different groups of the society are trying to be bringing against each other by transforming any dispute or event of smallest kind into an ethnic conflict. Not the perpetrators but those injured were being prosecuted following those events of lynching attempts and the injured parties are trying to be shown as those responsible for the events through groundless media reports.
In recent days, separate lynching attempts were occurred in western Anatolian city of İzmir, Seferihisar and northern Anatolian city of Trabzon’s Maçka town. Unfortunately, those who participate in lynching attempts were not prosecuted in any one of these events. Instead of that, the ethnical identities and the alleged activities of the victims were brought front and the lynching attempts were depicted as the “rightful reactions of people.”
No kind of discrimination among the citizens could be made in a country where there is rule of law, and some criminal activities couldn’t be tolerated. Tolerance against such acts as lynching attempts, which directly aim at violation of the right to life, is especially unacceptable. The most basic function of a state is to secure the right to life of its citizens, without making and discrimination between them. The neutrality of the security forces’ in maintaining the criminal proceedings and the independence of the judiciary is the raison d’être of the state.
Any kind of discriminative implementation that could encourage those who want to harm social peace should be given up immediately. The discourses that could cause those having different religious beliefs, culture or ethnic identity to feel excluded from the society or to be subjected to hatred shouldn’t be allowed.
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION