When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was accepted and announced on 10 December 1948 in the General Assembly of United Nations that met in Paris, it created big hopes and gladness. Founded in 1945, the United Nations reflected the great intellectual accumulation of the humanity to the Declaration and emphasized that the world nations were entitled to have a fair law order based on the rights and freedoms that take place in the declaration in order not to encounter any more sufferings.
The 2nd World War, a period in which approximately 36 million people lost their lives, cities were burnt and demolished, hundreds thousands of people died at one time due to atom bombs, caught diseases that would pass from generation to generation, was tried to be overcame.
State of war was about to leave for the state of peace.
The hope was in peace.
The Universal Declaration was based on the equality of all people in rights and honor in respect of possessing the human pride. It arranged personal and political rights from its first article to the 21st, and economical and social rights from the 21st article to the 28th as a whole. The Declaration constituted a source for the Conventions to be prepared by the United Nations in the future. The moral influence of the Declaration was spreading in waves to the world geography and it was being felt.
The Universal Declaration was published in the 27 May 1949 dated Official Gazette with the signature of the president, İsmet İnönü. The Resolution of the Council of Ministers was also present at the beginning of the Declaration. The Council of Ministers also decided in its meeting dated 6.4.1949 that after being published in the Official Gazette, "the Declaration would be taught and interpreted in the schools and other education establishments and proper publications concerning the Declaration would be made in the radio and newspapers".
55 years passed since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was accepted and announced. However much its influences are strong, when we look in respect of realizing the rights and freedoms which took place in the Declaration, we observe that the humanity can not still be free; states and nations restrict human rights and freedoms with various pretexts and do not respect these rights and freedoms, do not reflect them into internal law and in cases where they are reflected, mostly they do not put them into practice. A great majority of the world is still being governed with militarian/authoritarian/totalitarian systems. After the Second World War, a Third World War was not experienced however it is seen that more people than the ones died in the Second World War lost their lives in regional, bilateral or civil wars and disputes. We see that the Charter of the United Nations was continuously violated, attack wars and occupation activities were realized by powerful countries with imperial aims.
Particularly, in the post 11 September process, we observe that corrosions were encountered in the understandings of human rights and freedoms and freedoms were prevented by the motive of security. We determine that at the philosophical and theoretical backstage of the new tendency that made the freedom and security concepts conflict, there is the conflict of right and obligation concepts which has been overcame centuries ago. Although the stage that the humanity reached is not determining the rights according to obligations but determining obligations according to rights, in the process that we currently live, the understanding which has been overcame centuries ago makes itself felt by using freedom and security concepts. This new tendency is condemned by human rights movements in the world among which Turkish human rights defenders also take place.
Even though the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reflect the rights and freedoms as a whole, we observe that particularly in respect of economical and social rights, a totally unequal development is experienced in the whole world, total goods and services produced in the world reflect a situation disadvantageous for poor nations and countries and this situation gets deeper. Consequently, poverty still continues to increase in the world. The starvation increases. A great majority of 6 billion people living on the earth can not enjoy the possibilities and rights of education and health.
Our world, even 55 years after, is not a world that is shaped in accordance with the rights and freedoms. The power dominating to our world is unfortunately the power of capital. As expressed in the work of art named Faust of Goethe, the great German thinker, both capital and money displays an approach to people and to their rights and freedoms which can never be accepted.
The capital turns the whole world into heaven for itself, enters in to places where it can earn the greatest profit in seconds, exits from these places and strolls. The capital perceives freedom as only the freedom for trade. It equalizes the freedom of purchasing and making profit with the concept of becoming free for the people. It understands the freedom to travel as its exclusive freedom. It wishes privately the state frontiers and generally the frontiers and restrictions to be abolished for itself. Today, human is wanted to be pushed into the position of an object dominated by money, not the subject that dominates money. Consequently, the problem of meeting the unlimited needs of human that is a social existence is still at the middle. Equality and social justice principle are being violated. Conditions contrary to equality principle in the whole world and each country threaten national and international peace. Peace, equality, freedom are comprehended, founded and rendered continuous on a permanent basis. It is desired to make peace perceived mostly as a balance provided by weapons or the state of silencing the weak by the powerful.
However, peace needs a voice.
This voice is neither the voice of the bombs, nor a voice that involves begging and submission by considering resisting was not possible, silenced by the voice of bombs.
The peace needs the voice of people. We can build the peace on the basis of freedom, equality and brotherhood. We can build the peace by taking the peace culture of the nations as basis. The peace based on rights and freedoms also indicates democracy.
Democracy in the whole world. Democracy relying on the free will of nations. The voice of the peace is stronger than the voice of the bombs. The voice of the peace is stronger than the tanks demolishing our houses, shrapnel bombs taking the lives of our children, land mines tearing our arms and legs off and free explosives.
The voice of peace is the voice of human, it is a humane voice…
It is the voice that makes the film and the game. Creates the science, culture and art…
In the 55th year of the Universal Declaration, the problem of human rights and freedoms in our country continues to be a problem that could not be overcame. The system protects its characteristic of being militarian/authoritarian as constitutional and legal framework. Although more than 50 articles of the 1982 constitution which is a product of Military Stroke in the 21 years time slice and amendments were made in 7 separate package, 41 laws and more than 120 articles, it is not possible to describe Turkey as a democratic country.
In spite of a great conscious leap in the recent years and the loud demand of internal dynamics concerning a democratic constitution and legal system based on human rights and freedoms, the process is getting shaped according to the EU calendar and the political and bureaucratical cadres realize their dialogue with the Turkish society over the EU. This situation in image leads to the birth of an impression that a great fight was not performed for the rights and freedoms in this country. The EU goal may be seen as a motivator factor for the decision makers in Turkey. However, for us, the human rights defenders, the essential points are the standards related to human rights and freedoms and our viewpoint and struggle based on these standards is uninterruptedly continuing. We observe that this situation is evaluated in this manner in respect of democratic public opinion of Turkey in general. For this reason, it is a situation that can not be accepted by the Human Rights Association that the problem of human rights and freedoms would be shaped according to the relationships that the State establishes in its foreign policy. The rights and freedoms of our citizens can not be dealt as an element of foreign policy and can not be subject to bargaining. Under all conditions, it is provisory to demand, realize and practice human rights and freedoms.
Turkey should be a country with an independent and impartial jurisdiction. Turkey should build the independent and impartial jurisdiction again and rapidly and fulfill the requirements of the right for a fair judgement in accordance with the rule of law principle. In the protection and development of human rights, besides the democratic public opinion power, judgement power and judicial protection are essential. Protection and development of human rights can not be mentioned in a place where the jurisdiction is not independent and impartial.
Turkey should start a fair election system and cease from the system with high barrage which limits the participation of the citizens into the country governance. The principle of justice in representation should be taken as basis. The law of political parties should be turned into a democratic law and the freedom of thought and language usage of political parties should be guaranteed. The prohibitions related to the usage of languages other than Turkish should be extracted from the Deputy Election Law and the Law of Political Parties.
Turkey should remove the barriers in front of freedom of expression. Turkey should no more be a country where people are arrested and punished for expressing their thoughts.
Turkish judgement should be in a intellectual and practical effort parallel to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.
Turkey should not adopt attitude according to the ethnical roots, languages, beliefs and cultures in its relationship with its citizens. It should establish and build its system based on the constitutional citizenship. Turkish Republic should perform a structuring appropriate for the pluralistic ethnical, religional, language and cultural characteristic of the society and should embrace all of its citizens with all of their characteristics. In this framework, restrictions in various laws in the field of cultural rights should be abolished, arrangements in the characteristic of interventions to the will of the judgement organ in the field of more normative arrangements such as regulations in putting the laws in to practice and rights should be put into practice. A Kurd problem is present in turkey and besides the cultural dimension of this problem, it also has an economic, social, legal and political dimension. For this reason, in front of the problems, in spite of acting as "they are not present", accepting the existence of the problems and it should be turn towards democratic and peaceful solution of the problem with all parts of the society. After the legal abolishment of the State of Emergency, continuing the actual State of Emergency applications are the applications that can not be accepted.
Turkey, should give up the understanding of both accepting the principle of secularism and nationalizing the religion in a covered manner, being constructed according to the sect of a religion, excluding different religions and beliefs from system. It should also give up the understanding of turning into an institution as the Presidency of Religion Affairs; application as obligatory religion lessons at schools, interfering the individual freedom field of citizens with head scarf; seeing the concept of public area as state area. All citizens are equal and the cultures they created are equivalent. Beliefs areas are the freedom area of individuals not the states. Individuals decide who will believe to or what to believe but the states don't. States can only be in activities that prevent and guarantee this freedom. Secular states don't make choice towards religions and beliefs.
Turkey should be saved from being a country that the civil servants torture people in streets and centers of house arrest. High political determination should be performed for preventing torture and measures should be taken in the direction of human rights defenders. Civil servants who are accused for torturing should be changed from being not able to be judged, punished, having addresses which can not be found and trials which can be concluded in any way.
Torture trials that can not be concluded during 12-13 years mean the protection of people who torture. Criminals should be punished, decision of acquittal should be given about the innocent people as soon as possible. Fair, efficient and rapid functioning of judgement should be provided for preventing torture.
Turkey should be saved from the fact of military judgement and civil judgement dilemma and State Security Courts against fair judgement principles.
Turkey should be a country where people don't die and aren't killed in prisons, where people don't need to apply to the hunger strike and dead fasting in prisons, where people aren't kept in conditions of insulation and isolation by being closed in cell for one person or in prisons. Insulation and isolation should be abolished in all prisons. Each arrested and condemned person whatever his/her attributed crime is has the right to live in conditions suitable to the human honor in prisons. Problems in prisons should be solved by keeping dialog ways continuously open.
Turkey should cease from applications that it developed in last years on human rights defenders and turned into a judgement pressure. Especially, illegal applications, undertakings, and investigations about the directors and members of Human Rights Association and Turkish Human Rights Foundation should be eliminated. At last three and a half years, investigations and trials opened against Human Rights Association Central Office and Branch directors passed over 500. The functions and importance of the human rights organizations in the Fundamental Human Rights documents were left at one side and pressure methods up to the request for the dismissal of THRF directors were applied.
Turkey is wanted to be involved in a process in which the concepts of social justice principle, public interest, public service are wanted to be forgotten thus, the social state characteristic of the state is wanted to be destroyed. In Turkey, although it is shallow for the moment, despite democratization moves forward, in the field of economical and social rights, a trend which is confronting with this process is observed. Unemployment and poverty are increasing and injustice in the income distribution is climbing to higher levels. But theoretically, developments in individual, political rights and freedoms should be parallel to economic and social rights. But the character of the democratization process in Turkey doesn't meet this general truth. This situation can be explained as the process of democratization which does not have depth. Being deprived from deepness and disabled in passing to the application in the context of issued laws can be evaluated as not being able to exceed the resistance in this field. Injustice at regions, cities and in division relations between social class and categories is a situation. There are possibilities for the correction of this situation. This possibility shows directly itself as political choices. For that reason, a strict connection exists between the social aspect with the general democratic aspect of the state.
An understanding that activated for punishing 65 thousand civil servant because of their press release on December 2000 and the understanding that punished 8500 of them will certainly lose its feeling of justice in share relations. The deprivation of millions of citizens from social security, benefiting from the education and health services are basic political choices. The share taken from budget for justice, health and education services and of which for armament shows how Turkey has a system in respect of it's basic choices. The problem in Turkey is not mainly as the smallness of the cake but it is originated from the unfair distribution of the share that will be distributed. Having the 18th biggest economy of Turkey doesn't have any sense when looking at the quantity that is left to the citizens. Being proud of an economic growth consists of a vain boasting for a country where millions of people are living in the limits of poverty and hunger. For that reason, real standards should be observed.
The measure is the life standard of regions, cities and social class and categories. The problem is whether the individuals are offered an income possibility to make himself and his family live convenient to human dignity. Whether they get health and education services or not. Whether they live in healthy residences. Whether they have healthy drinking water. Whether they benefit from scientific and technical possibilities. Whether they have the possibilities to realize cultural, artistic, sportive activities for themselves and their families. If these citizens are one of the disabled who are more than 12 million people, whether they are treated convenient to the human honor or not. As women, whether they have equal possibilities and opportunities. Whether they are subjected to discriminative treatment. As children, whether they are protected or not. Whether their rights are respected.
The call for "giving voice to peace" of the human rights defenders is the call for a world and Turkey based on the rights and freedoms that we mentioned in a part.
The above mentioned values; freedom, equality, justice, brotherhood constitute the basis of peace in the whole world… Economical, social and cultural rights constitute it… They are both the basis for the world peace and the internal peace… Possessing the rights and freedoms, practicing and developing these rights…
Freely!