The social toll of Turkey’s emergency rule
Turkey’s state of emergency ended last year, but its victims continue to suffer, with many entertaining suicidal thoughts or aspiring to leave the country, according to a recent survey.
The state of emergency declared after the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey ended in July 2018, but the victims of the massive purges that followed continue to suffer from the fallout. Some 135,000 people were expelled from public service during the two-year emergency rule and, according to Justice Ministry figures, half a million people have faced some sort of judicial action.
In a bid to shine light on the social toll of the state of emergency, a team of 50 researchers, headed by sociologist Bayram Erzurumluoglu, have conducted interviews with 3,776 people, including individuals who were expelled from their jobs via legislative decrees, their relatives and others who were affected indirectly by the crackdowns. A report detailing the survey was recently presented to the public by Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, a lawmaker for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party.
According to the survey, 95.3% of those expelled from public jobs said they experienced major economic hardships, 86% said they were ostracized by their social circles and 84.6% said they struggled with psychological problems as a result. Some 83% said they were still jobless.
One interviewee, for instance, said, “I’m a teacher — that’s my area of competence. I couldn’t do anything after my working license was taken away. No place would employ me and I worked as a porter. My family treated me as a criminal. Acquaintances and neighbors stopped greeting me. I was left to a social death.”
