International, domestic groups ring alarms on human rights in Turkey

ANKARA — As Ankara basks in its newfound popularity amid the Ukraine crisis, a report by the human rights watchdog Amnesty International held up a mirror this week to Turkey’s Achilles’ heel: democratic backsliding and a politicized judicial system.

In Turkey, "Deep flaws in the judicial system were not addressed. Opposition politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and others faced baseless investigations, prosecutions and convictions,” read the human rights group’s 2021-22 report released Monday. 

The report, which described 2021 as “a story of betrayal and hypocrisy in the corridors of power” in the world, cited Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, a pan-European accord that tasks the signatories with preventing and punishing domestic violence, as one of the worst moments of 2021 in Turkey.

The report also flagged the last year's high-profile human rights cases, many of which went on into 2022. One of them is the push for the closure of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), the main political movement of the Kurdish people and the third largest party in the parliament, as well as banning dozens of its members from politics. The report pointed out that the four-year prison sentence of Selahattin Demirtas, the HDP’s former co-chair, was upheld by the Court of Cassation. Demirtas was accused of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.” The report pointed out that the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has repeatedly called for his immediate release. The report also referred to CoE’s Committee of Ministers’ initiation of infringement proceedings against Turkey for its failure to comply with the judgment to release philantropist Osman Kavala, who is kept behind bars for nearly four years on charges of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order and espionage. Kavala will face court once more on April 21.