Human Rights Association (IHD) Ankara Branch and Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT) announced the "Report on Human Rights Violations in Turkey in 2024" with a statement organized within the scope of Human Rights Week. IHD Ankara Branch Co-chair Ömer Faruk Yazmacı said that in 2024, the most basic rights, especially freedom of thought and ezpression, are almost banned for many groups. 

 

Yazmacı said: "This state of crisis is being experienced in Turkey with all its intensity and weight. The country has been governed by a state of emergency regime since 2016, fits directlyi and as of 19 July 2018, although it is said to have been officially lifred, it has been given permanence with many regulations. This situation has led to the abandonment of the principles of constitutionalism and the rule of law that limit the power of politic power."

 

According to the report, "alarming" violations of the right to life were experienced in 2024 as a result of the AKP-MHP government's policies that polarise society by spreading discrimination and racism, that are based on violence and that make conflict and war the only method to solve the Kurdish issue.

 

TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT

 

In the report, it is stated that torture has become the most prominent humen rights problem in Turkey and 692 people applied to the HRFT in 11 months of the year with complaints of torture adn ill-treatment. In the report, it was stated that at least 2,805 people, including 81 children, were detained with torture and ill-treatment as a result of the intervention of security forces to peaceful protests and events organized within the scope of freedom of assembly and demonstration. 

 

The report emphasised that at least 594 prisoners complained of torture and ill-treatment in prisons and according to the data of the Ministry of Justice, 709 prisoners and detainees died in prisons for various reasons in the same period.

 

11 JOURNALISTS ARRESTED

 

In the report stated that there were interventions against freedom of thought and expression and noted that in 2024, the effective use of freedom of expression in the press, social media and public space was prevented through intensive and systematic violations. 

 

The report underlined that 43 journalists were detained and 11 journalists were arrested in 11 months of this year, 42 journalists were investigated and 253 lawsuits against 534 press workers were pending. 

 

The report pointed out that various social groups were unable to exercise their freedom of assembly and demonstration due to actual interventions by law enforcement officers. It was noted in the report that in 11 months of the year, 83 bans on demonstrations were issued by the local administrative authorities in 25 provinces and 1 district, the shortest of whis was 1 day and the longest of which was 15 days. It is stated that 358 peaceful meetings and demonstrations were intervened and banned and at least 4 thousand 368 people were detained with the torture and ill-treatment. It is stated that 8 demonstrations and events organized for end to the isolation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan were intervened and at least 81 people were detained. 

 

KURDISH ISSUE 

 

The report emphasised that the biggest problem that stands in the way of Turkey's democratisation is the unresolved Kurdish issue and stated that the issue has led to serious and grave violations of human rights, especially the right to life. "These unacceptable serious violations and human losses show that the political power is also using the policies of violence against the Kurdish issue to maintain its own power. Therefore, the solution of this issue is a necessity for the development of democracy in Turkey. We once again call on the political power to abandon its war policies and establish peace instead," the report said.  

 

FEMICIDE

 

Noting that 344 women were murdered by men during the year, the report said: "Men harassed 110 women, abused 201 children, inflicted violence on 558 women and raped 13 women. Men forced at least 544 women into sex work. While 263 women's deaths were reported in the press as 'suspicious', men killed at least 40 children. At least 242 of 344 women were killed by their husbands or boyfriends, 62 women were killed by fathers, sons and 7 women were killed by family members such as sons-in-law. At least 35 women were killed despite protection orders. At least 4 of the men who killed women were security officers. Only 187 of at least 356 perpetrators were arrested."

 

In the report, according to the findings of the HRFT Documentation Center, at least 3 people lost their lives in 11 months as a result of discriminatory, phobic and hateful attacks against LGBTQ+ persons and it was emphasised that the discourses of politicians and opinion leaders stand out in discriminatory, phobic and hateful attacks against LGBTQ+ persons.

 

CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

 

Although the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely accepted human rights document in the world, children's rights are intensely violated all over the world, the report said: "Children are the most affected by the severe economic crisis, deep poverty and conflict environment in Turkey. Child labour, which negatively affects children's education, physical, emotional, mental and social development, is an important problem. According to the data shared by TurkStat in its report titled 'Children in Turkey 2023 Overview of Statistics', Turkey's population between the ages of 0-17 is 22 million 206 thousand 34 people as of 2023. 7 million 34 thousand children are poor according to the determined criteria. The rate of children between the ages of 5-17 who participate in economic activities is 4.4 percent. This means that 977 thousand 65 thousand 469 children are working in Turkey. As can be seen, millions of children are forced to live and work in precarious and unhealthy conditions and in poverty. Currently, there are approximately 1 million 800 thousand refugee/asylum-seeker children in Turkey who are struggling to live in these conditions."

 

In the report, according to the findings of the Worker Health and Work Safety Assembly (ISIG), at least 33 children lost their lives while working in the first 6 months of 2024 and a total of 704 children lost their lives in the period from 2013 to the first month of 2024.

 

REFUGEES-ASYLUM SEEKERS

 

In the report, it is stated that the number of people migrating, seeking asylum and refuge for various reasons has increased at a record level globally, and that refugees/asylum seekers are intensely exposed to all kinds of discrimination and abuse, hate speech and economic exploitation. The report includes the data of the HRFT Documentation Center that at least 6 people lost their lives as a result of discriminatory, racist and hateful attacks targeting refugees/asylum seekers in 11 months of 2024. The report emphasised that according to the data of the HRFT, between 1 January 2024 and 1 September 2024, at least 9 discriminatory, racist and hateful policies, administrative practices or bans were carried out against refugees/asylum-seekers across the country.