Turkish authorities have committed grave human rights violations on a massive scale against the freedom of peaceful assembly and peaceful demonstration in an attempt to crush the protests at Gezi park, reveals the report of Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) that was published today.
As the tragic events were unravelling in July 2013, the EMHRN sent a fact-finding mission to Turkey in order to investigate on the massive protests that started in Istanbul before spreading to the whole country. According to the government, the participation raised to about 3 million people in many different cities. However, protests were met with excessive use of force – leading to thousands of injured and several deaths – and numerous interferences to the right to peaceful assembly, including the hampering of doctors’ emergency help, the work of lawyers and that of journalists.
According to the findings of the report, in the first 20 days of the protest, more than 130 000 gas canisters were used, too often targeting directly at protestors and resulting in serious injuries, including 11 eye-losses and numerous head traumas. More than 5 000 people were detained, including doctors, lawyers and journalists, and serious allegations of ill-treatment were raised, including sexual harassment towards women. Dozens of protesters are still facing judicial proceedings, some of them under Anti-Terror Law, while there is concern about the impartiality and effectiveness of investigating ill-treatments and excessive use of force by security forces.
The report concludes to a massive interference by the Turkish authorities with the right to freedom of assembly; the use of excessive force against peaceful gatherings, most of the time without either warning or giving sufficient time for protesters to disperse voluntarily; the massive use of detention as a punishment for exercising peaceful protest, resulting in many documented cases in ill-treatment. Hence it can be affirmed that the State failed in its duty to protect its citizens and to protect and facilitate the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.
Drawing on these findings, the EMHRN calls upon the Turkish authorities, to:
– Release all peaceful protesters currently detained; and stop administrative and judicial harassment against peaceful protesters, against those who facilitate access to health care, against lawyers defending protesters, against journalists as well as against protesters’ relatives;
– Conduct prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into all allegations of misconduct by law enforcement personnel, including allegations of arbitrary detentions, torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence in connection with Gezi Park protests;
– Reform the Law 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations and adopt clear, detailed and binding regulations on the use of force and anti-riot weapons in line with international standards on freedom of assembly, with the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials and following the European Court of Human Rights’ judgments;
– Put an immediate end to all acts of excessive use of force against those who peacefully exercise their rights and guarantee the right to freedom of assembly, as well as freedom of expression to everyone without discrimination of any kind.