Human Rights Watch condemns the Turkish government's crackdown on dissent

"Human Rights Watch" revealed that Ankara has detained 17 current and former politicians and officials from the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), as well as imposing conditions for judicial control on three others, who have been released.

The organization stated, in a report, that the Turkish judiciary linked his detention with the continuation of the investigation into the party's involvement with the protests that took place in 2014, expressing its concern about the Turkish government's use of imprisonment to restrict the right to form political societies, especially the opposition.

The organization’s deputy program director, Tom Porteous, considered that “the detention of politicians from a party that won about 12 percent of the vote in the 2018 elections is part of Ankara’s policy to criminalize political opposition,” noting that “the past few years provide ample evidence of control. The government is on the courts. "

He explained that the Turkish police arrested politicians and officials on September 25, 2020, to investigate their alleged involvement in protests in southeastern Turkey, stressing that “the protests were a reaction to the Turkish government's policy at that time towards the ISIS siege of the city of Kobani in northern Syria. An expression of solidarity with Kobani Kurds. "

In a related context, Porteous pointed out that “the new arrest warrants issued by the government are also a pretext to seize another municipality of the HDP,” adding that “out of 65 municipalities that the party won in the local elections that took place on March 31, 2019, The government left only six small local councils controlled by the party. "

T/S

ANHA