Have Turkey's human rights violations reached point of no return?

[Kuwaiti Girl]

Have Turkey's human rights violations reached point of no return?

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ori...uman-right-activist-jailed-press-freedom.html

Last week I was seated next to Sebnem Koru Fincanci at a hearing in the Swedish parliament titled "The State of Human Rights in Turkey." Fincanci delivered a very impressive presentation, using visuals that showed the destruction and devastation and speaking convincingly on human rights violations committed by Turkish security forces in the southeastern Kurdish town of Cizre. She is the author of a recent detailed report on Cizre.

When it was my turn to speak, I began with a tribute to her, saying Fincanci is the most prominent forensic medicine expert in Turkey and an indefatigable human rights activist. I did not conceal my pride in sharing a rostrum with her on the human rights issues. Apart from being a well-known scholar on forensic pathology, she is currently the chairwoman of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey.

After the session she told me that her daughter had married a few days before our encounter in Sweden, and that on her return back to Turkey the first thing she would do is to rush to the city of Adana, where her daughter and son-in-law would be residing.

It did not happen. Fincanci is now in solitary confinement in an Istanbul jail pending trial, possibly facing 14 years in prison.

I read an interview in which her daughter Kardelen Fincanci said that she and her close family members were expecting this after she had authored the Cizre report. Fincanci's daughter did not hesitate to warn a relatively broad public. "Do not ever think you would remain in peace," she said, referring to what happened to her mother. "This state [Turkey] is trying to chain everyone [whom it sees as dissenting]."

If you are respected for what have you done and thus are invited to the parliament of Sweden to present your work, that could be the main stimulus to land in prison in Turkey. Nevertheless, that was not what Fincanci herself was expecting. During our almost day-long conversation, such a possibility, including her ending up in prison cell, did not come up at all.

Therefore, her arrest along with a very prominent and popular reporter, Erol Onderoglu — a representative for the renowned international nongovernmental organization Reporters Without Borders (RWB) in Turkey — and another intellectual, Ahmet Nesin, who is the son of the country's legendary satire novelist, the late Aziz Nesin, came as a shock not only in Turkey but all over the world.

Meanwhile, for the first time ever, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed his "worries" on developments in Turkey after his meeting with Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of RWB. Moon also expressed his "hope for the release of the three people arrested."

The European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini indicated that the arrests violate fundamental rights, including freedom of the press, and said the EU emphasized many times the need that "Turkey, as a candidate country, must aspire to the highest possible democratic standards and practices."

European Parliament’s President Martin Schulz, who only a day ago had announced that he suspended the process of granting visa-free travel for Turkish citizens because of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s "unacceptable conduct," tweeted that the jailing of Nesin, Fincanci and Onderoglu is "against free press and EU values."

The outrage against the arrests of the three Turkish human rights activists was at a peak in Germany. All political parties are mobilized, asking the German government and the EU to pressure the Turkish government to release the arrested immediately.

The alleged "crime" of Fincanci, Onderoglu and Nesin is joining a solidarity action with the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper Ozgur Gundem, which is accused of being the mouthpiece of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and whose 12 members were arrested. Since May, a number of prominent Turkish intellectuals began a solidarity campaign with the paper for the sake of freedom of the press.

Since then, a Turkish intellectual goes to the office of Ozgur Gundem every day and symbolically acts as the editor-in-chief of the paper at the news desk and chairs the meeting. The three arrested are among the pioneers, but all together 44 people committed the same "crime."

The Turkish judiciary, which is seen as increasingly controlled by Erdogan, stepped in and charged the ones showing solidarity with the allegedly pro-PKK newspaper for rendering support to terrorism. According to Turkey's controversial anti-terror law, those who allegedly support terrorism can be considered terrorists as well.

The result has led to handcuffing three prominent human rights activists in Turkey and sending them to jail.

A similar fate now awaits the 44 well-known intellectuals, journalists and academics who joined the same solidarity campaign for Ozgur Gundem.

What has befallen Fincanci, Onderoglu and Nesin did not act as a deterrent. Only a few hours after they were put in jail, Can Dundar — the editor-in-chief of the daily Cumhuriyet, who has become an international figure himself — took over the symbolic post of editor of Ozgur Gundem and chaired the meeting at the news desk. He declared that he is determined to commit the same crime of those jailed in an act of solidarity.

What has happened to Fincanci, Onderoglu and Nesin is a watershed. Soon, we will understand whether Turkey has crossed the Rubicon of drifting into an authoritarian or a quasi-totalitarian regime or whether there is still hope that it may return to the road to democracy.

 

[kartal1]

So I have to let terrorist supporters and terrorists to kill our fathers to kill our future sons to kill our mothers brothers and sisters to kill the great turkish soldiers defending the country to let the terrorist controled medias spread terrorist propaganda all over the world to close my eyes to doctors that are treating terrorists secretly and let them escape to let the terrorists burn my flag divide my people divide my country I have to let them to burn and destroy the property and the cities of the great turkish nation to destroy the mosques to let them prevent the prosperity of my country to let them hijack my children and get them to the mountains I have to let them selling their poisons in the form of drugs to my nation I have to let them spit over my heroes blood who fighted for my country and for me and to let them spit over my gods name and just in the name of "democracy" and "human rights"....... I am sorry but this is not possible. Those are my enemies and I will fight them to my last breath. I will fight them wherever I find them and wherever I see them!!! In the name of my god in the name of my nation in the name of my country I will fight them on the land in the seas in the air anytime and everywhere and I will not let down my people my honor the honor of my father and the honor of my country!!! I am saying this as a TURK and as a MUSLIM. If that is your democracy your freedom of speech and your human rights okay then do whatever you want with them but in my country this is called BETRAYAL and I will not betray all I listed before and I will continue to fight them like my father !!!

 

[TrMhMt]

@kartal1

Do not respond this member's thread. She is well known pkk supporter and Turk hater.

As you see none takes her serious here.

 

[Kuwaiti Girl]

Here we go again. Look, you're free to kill as many PKK militants as you want lol. Just don't complain when they start doing the same thing to your soldiers.

This article is about throwing journalists in jail.

@kartal1

Do not respond this member's thread. She is well known pkk supporter and Turk hater.

As you see none takes her serious here.

I'm not a Turk hater at all.

In fact, I'm a great admirer of Turko-Persian history and civilization.

 

[TrMhMt]

Yeah we can see that after reading your threads. Your simply supporter of pkk and Turk hater.

Throwing journalists in jail. Journalist my azz. You tell this stories to your kidos before sleeping. So called journalist who works and writes under comment of pkk.

Wearing journalist cloak doesn't make her real journalist. Especially in Turkiye it's not good idea. Turks will screw whatsoever.

 

[kartal1]

If you want turkish soldier to smile threat him with death . Those are not journalists those are terrorist supporters and friends of my enemies. If turkish media write pro ISIS pro nusra all of you will start to bark like dogs against Turkey but they are not pro ISIS they are pro PKK so its violation of freedon of speech. How you cant understand that these organizations are all the same the differences are in ideologies. As I said before if you call that freedom of speech in my country this is called betrayal. They are lucky that this is not Iran and there is no death penalty in Turkey .

 

[Kuwaiti Girl]

If you want turkish soldier to smile threat him with death . Those are not journalists those are terrorist supporters and friends of my enemies. If turkish media write pro ISIS pro nusra all of you will start to bark like dogs against Turkey but they are not pro ISIS they are pro PKK so its violation of freedon of speech. How you cant understand that these organizations are all the same the differences are in ideologies. As I said before if you call that freedom of speech in my country this is called betrayal. They are lucky that this is not Iran and there is no death penalty in Turkey .

People like you secretly wish that Turkey was similar to Iran so that everyone you don't like can get sentenced to death for the silliest of reasons.

Congratulations on being slightly better than Iran lol. You might as well compare Turkey to North Korea while you're at it.

As for the journalists who got jailed in Turkey, none of them are PKK sympathizers. None of them like or support the PKK. They were thrown in jail because they spoke about the government's human rights violations against innocent civilians in the southeast.

And don't get me started on ISIS. ISIS sympathizers in Turkey always seem to get away with it, whereas people who genuinely speak about human rights violations end up receiving jail sentences.

If this is the country you want for your future children and grandchildren, then good luck.

 

[kartal1]

No I dont want Turkey to be Iran. Turkey is Turkey Iran is Iran but I openly support death sentence for terrorists. Can Dundar is one of the people who recieve the body of PKK terrorist Sakine Cansiz code name "Sara" and other two PKK terrorists who was killed in France Can Dundar said " When Sur operations was started the people had to be in the area prostesting" Can Dundar said that Turkey must cooperate with PYD one of the organizations which is responsible for the recent PKK attacks. Organization which provide manpower advanced weaponary and man resource to the terrorists in Turkey

"Good news from the injured in Suruc Cagdas Kucukbattal. He is intensively treated with two wounds but the general condition is good" If that is not PKK-PYD-YPG supporting what is it then human rights supporting??? And what is the violations of the government about the human rights? Bunch of terrorists occupy towns threating the civillians and makes them help for their goals. Taking hostages and killing those who resisting and then tells the army killed them. Destroying towns and mosques with IEDs and telling army destroyed them. The closest thing to human rights violations is the ban for going out of your home but what the army should do? If you knowed how dangerous is civillian to be out in the middle of a firefight you will then know that this is what must be done untill evacuation occures. The evacuation time comes and the terrorists start to shoot to people but this is not human rights violation . Articles saying "The Turkish army is killing the kurds in the southeast" is going with full power while Turkish army sends special operation units for cleaning the area with the objective of minimised colateral damage and more than 500 soldiers have been martyred. If Turkish army wanted to kill the kurds and destroy the kurdish towns I guarantee you this will take no longer than 12 hours.

"And don't get me started on ISIS. ISIS sympathizers in Turkey always seem to get away with it" and what then??? You see? How is that now? PKK supporters always get away with it they even open official centers and recieve official training and weaponary in/from foreign countries. Hypocricy level 210321038102983. The game with the good terrorists\terrorist supporters and the bad terrorists\terrorist supporters is not good idea. I will repeat myself both types of organizations are terrorist organization both types of supporters are terrorist supporters no type is good all terrorists\terrorist suporters are bad. If you still cant understand then I cant help you good luck with the anti turkish and anti iranian campaign

 

[CrimsonFury]

Hope they rot in jail. Scum that defend terrorists are terrorists themselves.

 

[Kuwaiti Girl]

Hope they rot in jail. Scum that defend terrorists are terrorists themselves.

Sebnem Korur Fincanci didn't defend terrorists. She criticized the Turkish government's human rights violations against the innocent civilians of Cizre.

Does she also deserve to "rot in jail"?

 

[CrimsonFury]

Sebnem Korur Fincanci didn't defend terrorists. She criticized the Turkish government's human rights violations against the innocent civilians of Cizre.

Does she also deserve to "rot in jail"?

Human rights violations ? Hahahhaa you are funny. Terrorists declare that they own towns and the government takes measures to ensure public order. They could have just ground those cities to dust with air power and a full scale military assault. The government took the most conservative measures and yet you still cry about human rights violations ? No. No that's not how it works. You won't be allowed to stand in the way of public order and peace in the name of "defending human rights" just so you can more freely aid terrorists. I hope they don't just rot, I hope they die hugging themselves while simultaneously shitting their pants. There you have it.

 

[Kuwaiti Girl]

Human rights violations ? Hahahhaa you are funny. Terrorists declare that they own towns and the government takes measures to ensure public order. They could have just ground those cities to dust with air power and a full scale military assault. The government took the most conservative measures and yet you still cry about human rights violations ? No. No that's not how it works. You won't be allowed to stand in the way of public order and peace in the name of "defending human rights" just so you can more freely aid terrorists. I hope they don't just rot, I hope they die hugging themselves while simultaneously shitting their pants. There you have it.

It's really sad that you don't care about human rights activists from your own country. These people would stand up for you as well if Erdogan's government ever ends up doing something horrible to you.

You're celebrating the destruction of Turkey's civil society. That's bizarre.

Welcome back to the Middle East, Turkey. >_<

 

[CrimsonFury]

It's really sad that you don't care about human rights activists from your own country. These people would stand up for you as well if Erdogan's government ever ends up doing something horrible to you.

You're celebrating the destruction of Turkey's civil society. That's bizarre.

Welcome back to the Middle East, Turkey. >_<

There is only one way Erdogan leaves: the ballot box. If opposition parties are stupid and incompetent enough to keep losing for 14 years straight then that is the core of the problem.

As for the "destruction of civil society", don't over dramatize. Those people were actively supporting terrorists and their propoganda, I don't care what their titles are (journalist, human rights advocate) if you support what terrorists have done to this country you deserve everything bad coming your way.

Turkey isn't part of the ME, nor is it a part of Europe. It has to balance both since it is the bridge between the two. Too bad you are too much of a militant leftist liberal to see that. It's bizzare.

 

[Politico]

There is only one way Erdogan leaves: the ballot box. If opposition parties are stupid and incompetent enough to keep losing for 14 years straight then that is the core of the problem.

As for the "destruction of civil society", don't over dramatize. Those people were actively supporting terrorists and their propoganda, I don't care what their titles are (journalist, human rights advocate) if you support what terrorists have done to this country you deserve everything bad coming your way.

Turkey isn't part of the ME, nor is it a part of Europe. It has to balance both since it is the bridge between the two. Too bad you are too much of a militant leftist liberal to see that. It's bizzare.

u r missing the point and trying 2 hijack the argument with stupid remarks about terrorists. the point is the jailing of dissenters not abt the fight against pkk. if u lock up dissenters under the disguise of them being "terrorist supporters" then u r closing the doors 4 dialogue and inviting more armed resistance. I always believed that erdogan was the idiot of turkiye but now it seems he has a huge amt of equally stupid people supporting him

 

[CrimsonFury]

u r missing the point and trying 2 hijack the argument with stupid remarks about terrorists. the point is the jailing of dissenters not abt the fight against pkk. if u lock up dissenters under the disguise of them being "terrorist supporters" then u r closing the doors 4 dialogue and inviting more armed resistance. I always believed that erdogan was the idiot of turkiye but now it seems he has a huge amt of equally stupid people supporting him

That's the point jackass: there is no more room for dialogue, most of them will be shot and the pitiful remainders will be made to accept peace terms. No negotiations only dictation. Now sod off you pea brained filth.