Democracy, Conflicts and Human Rights: The Case of Turkey

The Turkish attack of Kurdish-held domains in northern Syria has convoluted a generally clamorous war. What started eight years prior as a progression of peaceful fights against the Syrian government transformed into a global clash, between many nearby groups, the Islamic State and a few foreign nations. This has been creating a disintegration of the standard of law and democracy framework, resulting in Turkey facing a prolonged human rights crisis.

The Turkish crisis is not limited to just inter-state disputes but to violations of individual civil rights within the country as well. Executive influence over the judiciary has led to unlawful convictions of innocent people regarded as political opponents to the Erdogan regime. Citizens convicted during this include journalists, opposition politicians, activists and human rights defenders. They have even been linked to July 2016. coup attempt.

Along with this. terrorism charges continued to be widely exploited even three years after the coup try. As per the figures published by the Ministry of Justice, 69,259 folks were unproved and 155,560 folks still underneath criminal investigation on coercion charges in cases coupled to the Gülen movement, that Turkey’s government terms the Fethullahist political movement (FETÖ) and deems a terrorist organization.

Severe restrictions on the right to assemble were imposed in Turkey which granted provincial governors the power to limit citizen’s movement. This has even hampered the silent protests being carried out by the LGBT community, throughout the country.

The Erdoğan presidency’s judicial reform change package adopted by parliament in Oct amended numerous laws, however, was too generalized and obscure to supply hopes of real measures to handle the deep and pervasive deficiencies of Turkey’s justice system.

1. FREEDOM OF PRESS

About 120 journalists have been facing severe issues in their pretrial detention. They have been tagged as the flag bearers of terrorist propaganda and have been recognised as members of foreign terrorist organisations.

To counter this, a Court of Cassation started working to rule out the convictions of 13 journalists and executives, who went missing after the Istanbul tribunal convicted them of “aiding and abetting terrorist organizations.” The Istanbul Court melted out the same prison sentences it gave at their first trial ranging from nearly four years to over eight years. Even writers like Kadri Gursel and Ahmed Altan were arrested and released after three years of pretrial detention and then rearrested after just seven days as the decision by the court was revised. The entire process against them has been arbitrary and demonstrates heavy political interference. Hence, primarily, journalists working for Kurdish media are being inappropriately targeted.

Restrictions are just not limited to press. The Radio and Television Supreme Board binds the internet broadcasting in Turkey, any broadcasting internet channel, even popular sites like YouTube and Netflix will be subjected to inspection and would be deemed to be suspended if it violates Turkey’s law. Authorities continue to block sites which do not celebrate Turkey’s current situation and even arrest individuals who post their opinion about this on social media.

2. KURDISH TURKISH CONFLICT

There has been a paradigm shift in the policy of the USA and Turkey towards all the Kurdish stakeholders involved in Turkey and its neighbours. The shift is driven by the Domestic political upheaval and the changing regional dynamics. Throughout this era, Turkish policy has oscillated from engagement with Kurdish players in pursuit of peaceful cooperation to hard-edged repression reception and military intervention abroad. Meanwhile, the US has slowly abandoned its previous passive policy toward Kurdish non-state actors to adopt a halting, spontaneous policy of engagement with leftist Kurdish parts in Asian countries, driven primarily by the plan of action military needs of a laser-focused campaign to eradicate the Islamic State (IS).

3. ILL-TREATMENT AND TORTURE

There has been an evident rise in cases of inhumane behaviour, torture and ill-treatment with the Kurds, Leftists and followers of Fethullah Gulen. The bench in power does not conduct substantive investigations into such allegations.

When this issue was raised, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) visited the detention cells twice but were never permitted to publish a report on their conditions. There have been cases where the Turkish police have not even allowed prisoners to meet their lawyers and be remanded for pretrial detention.

4. ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS

With the chaos happening within the country because of unending civil unrest, a lot of international bodies and countries also more or less started getting involved in the entire scenario. The European Union claimed that Turkey was moving further away from it and a negative atmosphere around it was witnessed.

Turkey’s acquisition of Russian S-400 missiles further declined the US- Turkish relationship. Strains stay over different angles such Turkey’s October military attack into upper east Syria; Turkey’s oppressive arrangement of three US consular staff who are Turkish nationals, one of whom remained confined; and the presence on US soil of Fethullah Gulen.

Surveying the potential for a facilitating of Turkish-Kurdish clash is very troublesome, not to mention theorizing about the possible course for such a cycle. In any case, a juncture of political, military, and local components raises the slight expectation that quite a conditioning is conceivable. The military clash has ground into an impasse, with the PKK uprising in Turkey seriously diminished. Strategically, President Erdogan faces stagnation as his patriot turn runs out of steam; he should discover new strategies of help to make sure about the outright dominant party expected to win his next political decision. Turkey’s military is overextended, and the interventionist approach in Syria conveys tremendous dangers for Ankara — convenience would better serve Turkey’s inclinations. Huge political deterrents to a more extensive political trade-off would stay, not least in Syria and in the homegrown discretionary math for President Erdogan. All things considered, the devastation of the previous four years has not served Turkey well, the advantages of a more moderate way are clear, and the shapes of another harmony cycle stay noticeable.

For quite a while, Turkey ceased from discussing the Kurdish issue by expecting that it would ultimately blur away. However, it didn’t and all things considered, the contention has gotten all the more profoundly settled in. The truth will surface eventually whether the Turkish state will at last pick up or lose by its most recent military intercession in Syria. Notwithstanding, what’s reasonable is that the Kurdish clash will get more muddled with this most recent move, and both the Turkish state and Turkish society will not, at this point, have the option to overlook it.

About The Author

Shivani Gupta is currently pursuing Masters in Public Policy. She is a research enthusiast and is interested in areas of International Relations, Gender, and Human Rights.