Turkey’s Human Rights Record In Numbers

Turkey’s Human Rights Record In Numbers

Turkey, which was once touted as a model country, has now become a case study of what can happen to a country that moves away from the rule of law and human rights.

The painful cries of people groaning at the face of oppression, cruelty and injustice are rising all over Turkey, and what’s worse is that the society in general is blind and deaf to these grievances.

While Turkey’s once-faulty democratic regime is rapidly evolving into a one-man dictatorship, economic and social indicators show that the country is precipitating into a ditch.

Anyone who does not speak out against corruption, turns away from democratic principles, ignores unlawfulness, remains oblivious to human rights violations, and above all, supports them by either keeping silent or speaking, has an open or secret responsibility in the collapse of the country.

As Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST), we are determined not to remain silent about this ominous aggravation of Turkey’s maladies. We see it as an undeniable duty to reveal the picture with all its nakedness and to warn those responsible.

In this context, with the study in your hand, we tried to demonstrate with numbers how the AKP government and its leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s efforts to cover up corruption and unlawfulness with more corruption and lawlessness brought the country. Furthermore, we wanted to convey the cultural and social genocide carried out against the dissident segments of the society and the suffering of the victims, which we have tried to interpret with dozens of studies so far, once more with numbers.

Numbers are bland by nature, yet the numbers in this study have the hue of grief and they represent how heavy the cost of straying from the law can be.

This report provides a comprehensive statistical overview of human rights violations in Turkey, particularly following the 2016 coup attempt. Key findings include:

• 1.6 million individuals investigated on terrorism-related charges.

• Over 300,000 detentions and more than 100,000 arrests.

• 152,000 public officials dismissed without due process.

• 234,419 passports canceled, restricting freedom of movement.

• 23,427 academics expelled from universities.

• 985 companies and 15 private universities seized.

• Over 3,000 children growing up in prisons with their mothers.

• $30 billion in assets confiscated and transferred to the state treasury.

The report underscores the extensive impact of these actions on Turkish society and calls for international attention to address these human rights concerns.