25/07/2024 | Writer: Kaos GL
DEM Party Istanbul MP Özgül Saki asked Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya at the Human Rights Investigation Commission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) how many police officers who used violence during Pride Marches were investigated.
At the meeting of the Committee on Human Rights Inquiry of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey yesterday (24 July), Peoples’ Democratic Party (DEM) İstanbul MP Saki stated that there was a large gap between the presentations made at the Commission and the reality. Saki mentioned that they could not get answers to the questions asked previously and expressed the following:
“If everything is under control, why are femicides increasing day by day? Why are perpetrators released under color of grounds for discretionary mitigation or decision on non-prosecution?
On the issue of migrants-refugees, it is said that everything is under control; however, there are reports of rights violations and torture in Removal Centers.
Feminist Night Marches have been organized in Istanbul on 8 March since 2003. Especially since 2019, ‘public order’ has been paralyzed in Istanbul by the Governor's Office and therefore by the Ministry of Interior. It is not the women who disrupt public order, but the governorship.
We had asked the Minister of Interior before, but we did not get a concrete answer. In 2022, 334 women were detained by handcuffing behind their backs. This is a torture method and a crime. How many law enforcement officers who detained women by handcuffing behind their backs and tortured them were investigated?”
Referring to the police violence during Pride Marches, Saki said:
“LGBTI+ Pride Marches are also subjected to systematic state violence. How many police officers who used violence during Feminist Night Marches and Pride Marches, despite concrete evidence, were investigated and how many of them were sentenced? For example, Istanbul Deputy Provincial Police Chief Hanefi Zengin, the main perpetrator of systematic violence, did not need to be investigated despite many complaints.”
“Migrants are dragged from one removal centre to another”
Referring to the violations of rights in removal centers and the increase in cases of sexual violence, Saki said:
“Here too, cases of sexual assault and sexual violence involving some special forces officers are well known. We ask for data: how many of them have been investigated, which have been punished, but the Ministry of the Interior insists on not giving us this data.
Migrants who were denied refugee status by the AKP government by calling them ‘guests’ are now being forcibly sent back, disregarding the rules of international law. They are almost chasing after refugees and migrants. Migrants are being dragged from one Removal Center to another.
We ask: How many people are being held in Removal Centers, what are their nationalities? What is the number of women and children among them? What is the capacity of the Removal Centers? And what is the outcome of the applications regarding the cases of violence, harassment, and torture in the Removal Centers? Has any action been taken against those responsible, has any investigation been conducted?”
Tags: human rights
