Turkey slams US report on human rights

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Turkey on April 22 criticized the recent U.S. State Department Human Rights Report on Turkey, saying it “privileged the views of terrorist-linked sources” and “ignored the facts.”

Turkey is “deeply disappointed” by the report, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the annual report, released on April 20.

“The report is based on a distant understanding of responsibility, presenting the allegations and accusations of terrorist-related circles as real,” it added.

The report “is filled with allegations and claims in the section relevant to our country that cannot be accepted,” stated the ministry.

It stressed that “despite its intense fight against serious, multifaceted terror threats, Turkey continues its commitment to the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”

The statement said the report ignores Turkey’s fight against “the radical terror group FETÖ,” referring to what the authorities call the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization, the network of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

Gülen and his followers are widely believed to have orchestrated the July 2016 coup attempt. Turkey has complained of Washington failing to act on its extradition request for Gülen, who lives in Pennsylvania.

“It is not a coincidence that such a report, which repeats the sayings of terror-linked groups and describes the fight against terrorism as an ‘internal conflict,’ is written in a country where FETÖ’s ringleader lives.”

“In addition, we advise countries that accuse our country of unfair claims to first stop systematic human rights violations against their own citizens,” added the ministry statement.

It vowed that Turkey’s fight against terrorism would “go on resolutely,” along with “efforts to strengthen basic rights and freedom.”