Authoritarian practices against critics rise in Turkey, says Amnesty

ISTANBUL

Turkish police arrest people who were planning to demonstrate in front of the controversial new palace of Turkish President on February 6, 2015. AFP Photo

Amnesty International’s annual report has outlined the problematic areas in Turkey’s human rights performance over the past year, noting the rise in authoritarian practices in the country despite progress in reducing detention periods.

“Following the 2013 Gezi protests and the rupture with former ally Fethullah Gülen, the authorities became more authoritarian in responding to critics,” the report said in its Turkey section. “They undermined the independence of the judiciary, introduced new restrictions on Internet freedoms and handed unprecedented powers to the country’s intelligence agency.”

Along with violation of peaceful demonstration rights, people in Turkey continued to suffer from unfair trials, the report stated.

Turkish authorities have been also criticized for ignoring the rights of conscientious objectors and of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, in addition to taking necessary steps to prevent violence against women.

The only improvement cited by the human rights group was the decrease in “the excessive use and length of pre-trial detention” in the country.