UN urges Turkey to address impunity issue

ANKARA

Turkey has made significant strides in securing the right to life in recent years but more still needs to be done to tackle impunity among the security forces, United Nations independent expert Christof Heyns said Nov. 30 at the end of a five-day long official visit.

“Impunity remains the main outstanding challenge that needs to be addressed urgently in order to consolidate the progress,” Heyns - the U.N.’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions - told a press conference following meetings in Ankara and Diyarbakır.

Heyns said he had observed that violations of the right to life continued in the context of counter terrorism measures. In his view, responsibility for the Uludere incident at the end of last year, in which 34 civilians were killed, remains unresolved and raises concern.