Turkey accused of ‘dismantling human rights protections’ on an ‘unprecedented’ scale
IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY BOYCOTTED TURKISH FIREARMS, YOU MUST DO SO NOW!
BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
In a forceful rebuke, Human Rights Watch has accused rapidly re-Islamizing Turkey of “dismantling human rights protections” on an “unprecedented scale.” Historically (and currently), the more Islamized a country gets, the more it tends to violate human rights. That’s because it adheres to the Sharia on issues such as the death penalty for apostates and homosexuals, the inferiority and of women and the requirement that she not venture out in public unless everything except her face and hands (and in some regions everything except for her eyes) is covered, the expansion of the domains of an Islamic caliphate via jihad (1,400 years of it), the persecution and subjugation of religious minorities who are deemed to be inferior, etc. The evidence is global and historic, contrary to Islamic supremacist deceit and despite denial by Leftists — and worse than denial: the Washington Post actually hailed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar.”
The rebuke by Human Rights Watch “followed Turkey’s chief prosecutor announcing plans to shut down the opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for acting ‘against the indivisible integrity of the state with its country and nation,’ which came amid a series of arrests of party members in cities nationwide.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also withdrew Turkey last week “from the Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence.”
In response, on March 20, thousands of women protested in cities across Turkey, declaring that the women’s movement in Turkey will continue the struggle and demand government action to combat the entrenched problem of domestic violence and femicide
HRW is accusing Erdogan of “weaponizing” the Council of Europe treaty, which is popularly known as the Istanbul Convention, to “appeal to his religiously conservative base.” But even more than accountability to his base, Erdogan remains true to his own convictions as an Islamic supremacist despot with visions of a revived Ottoman Empire.
“Turkey: Erdoğan’s Onslaught on Rights and Democracy,” Human Rights Watch, March 24, 2021:
(Istanbul) – The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is dismantling human rights protections and democratic norms in Turkey on a scale unprecedented in the 18 years he has been in office, said Human Rights Watch today. The government took further dangerous measures over the past week to undermine the rule of law and target perceived critics and political opponents.
On March 19, 2021, the president issued a decree suddenly withdrawing Turkey from the Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, known as the Istanbul Convention, a groundbreaking treaty strongly supported by the women’s rights movement in Turkey. The move came two days after the chief prosecutor of Turkey’s top court of appeal announced that he was opening a case to close down the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), only hours after the Erdoğan-controlled parliament improperly expelled an HDP deputy.
“President Erdoğan is targeting any institution or part of society that stands in the way of his wide-ranging effort to reshape Turkey’s society,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “The latest developments against parliamentary opposition, the Kurds, and women are all about ensuring the president’s hold on power in violation of human rights and democratic safeguards.”
President Erdoğan’s dramatic move to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention with an overnight presidential decree is part of efforts to shore up support from religious conservative circles outside his party and shows his readiness to use the convention as a pretext to promote a highly divisive and homophobic political discourse. That discourse disingenuously claims women’s rights undermine so-called family values and promotes a hateful and discriminatory view of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
The president’s communications chief on March 21 issued a written statement defending the decision to withdraw Turkey from the treaty, saying that it was “hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality – which is incompatible with Turkey’s social and family values.” The claim stems from the convention’s language prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Women’s groups across Turkey have been staunch supporters of the convention as it legally obligates governments to take effective steps to prevent violence against women, protect survivors, and punish abusers.
Given the hundreds of murders of women by partners and former partners in Turkey each year, Erdoğan’s move to withdraw from and weaponize the treaty for political ends and to ignore the treaty’s desperately needed protections for women is shocking, Human Rights Watch said.
“The decision to withdraw is a profoundly backward step in the struggle to protect women’s rights in Turkey and a major blow for all women across the political spectrum,” Roth said.
In response, on March 20, thousands of women protested in cities across Turkey, declaring that the women’s movement in Turkey will continue the struggle and demand government action to combat the entrenched problem of domestic violence and femicide….