VAN- Human Rgihts Association (İHD) has announced the 2019 human rights violations report that they prepared for Van. Report states that during the year 2019, total of 1,657 human rights violations have been recorded.

Human Rights Association (İHD) Van Branch announced with a press meeting in their branch building the human rights violations report of 2019.

‘EMERGENCY STATE CONTINUES IN PRACTICE’

Human Rights Association’s Branch Chief Murat Melet addresses the fact that during the !peace process’ human rights violations was decreased, but as the conflicts emerge the violations increase in parallel. Trying to support human rights in Van city, Melet reminds the ongoing bans of demonstration throughout the city since 2016.  Defining the Van city as the “city of prohibitions”, Melet told: “Even though throughout the Turkey, the emergency state has officially ended, in Van and in general in the Kurdistan emergency state continues in practice.”

CALL TO THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Also mentioning the death fasts and hunger strike protests of music band Grup Yorum, Melet raises the call to the Ministry of Justice: “Grup Yorum members have been in hunger strike protests for more than a year and Ministry of Justice closes their ears to this hunger strike. Our call is this: accept the demands of Grup Yorum immediately and so the hunger strikes would end.”

‘FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND GETTING ORGANISED IS UNDER THREAT’

Human Rights Association central committee member Kasım Kalkan points out that the freedom of expression, speech and getting organized is under threat in Turkey, underlining the transformation in Turkey from a democratic state of law to a rather authoritarian regime. Kalkan reminds that today thousands of academicians, journalists and opponent citizens who are opposing the policies of political power are kept in prison just because they have expressed their thought as he continues as follows: “Lengthened imprisonment status and the penalties of all kinds have turned into the tools of punishment, aiming to put all the social and individual identities who show opposition to the political power under oppression. The justice system in Turkey being used as a tool of oppression against opponents and the trial processes getting more distant from the international law standards are now clearly observed.”

‘WAR AND CONFLICT STATUS CONTINUES AS THE ARBITRARY PRACTICES OF POLITICAL POWER’

Kalkan stresses the point that the applications of political power which have been resulting in the emerging of the conditions which shakes the democratic life in the country from its grounds and are against the human rights, have been increasing through the year 2019. As Kalkan indicates that the war and conflict status in the region is the main obstacle against the use of individual and collective rights.

Kalkan’s statements continue as follows: “On March 31 2019 local elections, the officially elected authorities in local municipalities, including elected mayors have been either taken from their duty due to their purge by KHK’s (Statuary Decrees) before or have been never let to start their duty officially. For these municipality duties, the assignment of trustees rather than the elected is a sign that trustee assignments are nothing but the arbitrary practices of the political power. This trustee assignment put in practice are the violations of the right to elect and to be elected. As part of  this highly political move of assigning trustees for the places of the elected, all HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) municipalities are assigned trustees and many of our elected mayors are either taken into custody or imprisoned.”

Some of the basic human rights violations in Van during 2019 have been listed as follows:

* A total of 326 home raids by the armed forces

* Total of 435 custodies, 11 of them being children

* Total number of torture and misbehavior under custody: 15

* Isolation in prison: 4

* Torture and misbehafe in places other than custody places: 1 person ( A citizen named Mehmet Y. who is a student came to our association and reported that he was attacked and threatened by 3 police officers.)

* 74 citizens are imprisoned

* In prisons these violations have been observed:  misbehave against prisoners, disciplinary penalties, isolation, the violation of the communication right, the violation of family and friends visits, isolation in only one-person cells, the health control under handcuffs, not letting the prisoners to be transferred to a hospital or health check as such.

* Total number of 35 migrants and refugees who lost their lives

* Total number of 5 killed militants in armed conflicts

* Total number of 35 death and 92 wounded in the borderline

* Total number domestic violence against women: 1 woman killed

* Total number domestic violence against children: 1 child (the person who insulted his grandchild sexually     was let free by the court)

* Total number of 2 children who have been abused in public place

* Total number of 2 of male suicides.