IHD: "We condemn massive arrest of lawyers, raids on political party building, and severe violence on protesters"

12/06/2013
Press release
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Statement of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD)

12 June 2013 - We condemn the violence inflicted by the law enforcement on the protestors during the ongoing protests in Taksim Square and in Gezi Park in the morning of 11 June 2013; the attack of law enforcement that went on all day long till the next morning; the arrest of approximately 50 lawyers who attempted to make a public statement in the courthouse in Çağlayan District of İstanbul Province; The raid on the Socialist Democracy Party’s İstanbul Province Branch office and the massive arrests.

We call the political power to stop the violations of right to life and ban of torture. The statements of the international organisations including the United Nations’ General Secretariat showed the concerning stage of the authoritarian democracy that Turkey had reached. Human Rights Association (IHD) will go on initiating to stop the police violence and for the condemnation of it in the presence of international organisations.

The political power should put a halt to police violence and precede the dialog with the real representatives of the protestors and cooperate to cover the demands.

Political power has been legitimizing the torture and ill-treatment with “I will not my police to be devoured” discourse. This discourse should be left, impunity should be stopped and an effective investigation should be launched against the police officers and their superiors who had inflicted violence.

İnsan Hakları Derneği/Human Rights Association (IHD)

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