Turkey's 'Massive' Rights Crimes At Gezi Protests Cited by Amnesty
In a detailed study on Turkey's recent urban unrest, the international human rights body Amnesty International reports widespread abuse by authorities.
In the most detailed study yet on the Gezi Park youth protests in Istanbul in early summer, Amnesty International on Wednesday accused the Turkish government of "human rights violations on a massive scale."
In a report published Oct. 2, the organization detailed what it called "the worst excesses of police violence" during the protests, the failure to bring these abuses to justice and the subsequent prosecution and harassment of those who took part in the demonstrations.
“The attempt to smash the Gezi Park protest movement involved a string of human rights violations on a huge scale. They include the wholesale denial of the right to peaceful assembly and violations of the rights to life, liberty and the freedom from torture and ill-treatment,” said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s expert on Turkey.
The 72-page report, titled "Gezi Park Protests: Brutal Denial of the Right to Peaceful Assembly in Turkey," offers grim reading. It details how the use of live ammunition, tear gas, water cannons, plastic bullets and beatings of protesters left more than 8,000 people injured at the scene of the demonstrations. The deaths of at least three protesters have been linked to the abusive use of force by police. In other findings, Amnesty International says that Turkish police used 130,000 tear gas cartridges during the first three weeks of the demonstrations, and that this greatly depleted the 150,000 cartridges budgeted for in the police force’s annual procurement plan.
