AHI Monitors Congressional Hearing on Human Rights in Turkey
No. 44
WASHINGTON, DC - On Tuesday, April 16, 2024, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hosted a congressional hearing titled “Human Rights in Turkey Today” hosted by co-chairs Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. James P. McGovern (D-MA).
The hearing covered the U.S. State Department’s 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which listed the following human rights abuses occurring in Turkey:
Arbitrary killings
Suspicious deaths of persons in custody
Forced disappearances
Torture
Significant problems with judicial independence
Arbitrary arrest and continued detention of tens of thousands of persons, including opposition politicians and former members of parliament, lawyers, journalists, human rights activists, and an employee of the U.S. Mission, for purported ties to “terrorist” groups or peaceful legitimate speech; political prisoners, including elected officials;
Transnational reprisal against individuals located outside the country, including kidnappings and transfers of alleged members of the Gulen movement without adequate fair trial guarantees or other legal protections
Severe restrictions on freedom of expression and press freedom, including violence and threats of violence against journalists, closure of media outlets, and arrests or criminal prosecution of journalists and others for criticizing government policies or officials, censorship, site blocking, and criminal libel laws; serious restrictions on internet freedom; severe restriction of freedoms of peaceful assembly and association.
Support for Syrian opposition groups that perpetrated serious abuses in conflict, including the unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers
Witnesses included Enes Kanter Freedom, Human rights activist, former NBA basketball player; Abdulhamit Bilici, former Editor in Chief of Zaman; Nadine Maenza, President of IRF Secretariat and former Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
The hearing was attended by AHI’s policy consultant, Elias Gerasoulis, and analyzed by AHI interns Nikos Labrakis and Theodore Papadopoulos.
The American Hellenic Institute is an independent non-profit Greek American public policy center and think tank that works to strengthen relations between the United States and Greece and Cyprus, and within the Greek American community.
For additional information, please contact us at (202) 785-8430 or pr@ahiworld.org. For general information about the activities of AHI, please see our website at http://www.ahiworld.org.
