ÖHD Co-Chairs Serhat Çakmak and Ekin Yeter Moray, who attended the 13th meeting of the Parliamentary Commission, presented their expanded report to the commission.
Following their presentations at the 13th meeting of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy Commission established in Parliament to resolve the Kurdish issue, the Co-Chairs of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), Ekin Yeter and Serhat Çakmak, submitted a 55-page expanded report to the commission.
The report, which contains suggestions and criticisms regarding the process, consists of 10 main headings. The report, which covers many issues ranging from the right to mother tongue, regulation of the law on the execution of sentences, trials, women's rights, ecological destruction, attacks on the dead, and arbitrary practices in prisons, was recorded by the commission.
The report points out that political cases in Turkey are tried in special courts and that the judiciary remains under the influence of political power, stating that “the connection between the politics and the structure of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) and the Constitutional Court (AYM) makes fair trials impossible.” The report calls for the restructuring of the HSK, the abolition of the Anti-Terror Law, and the establishment of effective mechanisms against impunity.
The report, which also addresses the right to mother tongue, highlights the serious obstacles to the use of Kurdish in education, healthcare, public services, and the judiciary, stating, "Article 42 of the Constitution prohibits education in the mother tongue, and the elective course system is ineffective.” The report includes demands for “constitutional amendments, the removal of reservations to international treaties, and the provision of services in Kurdish in public institutions.”
The report, which also points to the ecological destruction in Kurdistan, states: “From the 1990s to the present day, war policies have devastated the ecosystem: villages have been burned, forests set on fire, and water wells contaminated in unsolved murders. Dam and hydroelectric power plant projects have destroyed both nature and cultural heritage.” The report also emphasizes that ecology should be a central topic in this process.
The report states that peaceful actions are punished over alleged “organization propaganda” or “crime on behalf of an organization,” and that this practice continues despite the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The report calls for the repeal of the relevant articles in the Anti-Terrorism Law and the Turkish Penal Code, stating that attacks on the bodies of those killed and the obstruction of the right to burial also violates human dignity, demanding that the right to burial be legally guaranteed.
Another heading in the report covers the Right to Hope. The report states that aggravated life sentences leave prisoners hopeless for life, violating both human rights and European standards. It calls for the recognition of the right to parole and the guarantee of the Right to Hope.
The report, which also covers rights violations in prisons, states that “Detainees and convicts are denied access to healthcare and face arbitrary restrictions on visits from family and lawyers. Their right to communication is also restricted.”
The report, which also draws attention to femicide, emphasizes that perpetrators are protected by practices such as “unjust provocation reduction,” highlighting that the judiciary perpetuates male-dominated impunity. It calls for deterrent sanctions in cases of violence against women and for judicial processes that are consistent with gender equality.
The report points out that the trustees appointed to municipalities eliminate local democracy, describing the removal of Kurdish signs, the closure of daycare centres, and the banning of cultural activities as a usurpation of the people's will. It emphasizes that local administrations must respect the will of the people on this issue.
The report states, “Turkey is not implementing mother tongue and minority rights by placing reservations on the treaties it has signed. The UN and Council of Europe documents are therefore becoming ineffective.” The report recommends the removal of reservations and the implementation of international standards, presenting judicial independence, freedom of mother tongue, ecology, women's rights, the strengthening of local governments, and the recognition of international legal standards as fundamental conditions for a peaceful and democratic society to the commission.
