Human rights in Turkey

Turkey's human rights record has long continued to attract scrutiny, both internally and externally. According to the Foreign Ministry, Turkey was sentenced to 33 million euros in 567 different cases between 1990—when Turkey effectively allowed individual applications to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)—and 2006.[14] Most abuses were done in the South-East, in the frame of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict.[14]

In 2007, there were 2830 applications lodged against the Republic of Turkey before the ECtHR and consequently 331 judgments on the merits have been issued affirming 319 violations and 9 non-violations.[15] In 2008, Turkey ranked second after Russia in the list of countries with the largest number of human rights violation cases open at the European Court of Human Rights, with 9,000 cases pending as of August 2008.[14] In 2011, the ECtHR issued 159 judgments that found violations by Turkey, the most of any country, with Russia coming second at 121 judgments.[16]

Between 1 November 1998 and 31 December 2008 the ECtHR received 24,945 applications from Turkey. It declared 2,237 cases admissible and 13,615 inadmissible.[17] During the same time it reached 1,905 judgments finding at least one violation in 1,652 cases.[17] While there are hardly any decision regarding Article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ban of discrimination), many judgments concerning Article 2 (right to life) and Article 3 of the convention (ban of torture) were taken on procedural grounds rather than testifying an involvement of State agencies.[18] According to the European Commission on Enlargement of the EU Turkey continued to make progress on the execution of ECtHR judgments. All pecuniary compensation was paid on time, totalling €5.2 million in 2008.[11]

The ECtHR has heard nine cases against Turkey concerning political party bans by the Constitutional Court of Turkey.[19] In all but one case (which concerned the Islamist Welfare Party), the European Court has ruled against the decision to ban, finding Turkey in violation of articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention (freedom of expression and freedom of association).[19] The ECtHR's decision concerning the Welfare Party has been criticized for lack of consistency with its other decisions, in particular by Human Rights Watch.[19]

One ECtHR judgment sentenced Turkey to a 103,000 euros fine for its decisions about the Yüksekova Gang (aka "the gang with uniforms"), related to the JİTEM clandestine gendarmerie intelligence unit.[14] The EHCR also sentenced in 2006 Turkey to a 28,500 Euros fine for the JİTEM murder of 72-year-old Kurdish writer Musa Anter, in 1992 in Diyarbakir.[14] Other cases include the 2000 Akkoç v. Turkey judgment, concerning the assassination of a trade-unionist; or the Loizidou v. Turkey case in 1996, which set a precedent in the Cyprus dispute, as the ECtHR ordered Turkey to give financial compensation to a person expelled from the Turkish-controlled side of Cyprus.

The ECtHR also awarded in 2005 Kurdish deputy Leyla Zana €9000 from the Turkish government, ruling Turkey had violated her rights of free expression. Zana, who had been recognized as prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and had been awarded the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament, had been jailed in 1994, allegedly for being a member of the outlawed PKK, but officiously for having spoken Kurdish in public during her parliamentary oath.

The death penalty has not been implemented in Turkey since 1984. Turkey abolished the sentence for peace time offences in 2002 and for all offences in 2004. The sentence was replaced by aggravated life imprisonment (ağırlaştırılmış müebbet hapis cezası). According to Article 9 of Law 5275 on the Execution of Sentences[20] these prisoners are held in individual cells in high security prisons and are allowed to exercise in a neighbouring yard one hour per day.

In 1990 Amnesty International published its first report on extrajudicial executions in Turkey.[21] In the following years the problem became more serious. The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey determined the following figures on extrajudicial executions in Turkey for the years 1991 to 2001:[22]

In 2001 the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Ms. Asma Jahangir, presented a report on a visit to Turkey.[23] The report presented details of killings of prisoners (26 September 1999, 10 prisoners killed in a prison in Ankara; 19 December 2000, an operation in 20 prisons launched throughout Turkey resulted in the death of 30 inmates and two gendarmes).

For the years 2000–2008 the Human Rights Association (HRA) gives the following figures on doubtful deaths/deaths in custody/extra judicial execution/torture by paid village guards[24]

In 2008 the human rights organization Mazlum Der counted 25 extrajudicial killings in Turkey.[25]

The mass violations of human rights in the mainly Kurdish-populated southeast and eastern regions of Turkey in the 1990s took the form of enforced disappearances and killings by unknown perpetrators which the state authorities showed no willingness to solve.[26] In 2009 the Human Rights Association stated that up to the end of 2008 a total of 2,949 people had been killed by unknown perpetrators and 2,308 people had become victims of extrajudicial executions.[27]

A parliamentary commission to research killings by unknown perpetrators (faili meçhul cinayetleri araştırma komisyonu) was founded in 1993 and worked for about two years. Many members complained that they had not been assisted and their work had been undermined.[28] One member of the commission, Eyüp Aşık, stated that the Turkish Hezbollah had been behind many of these killings and added that the State had had three effective arms in the fight against terrorism: special teams, village guards and Hezbollah. Although he had witnessed about 80 actions of Hezbollah in Adıyaman province the then Minister for the Interior had said that there was nothing by that name. This in turn had made him believe that the State supported Hezbollah.[28]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) first called for an investigation of links between Hezbollah and the security forces in 1992.[29] In a separate report HRW stated:

During 1992 there was an extremely disturbing increase in the number of suspicious deaths in southeast Turkey. Hundreds of people were killed by unknown assailants; many of those people were leaders or in positions of responsibility in the Kurdish community — doctors, lawyers, teachers, political leaders, journalists, human rights activists, businessmen... Human rights activists were among the victims. Thirteen of the suspicious killings since January 1992 were of journalists.[30]

Based on the data of the Interior Ministry, the daily "Zaman" reported that between 1987 and 2001 a total of 2,914 political killings, 1,334 of them in the responsibility area of the police and 1,580 in area of the gendarmerie, were committed in the Eastern and Southern Eastern Anatolia Regions. 457 of the killings in areas of the police and 1,291 in areas of the gendarmerie had not been clarified.[31]

The following figures were presented in the annual reports of the HRFT between 1990 and 2001[31]

The Human Rights Association (HRA) presents the following figures for the years 1999 to 2008:[32]

The Human Rights Association Mazlumder presented figures on killing by unknown assailants and suspicious death for the years 2005 to 2008:[33]

Special bus placed close to the action of the Saturday Mothers

In Turkey, the military campaign against Kurdish secessionists in Eastern Anatolia has been accompanied by numerous enforced disappearances, which also gave rise to judgments of the European Court of Human Rights to murder.[34] There were only a handful of cases of "disappearances" in Turkey in the 1980s, but a high number of deaths in custody.[35] The opposite was true for the 1990s, when the number of people who "disappeared" after having been abducted by agents of the States rapidly kill, each other increased.[36]

In 1998 the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances issued a Report on the visit to Turkey by two members of the Working Group from 20 to 26 September 1998. It stated inter alia:

Most of the disappearances concerned persons of Kurdish ethnic origin and occurred in the provinces of Diyarbakir and Siirt, in south-east Anatolia, where the armed and security forces are combating the PKK and where a state of emergency is in force. Some of the reported disappearances took place in Antalya, İzmir and Istanbul. Most of the cases followed the same pattern: the missing persons had allegedly been arrested at their homes on charges of belonging to the PKK and taken to the police station but their detention was later denied by the authorities.[37]

In her report of 18 December 2001 the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Ms. Asma Jahangir, wrote: While the number of cases of abductions or "disappearances" have decreased over the last few years, at the time of the Special Rapporteur's visit such incidents still did occur, particularly in the remote areas of south-east Turkey, and there was deep concern at the recent disappearance of two persons.[23]

In some places on the Internet a list attributed to the HRA can be found (but not on the website of the HRA). It is said that the original list contained 839 names, but that adding further names the list covered 1,251 names in the end.[38] In a revised list that covers only the time between 1980 and 1999 Helmut Oberdiek reached a figure of 818 cases of "disappearances" in Turkey.[39]

The Saturday Mothers held weekly protests against "disappearances" between May 1995 and 1999.[40] They had to suspend their action on 13 March 1999[41] after week 200, because of intense pressure, detention and ill-treatment.[42] In March 2009 the Saturday Mothers took their action up again.[43]

An important characteristics of the period following the 12 September 1980 military intervention was the disregard to the right to life and the increase in torture cases and deaths due to torture.[54] The HRFT published two reports on Deaths in Custody (14 and 15 years since the military take over) presenting a list of 419 deaths in custody (in 15 years) with a suspicion that torture might have been the reason. Another 15 deaths were attributed to hunger strikes while medical neglect was given as the reason for 26 deaths.[55] On the basis of this list Helmut Oberdiek compiled a revised list for 20 years (12 September 1980 to 12 September 2000) and concluded that in 428 cases torture may have been the reason for the death of prisoners.[56] In 2008 alone the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey reported of 39 deaths in prison. In some cases torture was involved.[57] In 2012, two prison guards and an official were given life sentences for the torture death of activist Engin Çeber, the first such verdict in Turkey's history.[58]

Turkey has repeatedly been criticized for allowing poor living conditions to exist in its prisons and in particular, it has been criticized for not doing anything to solve the problem of overcrowded prisons.[59] Following the 1980 Turkish coup d'état political prisoners tried in military courts were held in military prisons and were thus subjected to military discipline. Prisoners were obliged to participate in daily roll-calls, the singing of marches and drills in the open air.[60] In particular, Diyarbakır and Mamak Military Prisons (the latter in Ankara) became notorious for the routine beatings which accompanied attempts to enforce military discipline among civilians. In addition, so-called "inaugural-beatings" had been institutionalized in almost all prisons in Turkey.[60]

In 2008, allegations of ill-treatment in prisons and allegations of ill-treatment of prisoners during their transfers continued to be made. Small-group isolation remained a problem across the prison system for people who were accused or convicted of politically motivated offences.[61] The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey registered 39 deaths in prison.[62]

In March 2020, following the publication of reports which documented the life-threatening living conditions which existed in prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government of Turkey published a draft of a document in which it stated that it was preparing to release 100,000 inmates. However, Amnesty International and several other human rights organizations stated that they were still concerned about journalist and human rights defenders, who as per the government's perceived policies, will remain behind bars.[63]

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the AKP government has waged one of the world's biggest crackdowns on media freedom.[80][81] Many journalists have been arrested using charges of "terrorism" and "anti-state activities" such as the Ergenekon and Balyoz cases, while thousands have been investigated on charges such as "denigrating Turkishness" or "insulting Islam" in an effort to sow self-censorship.[80] In 2017, the CPJ identified 81 jailed journalists in Turkey (including the editorial staff of Cumhuriyet, Turkey's oldest newspaper still in circulation), all directly held for their published work (ranking first in the world in 2017, with more journalists in prison than in Iran, Eritrea or China);[81] while in 2015 Freemuse identified nine musicians imprisoned for their work (ranking third in that year after Russia and China).[5] In 2015 Turkey's media was rated as not free by Freedom House.[6] In its resolution "The functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey" on 22 June 2016, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe warned that "recent developments in Turkey pertaining to freedom of the media and of expression, erosion of the rule of law and the human rights violations in relation to anti-terrorism security operations in south-east Turkey have (...) raised serious questions about the functioning of its democratic institutions."[82]

On 29 April 2017, Turkish authorities blocked online access to Wikipedia in all languages across Turkey.[83][84] The restrictions were imposed in the context of the purges that followed the coup attempt, a few weeks after a significant constitutional referendum, and following more selective partial blocking of Wikipedia content in previous years.[85] Following the ban, Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder, was disinvited from the World Cities Expo in Istanbul from 15 to 18 May.[86] Turkish law professor Yaman Akdeniz estimated that Wikipedia was one of about 127,000 websites blocked by Turkish authorities. An estimated 45 percent of Turks have circumvented the Internet blocks, at one time or another, by using a virtual private network (VPN).[87] On 15 January 2020 access started being progressively restored, after the Constitutional Court ruled that the ban violated freedom of expression, 991 days after the block had started.[88][89]

Turkish journalists protesting imprisonment of their colleagues on Human Rights Day, 10 December 2016

After the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared a state of emergency and began an ideological purge of government and civil society. The government blamed its former ally the Gülen movement for the coup, and had declared it a terrorist organization in late 2015. The purge was criticized internationally, including by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who also condemned the coup attempt. Critics said the Turkish government was using terrorist affiliation as a pretense to suppress dissent and punish political opponents of Erdoğan generally.[90]

The government has alleged affiliation with the Gülen movement or with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (also listed as a terrorist organization) as a reason for firings and arrests. The purge has resulted in the dismissal of tens of thousands of government employees, including thousands of police and teachers. Arrests have included thousands of members of the military; about a third of the judges in the country; Kurdish activists, mayors, governors, and members of parliament, especially those affiliated with the HDP (which opposed the coup); and journalists. More than 50,000 people have been arrested and over 160,000 fired from their jobs.[91] Various television stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and publishing houses were shut down, and tens of thousands of passports were revoked. A lot of international media attention and international diplomatic negotiations followed the arrest of ten Human Right's defenders in July 2017, and they became known internationally as the Istanbul 10. Wikipedia was blocked in Turkey between April 2017 and January 2020.

There is currently no provision for conscientious objection. Article 72 of the Turkish Constitution states: "National service is the right and duty of every Turk. The manner in which this service shall be performed, or considered as performed, either in the Armed Forces or in public service, shall be regulated by law." This in principle would allow for a non-military alternative.[92] Turkey, Belarus and Azerbaijan are the only European countries that have not introduced any legislation on conscientious objection.[93]

In January 2006, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Turkey had violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights that prohibits degrading treatment in a case relating to Osman Murat Ulke, the first conscientious objector to be imprisoned for his objection.[94] Another conscientious objector, Mehmet Tarhan, was sentenced to four years in prison by a military court in 2005 for refusing to do his military service, but he was later released in March 2006. However, he is still a convict and shall be arrested on sight. In a related case, journalist Perihan Mağden was tried and acquitted by a Turkish court for supporting Tarhan and advocating conscientious objection as a human right.

Since 1989, 74 people have refused to perform compulsory military service in Turkey. Only six of them have been tried for being a conscientious objector or sent to the military unit they were assigned to after being captured.[95] COs may be punished under Article 63 of the Turkish Military Penal Code for avoiding military service. COs who attract media attention or publish articles about their refusal to perform military service may also be punished to between six months’ and two years' imprisonment under Article 318 of the Turkish Criminal Code for "alienating the people from the armed forces". In 2004, a new Criminal Code was introduced (Law No 5237). Under the previous Criminal Code, "alienating people from the armed forces" was punishable under Article 155 with a similar term of imprisonment.[96]

Some members of religious denominations who forbid their members to bear arms, in particular Jehovah’s Witnesses, have also refused to perform military service. Members of Jehovah's Witnesses have regularly been sentenced to imprisonment under Article 63 of the Penal Code for avoiding military service. In recent years, Jehovah's Witnesses are reportedly regularly allowed to perform unarmed military service within the armed forces. They have complied with this.[96] Muhammed Serdar Delice, a young Muslim, declared his conscientious objection to military service in 2011 and argued that his objection was based on his Muslim faith. After serving a few months in the Armed Forces he claimed that he had experienced disrespectful interference with his religious practice, as well as indoctrination about Turkey's three-decade-old war with Kurdish insurgents.[97] Most Kurds are fellow Muslims.

Further instances of imprisonment included

• Halil Savda: He was sentenced to 21.5 months' imprisonment[98]
• Mehmet Bal: He was repeatedly imprisoned in 2002, 2003 and 2008.[99] He was allegedly beaten in prison.[100]

The Council of Europe and the United Nations have regularly called upon Turkey to legally recognise the right to conscientious objection. In March 2004, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that: "Despite Turkey's geostrategic position, the Assembly demands that Turkey recognises the right to conscientious objection and introduce an alternative civilian service."[96] In September 2009 the Turkish press reported that the Turkish government is considering creating regulations regarding conscientious objectors. According to the amendment planned on the issue, those refusing to perform compulsory military service will no longer be forcibly drafted to the military while they are under detention and will be able to be defended by a lawyer while being tried. They will also be able to benefit from the Probation Law.[95]

• Amnesty International: "Human rights defenders, writers, journalists and others were unjustly prosecuted under unfair laws and subjected to arbitrary decisions by judges and prosecutors. Courts also acted disproportionately when shutting down websites on the basis of posted items. People expressing dissenting views remained at risk, with individuals threatened with violence by unknown individuals or groups. Police bodyguards were provided in a number of cases."[101]
• Human Rights Watch: "Critical and open debate increased, even as restrictions on free speech continue."[102]
• US Department of State: "The government limited freedom of expression through the use of constitutional restrictions and numerous laws, including articles of the penal code prohibiting insults to the government, the state, the "Turkish nation," or the institution and symbols of the republic. Limitations on freedom of expression applied to the Internet, and courts and an independent board ordered telecommunications providers to block access to Web sites on approximately 1,475 occasions."[103]
• European Union: "There has been some progress in the efforts to strengthen the safeguards for freedom of expression, which is a priority of the Accession Partnership. However, only a consistent track record of implementation will show whether or not the revised article is adequate."[51]

Following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, some Kurdish tribes, which were still feudal (manorial) communities led by chieftains (agha), became discontent about certain aspects of Atatürk's reforms aiming to modernise the country, such as secularism (the Sheikh Said rebellion, 1925)[124] and land reform (the Dersim rebellion, 1937–1938),[125] and staged armed revolts that were put down with military operations.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States,[126] the European Union[127] and NATO[128]) was founded in 1978 by a group of Kurdish militants led by Abdullah Öcalan, seeking the foundation of an independent, Marxist–Leninist state in the region, which was to be known as Kurdistan.[129] The initial reason given by the PKK for this was the oppression of Kurds in Turkey.[130][131] A full-scale insurgency began in 1984, when the PKK announced a Kurdish uprising. Since the conflict began, more than 40,000 people have died, most of whom were Turkish Kurds.[132] Following the arrest and imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan in 1999,[133][134] the PKK modified its demands into equal rights for ethnic Kurds and provincial autonomy within Turkey.[135]

Due to the large population of Kurdish people, successive governments have viewed the expression of a Kurdish identity as a potential threat to Turkish unity, a feeling that has been compounded since the armed rebellion initiated by the PKK in 1984. One of the main accusations of cultural assimilation comes from the state's historic suppression of the Kurdish language. Kurdish publications created throughout the 1960s and 1970s were shut down under various legal pretexts.[136] Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited from government institutions.[137] The letters W, X or Q present in the uncorroborated Kurdish alphabet is not recognized.[137]

Between 1959 and 2011, the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Turkey for the thousands of human rights abuses against Kurdish people.[138][139] Many judgments are related to cases such as civilian deaths in aerial bombardments,[140] torturing,[141] forced displacements,[142] destroyed villages,[143][144][145] arbitrary arrests,[146] murdered and disappeared Kurdish journalists, activists and politicians.[147]

Since 2002, as part of its reforms aimed at European Union integration and under pressure to further the rights of Kurds, Turkey passed laws allowing Kurdish radio and television broadcasts as well the option of private Kurdish education.[148] In 2010 a master level and in 2011 a graduate level university program were started and a Kurdish Language and Literature Department was established in the state-owned Mardin Artuklu University.[149][150]

In August 2009, Turkish government has restored the Kurdish name of one Kurdish village, and was considering allowing religious sermons to be made in Kurdish in rural villages as part of reforms to answer the grievances of the ethnic minority and advance its EU candidacy.[151]

2015-16 Şırnak clashes

More than 4,000 Kurds were arrested in 2011, including dozens of journalists and politicians. Mass trials of local deputies, mayors, academics and human rights activists have occurred in Diyarbakir. Hundreds of Kurds remain in pre-trial detention, some of them for many months.[152]

In January 2013, the Turkish parliament passed a law that permits use of the Kurdish language in the courts, albeit with restrictions.[153][154] The law was passed by votes of the ruling AKP and the pro-Kurdish rights opposition party BDP, against criticism from the secularist CHP party and the nationalist MHP, with MHP and CHP deputies nearly coming to blows with BDP deputies over the law. In spite of their support in the parliament, the BDP was critical of the provision in the law that the defendants will pay for the translation fees and that the law applies only to spoken defense in court but not to a written defense or the pre-trial investigation.[155] According to one source[154] the law does not comply with EU standards. Deputy prime minister of Turkey Bekir Bozdağ replied to criticism of the law from both sides saying that the fees of defendants who does not speak Turkish will be paid by the state, while, those who speak Turkish yet prefer to speak in the court in another language will have to pay the fees themselves.[156] European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle welcomed the new law.[157]

In February 2013, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during a meeting with Muslim opinion leaders, that he has "positive views" about imams delivering sermons in Turkish, Kurdish or Arabic, according to the most widely spoken language among the mosque attendees. This move received support from Kurdish politicians and human rights groups.[158]

External video

Video of the TRT news station stopping the broadcast of a speech made in Kurdish by politician Ahmet Türk. Following the interruption, the newscaster said, "since no language other than Turkish can be used in the parliament meetings according to the constitution of the Turkish Republic and the Political Parties Law, we had to stop our broadcast. We apologize to our viewers for this and continue our broadcast with the next news item scheduled."[159]

Despite the improvement of minorities language rights in Turkey, the only language of instruction in the education system is Turkish language. Minority languages are illegal to use as a main languages in the education. Minorities are allowed to study their languages only as a minor subject in private and public educational institutions. Until reforms that started in 2002, there were legal restrictions on publishing in minority languages except for Greek, Armenian and Hebrew which are the languages of minorities officially recognized by the Lausanne Treaty. Since September 2002, those minorities, too, have the right to operate private courses that teach any language spoken in Turkey.[160][161] Some of the Kurdish courses were closed down by their owners in 2005 due to their limitations and a lack of interest.[162] However, as of 2010, there were active Kurdish language minor subject courses with increasing number of students.[163] In 2010, state-owned Mardin Artuklu University started a master-level Kurdish language and literature ("Kurdology")program.[149] Dicle University, another Turkish state university in Diyarbakır, started to give Kurdish courses in June 2011.[164][165] In September 2011, the first undergraduate level Kurdish Language and Literature Department in Turkey was opened in the Mardin Artuklu University. According to the deputy rector of the university, this was not only the first university department on this subject in Turkey, but also the first one of the whole world.[150]

NGOs have called on Turkey to adopt the definitions of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. If Turkey were to become a signatory to this treaty, it would have to accept and subsidise the education of minorities in their own first languages, and that for at least all the period of mandatory education. To this day 21 member states of the Council of Europe out of 49 have proceeded with ratification.[166]

The state-owned TRT has been broadcasting short programmes in a number of minority languages, including Bosnian, Arabic, Kabardian and Kurdish, since July 2003.[167] The legal basis were the Regulation on the Language of Radio and Television Broadcasts of December 2002[168] In the beginning TV programs were restricted to 45 minutes per day; radio programs had a limit of 60 minutes per day.[167] In June 2006 the restrictions were lifted for music and film programs in minority languages.[167]

In the 21st century some reforms have taken place to improve the cultural rights of ethnic minorities in Turkey, such as the establishment of TRT Kurdî, TRT Arabi and TRT Avaz by the TRT.

In the 1930s, Turkey became one of the first countries in the world to give full political rights to women, including the right to elect and be elected locally (in 1930) and nationwide (in 1934). Therefore, the Constitution was amended.[169]

Article 10 of the Turkish Constitution bans any discrimination, state or private, on the grounds of sex. Turkey elected a female prime minister, Tansu Çiller in 1995. It is also the first country which had a woman, Tülay Tuğcu, as the President of its Constitutional Court. In addition, Turkish Council of State, the supreme court for administrative cases, also has a woman judge Sumru Çörtoğlu as its president. However, representation of women in political and decision-making bodies is low. In the Grand National Assembly of Turkey the percentage of women is 9.1 (17.3 percent is the average in the world).[169] In 1975 the percentage was 10.9 and in 2006 it was 16.3.[170] Only 5.58 percent of mayors are women and in the whole of Turkey there is one governor (among 81) and 14 local governors.[169]

Since 1985, Turkish women have the right to freely exercise abortions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy and the right to contraceptive medicine paid for by the Social Security. Modifications to the Civil Code in 1926 gave the right to women to initiate and obtain a divorce; a right still not recognized in Malta,[171] an EU country.

Nevertheless, in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia regions, older attitudes prevail among the local Kurdish, Turkish and Arab populations, where women still face domestic violence, forced marriages, and so-called honor killings.[172] To combat this, the government and various other foundations are engaged in education campaigns in Southeastern Anatolia to improve the rate of literacy and education levels of women.[173]

In 2008, critics have pointed out that Turkey has become a major market for foreign women who are coaxed and forcibly brought to the country by international mafia to work as sex slaves, especially in big and touristic cities.[174][175][176]

A 2008 poll by the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey showed that almost half of urban Turkish women believe economic independence for women is unnecessary reflecting, in the view of psychologist Leyla Navaro, a heritage of patriarchy.[177]

Child labor is a minor yet still occurring issue in Turkey. Despite the Government's moderate advancement in eliminating child labor and its worst forms, children continue to engage in agricultural activities for the most part. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that 2.6% (corresponding to around 320,000 children) of children aged 5 to 14 work, and that 57% of them are found in the agricultural sector, 15% in the industrial sector and 27% in services.[178] Even though these children's work remains seasonal, the fact that child labor still occurs is partly due to the fact that agricultural enterprises with a very limited workforce are not subject to Government law. In December 2014, the Department's List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor reported 8 goods produced exclusively by child labor in Turkey. The majority of these products are agricultural goods including cotton, cumin, hazelnuts, peanuts, pulses and sugar beets.

In March 2021, a report published by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey claimed that more than 3,000 students have suffered from rights violations during protests and demonstrations in turkey between 2015 and 2019.[179]

Istanbul Gay Pride Parade, 2008, Istiklal Street, Beyoğlu, Istanbul

2013, Taksim, Istanbul

Homosexual sexual relationships between consenting adults in private are not a crime in Turkey. The age of consent for both heterosexual and homosexual sex is eighteen. On the other hand, the criminal code has vaguely worded prohibitions on "public exhibitionism" and "offenses against public morality" that are sometimes used to discriminate against the LGBT community. As of 2006, Turkey neither has a law permitting homosexuals to get married, nor does it have a law against the discrimination of Turkey's LGBT community. Lambda Istanbul, an LGBT organization founded in 1996, was dissolved in May 2008 following a court decision. The prosecution argued that its objectives went against "the law and morality", but Human Rights Watch has criticized the decision, claiming it had been closed only on procedural grounds.[180] On 28 November 2008, the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned an Istanbul court's decision ordering the closure of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender solidarity organization, Lambda Istanbul.[50]

Homosexuals have the right to exemption from military service, if they so request, only if their "condition" is verified by medical and psychological tests, which often involves presenting humiliating, graphic proof of homosexuality, and anal examination.[181]

Discrimination against LGBT people in Turkey is widespread.[182][183] According to a 2013 survey by the Pew Research Center, 78% of Turkish respondents believe that homosexuality is not accepted by society.[184]

The killing of Ebru Soykan, a prominent transgender human rights activist, on March 10, 2009, "shows a continuing climate of violence based on gender identity that authorities should urgently take steps to combat," Human Rights Watch said on 13 March 2009.[185] News reports and members of a Turkish human rights group said that an assailant stabbed and killed Ebru, 28, in her home in the center of Istanbul. Members of Lambda Istanbul, which works for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and transsexual (LGBTT) people, told Human Rights Watch that in the last month Ebru had asked the Prosecutor's Office for protection from the man who had beaten her on several occasions and threatened to kill her. Lambda Istanbul was told that a few weeks ago police detained the man but released him two hours later. The same man is under police custody as the murder suspect.[185]

On 21 May 2008 Human Rights Watch published a 123-page report documenting a long and continuing history of violence and abuse based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Turkey. Human Rights Watch conducted more than 70 interviews over a three-year period, documenting how gay men and transgender people face beatings, robberies, police harassment, and the threat of murder. The interviews also exposed the physical and psychological violence lesbian and bisexual women and girls confront within their families. Human Rights Watch found that, in most cases, the response by the authorities is inadequate if not nonexistent.[186]

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was signed by the Turkish Republic on 30 March 2007. The convention was discussed in TBMM (Turkish Grand National Assembly) on 8 May 2008 and it was ratified on 3 December 2008.[187] In July 2005 Law 5378 on Disabled People was enacted.[188]

In one particular case, an advocacy group for people with mental disabilities called Mental Disability Rights International criticized the treatment of the mentally ill in a report called "Behind Closed Doors: Human Rights Abuses in the Psychiatric Facilities, Orphanages and Rehabilitation Centers of Turkey".[189] As a result of this criticism, Turkey's largest psychiatric hospital, the Bakırköy Psychiatric Hospital in Istanbul, abolished the use of "unmodified" ECT procedures.[190]

Analysts pointed (in 2010) to racism and hate speech on the rise in Turkey, including against Armenians and against Jews. The report says "If one goes through the press in Turkey, one would easily find cases of racism and hate speech, particularly in response to the deplorable carnage and suffering in Gaza. These are the cases in which there is no longer a distinction between criticizing and condemning Israel's acts and placing Jews on the firing line."[191]

Mistreatment of religious minorities is a common problem in Turkey and is sometimes sanctioned by the state's leadership.[192] Christians for example live in fear of persecution and suffer from discriminatory laws that give non-Muslims disadvantages in comparison to the country's Muslim majority.[193][194]

Among the discriminated religious minorities in Turkey are the Alevis, whose "Muslimness" is still unconfirmed. As a result of national and government policy, their religious rights are also restricted and at many instances are a persecuted religious minority.[195]

During 2008 there has been an increase in "hate crimes" in Turkey originating from racism, nationalism and intolerance.[196] Despite provisions in the Constitution and the laws there have been no convictions for a hate crime so far, from either racism or discrimination.[196] Since the beginning of 2006 a number of killings were committed in Turkey against people of ethnic or religious minorities or different sexual orientation or social sexual identity. Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code provides for a general ban of publicly inciting people to hatred and disgust.[196]

Turkey does not appear to be the scene of large-scale or overt expressions of racism against individuals in the strictest sense of term. However, one of the main challenges facing Turkey in the field of European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) concerns would appear to be the need to reconcile the strong sense of national identity and the wish to preserve the unity and integrity of the State with the right of different minority groups within Turkey to express their own sense of ethnic identity, for example through the maintenance and development of linguistic and cultural aspects of that identity.[197]