Turkey: 7 minutes ‘stand-still’ for 7 dead in protests

Today, at 12pm, ARTICLE 19 is holding a ‘standing man’ protest outside the Turkish Embassy in London. The silent protest is in memory of the seven people who died as a result of the recent Gezi Park demonstrations in Istanbul.

Today marks two months since the start of Gezi Park protests. The London protest will reproduce the original ‘standing man’ protest, and denounce recent police brutality and violations of the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and peaceful demonstration in Turkey.

The protest will be replicated in front of Turkish embassies and consulates worldwide, with the same action taking place in Brussels, Bucharest, Geneva, New York, Paris, and Toronto.

“It is important to show the Turkish authorities that the use of force against demonstrators, which lead to the death of 7 people, and other violations of human rights are not forgotten and that the international community is still watching. First and foremost, this protest is a sign of solidarity with the victims of police brutality and a show of support for the Turkish protest movement at large”, said Dr. Agnes Callamard, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19.

“This week, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case İzci v Turkey that the excessive use of force by law enforcement officials during demonstrations was a breach of European human rights standards and that this is a systemic problem in Turkey. The Turkish authorities need to take a different approach to public protest by implementing this ruling and meeting all their international obligations”, she stated.

At the London protest, ARTICLE 19 will be joined by Index on Censorship, Art 4 Democracy and English PEN.

Background

Turkey has been engulfed by nationwide protests since the heavy-handed police crackdown on protesters occupying Taksim Square’s Gezi Park in late May 2013. Despite the ongoing disproportionate use of force by police, as well as indiscriminate use of tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets, protests against the current government have continued through June and into July.

According to statistics from the Photography Foundation, 111 media workers in Turkey suffered from heavy handed reaction by police in a 40-day period covering 31 May to 8 July. This included injuries inflicted by the police, police custody and the forced deletion of photographs taken on digital cameras. Some of the more serious incidents recorded were a severe eye injury received by photographer Mehmet Kaçmaz by a rubber bullet, and a broken foot inflicted on Gençer Yurttaş by the close-range firing of a gas canister.

Istanbul Police Force recently launched a series of investigations into the Gezi Park protests, using footage from police cameras and closed circuit television to target “individuals caught engaging in provocative behaviour”. 55 people labelled as ‘orchestrators’ were taken into police custody on Tuesday 16 July after the Anti-Terror Unit of the Istanbul Police Force conducted co-ordinated, city-wide raids. They face heavy criminal charges for their involvement. During the raids police specifically searched for material with key words such as ‘resist’ and ‘strike’ in the titles.

Prior to the raids by the Anti-Terror Unit, police in Istanbul had already started arrests in small and sporadic batches. Most notably on 12 July, 12 members of Taksim Solidarity were charged with “founding a criminal organisation” under Article 220 of the Turkish Penal Code. If convicted, they face up to six years in prison.

Due to the failure by Turkish mainstream media in covering the protests Twitter and other social media have played a prominent part in the reporting and organisation of protests. This prompted Prime Minister Erdoğan to brand Twitter the “worst menace” to Turkish society and to accuse social media platforms of spreading lies. Other reports indicated that the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the Ministry of Justice are considering the introduction of legislation to curb ‘false and provocative on-line posts’.