We were informed with due concern that the co-chair of Turkey’s Human Rights Association (HRA) and a member of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey’s (HRFT) board of founders Öztürk Türkdoğan was detained with a police raid this morning.
Our esteemed co-chair Öztürk Türkdoğan has been president of the HRA since 2008, one of the most highly regarded human rights organizations in Turkey, founded in 1986.
Given that Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu targeted the HRA at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey’s plenary session, we can assume that Türkdoğan’s detention was executed on political grounds. Particularly after the launch of the Human Rights Action Plan two weeks ago, the arrest is unacceptable.
We would like to remind the Turkish government that Turkey is under international obligations to protect human rights defenders since Turkey became a party to the UN’s Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and other international treaties regarding human rights defenders.
This unlawful detention should be revoked and Öztürk Türkdoğan should be released immediately.
HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION OF TURKEY (HRFT) – HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION (HRA)