ON THE INCREASE: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TURKEY'S NEW OHAL ZONES

"In November 2002, Turkey’s National Security Council – which groups Turkey’s top generals and government leaders – has agreed to lift the State of Emergency Rules (OHAL Act number 2935) in the last two remaining provinces of Diyarbakir and Sirnak – both provinces in the south-east of the country – after nearly 15 years of emergency rule and martial law. The lifting of the State of emergency rule was among the steps the EU asked the Turkish government to take as a condition for accession talks."
~ International Federation for Human Rights, 2003.

Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) has found that human rights violations have been on the rise in the last two years in those regions of Turkish-occupied Kurdistan that have been designated as new OHAL zones.

That's no surprise. The new OHAL was announced at the same time that a bogus invasion was announced. Later, Erdoğan the Liar tried to tell us there was no new OHAL. But some of us knew that everything would intensify black operations in the new OHAL regions. Then there was the assassination attempt against Beytüşşebap's mayor, aerial bombing in Şirnex, and a resurrection of the contra-guerrillas. The new OHAL enabled the state to interfere with free elections and to murder a Kurdish infant.

The new OHAL was extended once, the number of new OHAL regions was increased, and the new OHAL was extended a second time.

Now, here's what KHRP says:

A KHRP Fact-Finding Mission sent to investigate the impact of the declaration of ‘High Security Zones’ in the Kurdish regions of Turkey returned yesterday. Mission members Sara Capogna and Nazmi Gür visited Tunceli, Bingöl, Diyarbakir, Cizre and Şirnak, meeting with human rights lawyers, government and political party officials, and trade union and NGO representatives.

The mission observed that the most commonly violated rights were related to the freedoms of expression, thought and association. Worryingly, the mission also noted that there was a general consensus that the situation in these regions had deteriorated over the last two years, although it has not reached the same levels of oppression and human rights violations of the 1990s.

‘After several reports of unlawful detention; disproportionate use of force by authorities at peaceful demonstrations against military activity in the region; and complaints from rural dwellers about access to their lands and livestock, the KHRP sent a mission to determine the human rights impact on the day-to-day life of the average person living in the Kurdish regions. Unfortunately, the delegation has returned reporting a series of violations that are entirely incompatible with international human rights norms.'

A full report of the mission's findings and recommendations will be available in the coming weeks.

I, for one, can't wait to read the full report.