PPJ- 15 December 2017
Sebnem Korur Fincanci, the head of Turkey Foundation of Human Rights (TIHV), stated that Nazi practices are being reinstated in Turkey by the government of Erdogan. She said “I see this era as an era of evident fascism” in an interview published by Firat News agency.
According to Fincanci, Turkey has been shifting to “a state of measures from the state of norms”. “In different times since the mid 1970s, there were oppression in different issues. There were unsolved murders which were actually conducted by the state. There were murders in torture and enforced dissapearances. Yet we could use different mechanisms to pursue our rights. This mechanism was the judiciary. Then this was the state of norms. That was important because we could pursue our rights. Today, we have a state mechanism that restricts our capacity to pursue rights. The state is totally built upon measures. That is why I say that the oppression is even heavier than the past now” she said.
Fincanci underlined that all of the norms that regulate our lives from the daily lives of individuals to enable the state mechanism to work have been destroyed.
She said that in 2017, 570 individuals have reported to them that they have faced torture. Mentioning overcrowded prisons she said ” in the letters we have received, detainees complain that 30 persons live in wards designed for 7-8 person. They sleep in turn, they are denied sufficient water…” . Also Fincanci stated that nearly 600 lawyers and 200 journalists are in prison.
