Last week, Amnesty issued a second report on the 130,000 civil servants purged from their jobs since the attempted coup in July 2016. This report examined the ability of purged individuals to appeal their dismissal and return to their jobs. The State of Emergency Inquiry Commission was set up to consider these appeals in January 2017, but according to Amnesty’s research, the Commission rarely rules in favor of the purged individual. According to Amnesty, among other failings,
The Commission lacks genuine institutional independence, uses protracted review procedures, fails to provide applicants with the chance to effectively rebut allegations, and presents participation in everyday lawful activities, such as depositing money in a certain bank or enrolling a child in a certain school, as ‘evidence’ for upholding dismissals.
The statistics Amnesty has published are bleak.
Andrew Gardner, Turkey Strategy and Research Manager for Amnesty International, spoke to Ahval about the report. Listen to the podcast below.
Listen to “‘No light at the end of the tunnel’ – Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International” on Spreaker.
Human Rights in Turkey 