- Title: Amnesty International says critics not safe in Turkey
- Date: 18th July 2017
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JULY 18, 2017) (REUTERS) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL STAFF HOLDING BANNERS BANNER READING (English): "FREE IDIL ESER" PAN OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL STAFF BANNER READING (English): "TURKEY: STOP THE CRACKDOWN" VARIOUS OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR OF EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA, JOHN DALHUISEN, AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR OF EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA, JOHN DALHUISEN, SAYING: "In the early hours of this morning, six representatives of some of Turkey's most prominent human rights organisations including as you know, our director Idil Eser, were remanded in custody under the most spurious terrorism charges." JOURNALISTS IN NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR OF EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA, JOHN DALHUISEN, SAYING: "The reality is no government critic, no human rights organisation can consider itself safe in the Turkey of today. What happened last night was a seismic shift in how the Turkish human rights community needs to be thinking about itself, will be thinking about how it can operate in Turkey today, unless there are people internationally who are prepared to stand up for it, even in Turkey who are prepared to stand up for it, in a year or two years’ time it will cease to exist." VARIOUS OF DALHUISEN SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR OF EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA, JOHN DALHUISEN, SAYING: "This is beyond an attack on manifestly innocent individuals. This is an attack on the core of Turkish civil society. This shows that what is at issue here is an attack on government critics on dissenting voices. Anyone indeed, that the government is able and feels the need to represent as enemies of the Turkish people." DALHUISEN SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR OF EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA, JOHN DALHUISEN, SAYING: "Let's be under no mistake, there is no room in the Turkey of today, for an independent critical civil society, independent critical reporting. This is to be removed from Erdogan's Turkey. Turkey is on a one way track to a very dark and dangerous place right now." VARIOUS OF DALHUISEN SPEAKING JOURNALISTS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR OF EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA, JOHN DALHUISEN, SAYING: "There needs to be a recognition, a vocal call for the release of demonstrably innocent human rights defenders. There needs to be a step change in the way in which Turkey's international partners talk about what's happening in Turkey." VARIOUS OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL STAFF HOLDING BANNERS
- Embargoed: 1st August 2017 16:41
- Keywords: Amnesty International Turkey Idil Eser director detained John Dalhuisen crackdown Turkish Tayyip President Erdogan
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / UNKNOWN LOCATION
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / UNKNOWN LOCATION
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0016Q8W6DJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Amnesty International said on Tuesday (July 18) that critics of the government in Turkey are no longer safe, after its local director and five other activists were remanded in custody on accusations of belonging to a terrorist organisation.
Idil Eser, local director of the London-based organisation, was one of a group of activists including a German and a Swedish national detained on July 5 while attending a workshop on digital security and information management near Istanbul.
Turkey's state prosecutor had asked the court on Monday (July 17) to extend the detention of the activists pending trial on suspicion of links to the network of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for last year's attempted coup. The court ordered four of the 10 released, the Hurriyet newspaper said.
Amnesty International Director of Europe and Central Asia, John Dalhuisen, called for the international community to aid those detained in a government crackdown and said that under President Erdogan, Turkey is "on a one way track to a very dark and dangerous place right now."
Some 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the civil service, military and private sector and roughly 50,000 people have been detained since the coup. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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