Human Rights Watch concerned about situation in Turkey

Turkey should reverse the negative movement of its human rights profile and raise its voice for more democracy in its foreign policy, senior officials of Human Rights Watch (HRW) have said.

“We have very serious concerns about human rights in Turkey and the direction it is going in this country. It is not a good direction,” Carroll Bogert, deputy executive director for external relations of the HRW, the board of which met in Istanbul for the first time, said in an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News on February 4.

Bogert said the HRW wants to focus on Turkey because of increasing human rights violations in the country and to increase the profile of Turkey in their work. They want to engage in the Africa initiative Turkey launched in 2005, she added.

“We want to engage Ankara regarding Turkey’s foreign policy on issues like Syria and the Somalia humanitarian crisis. You know Turkey is opening embassies all over Africa. First of all we have information; we are researchers. We are in the field in parts of Africa where Turkey is just arriving. It will be interesting and useful for Turkey to be engaged with us,” she said, adding that their board members had met officials from the Turkish justice and foreign ministries and also the prime minister’s office.