Ankara slams US human rights allegations against Turkey
Monitoring Desk
Sunday - March 5, 2017
ANKARA (Turkey): Turkish Foreign Ministry in a statement on Saturday refuted the allegations levelled in a routine report by United States (US) on allegedly ‘deteriorating’ human rights situation in Republic of Turkey.
Protection and promotion of human rights, the statement read, and freedoms and attaining the highest international standards are among the main targets of our country, as confirmed by the comprehensive reforms that have been achieved to date.
The US Department of State’s human rights report on Turkey is one of the routine documents being prepared annually for more than 190 countries to be submitted to the US Congress.
“The parts of the latest report regarding Turkey, as released on March 3, 2017, comprise unacceptable allegations, misrepresentations and interpretations that do not reflect reality,” Turkish statement deplored.
In this period, when we are faced with unprecedented threats of terrorism, the statement continued, posed against the survival of our nation and State, misrepresentation of our legitimate struggle against terrorist organisations, in particular FETO, PKK, DHKP-C and DAESH, in a way that do not reflect the realities have caused deep disappointment.
In this context, the statement added, it is denotative that the report makes no reference to the role of FETO elements in the July 15 coup attempt as well as the fact that FETO leadership resides in the US.
On the other hand, description of our fight against the PKK terrorist organisation as “internal conflict” is totally unacceptable, Turkish statement bemoaned.
“We also regret that the report falls short of acknowledging the necessity of measures to be taken in order to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of our citizens; as well as our unprecedented efforts, under such circumstances, towards a total of 3.2 million refugees, the vast majority of which is constituted by the Syrians,” Turkish statement said.
It is clear that this report, the statement said, which ignores information and opinions provided by our authorities within the understanding of constructive cooperation, fails to claim any basis in terms of objectivity.
“This kind of approach, which would only serve to harm the credibility of the report, will have significant consequences for the continuation of the cooperation which were extended by us in the process of preparation of earlier reports,” Turkish statement warned.
Our efforts to further strengthen fundamental rights and freedoms will continue unabated, while our fight against terrorism, which in itself is a violation of human rights, is carried out in determination.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------