Turkey is known to have a history of religious repression and mass massacres in the name of Islamization with the Armenian genocide that took place more than 100 years ago in 1915 being one of the most brutal examples.
Unfortunately, after more than a hundred years of Turkey’s supposed secular foundations, the institutionalised religious intolerance and racism has continued to persist and has even accelerated in recent times.
Even today, a child’s freedom of religion, the right to participate, and the right of parents to raise their children according to their own philosophical or religious views are subject to systematic interference within the education system in Turkey.
Those who criticize religion or belief in general, especially Islam, or certain interpretations of that religion or belief, are at risk of being prosecuted under the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).
Furthermore, the non-Muslim foundations in Turkey cannot elect their board of directors even today. Elections for the board of directors of these foundations have been prevented since 2013. As a result, the functioning of community foundations and the communities that benefit from them are paralyzed and weakened.
Additionally, deep flaws in the judicial system were not addressed. Opposition politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and others faced baseless investigations, prosecutions and convictions. Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention. Government officials targeted LGBTI people with homophobic rhetoric. Freedom of peaceful assembly was severely curtailed. Serious and credible allegations of torture and other ill-treatment were made. Turkey hosted 5.2 million migrants and refugees, but thousands of asylum seekers were denied entry. Physical attacks against refugees and migrants increased in the context of rising anti-refugee rhetoric.
There’s a dire need to protest globally to break the chain of Turkish atrocities.
Peace!