International

A few weeks ago I devoted my weeklog to the violent actions taken by the Turkish authorities towards the demonstrations against the Erdogan government. Many people have since emailed me over the matter, all of them emphasising how important it is, both materially and politically, for the EU to offer real support to the Turkish human rights movement. I promised them that I would look into what the possibilities were, and have since discovered that the EU delegation in Turkey both has the financial means and is prepared to deploy them in support of these defenders of human rights. Time to make effective use of them, because the situation in Turkey is onl;y growing more forbidding.

More than thirty EU-financed projects relating to human rights. The European Commission admits that many of these projects are suffering delays as a result of the deteriorating security situation. The EU delegation in Turkey follows all of the organisations closely with which these projects have links. Should a human rights defender meet difficulties, they offer help of a concrete nature: diplomats offer places of refuge, or security measures are put in place around the homes of those under threat. Should the activist find him- or herself under arrest, if it comes to trial the EU delegation will pay legal costs and help the families of those arrested.

So far this is good news, but it astonished me to hear that the EU delegation has not received a single request for support since the protests in Taksim Square. Possibly this is due to the fact that so few know about the EU delegation, which is why I’m giving out the email address and website where you can find more information: Delegation-turkey-hr-defenders@eeas.europa.eu and http://www.avrupa.info.tr/eu-and-human-rights.html

The situation in Turkey has definitely not improved during the last few weeks. Journalists are being arrested in droves, there have been raids on the offices of the few remaining independent media organisations, and a culture prevails of growing repression against activists. In such a situation we must combine our forces. So I hope in the coming weeks the EU delegation will receive requests for support, including from those people who have contacted me by email. Of course I will also be answering each of these directly.