The police forces in Turkey’s Kurdish region resemble occupying armies. Government-appointed mayors, police brutality and armies of imams have altered society’s fabric. Allegations against Special Forces of rape and sexual harassment are ignored. If such accusations are publicised, officials will dismiss it as affairs between soldiers and girls who want to marry them. A former mayor commented, ‘It is better that they are involved in prostitution than protesting the government.’ A young Kurd who photographed a policeman killing an innocent Kurd in 2017 now faces twenty years in prison, while the policeman goes unpunished. Also recently hundreds of army officers, pilots and civilians were jailed for life for taking part in the 2016 attempted coup to overthrow President Erdoğan. The acquittal of the police officer and the hundreds jailed comes when Erdogan is trying to attract foreign investors. Even the simplest reforms would demand drastically altering the way Turkey polices, prosecutes, judges, and imprisons its residents. See
Turkey: Kurdish region injustice continues
Written by David Fletcher 03 Dec 2020Additional Info
- Pray: for young Kurds to be allowed to connect with their identity and not be marginalised. Pray also for the end of the dangerous emergency law that has remained since the 2016 coup (Proverbs 31:8-9)
- More: www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/11/turkey-murder-of-kurdish-musician-went-unpunished-kurkut.html