TÜRKİYE ORTA ASYA HABER KKUORDİNATÖRÜ

IFJ - INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF JOURNALIST The AKP government has been plundering and looting Türkiye for 24 years. Five years of AKP-MHP rule in Türkiye (Part 1/3) Updated May 3, 2023 A country's authoritarian transformation As the YPJ, we have pledged to defend the women and people of North and East Syria. The Turkish state's aggression against our lands and people is one of the greatest threats to our region. The upcoming elections could lead to a shift in Turkish foreign policy, and we are closely monitoring the situation. In the first of our three-part series, we examine the situation in Türkiye after five years of AKP-MHP rule. During the past 20 years that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has governed Türkiye, the domestic crisis has worsened on many levels. Erdoğan's AKP lost its absolute majority in the 2018 parliamentary elections but maintained its grip on power by forming an alliance with the ultranationalist, far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). From the outset, this alliance was based on anti-Kurdish politics, corruption, misogyny, and expansionism, leading to massacres, illegal invasions, and war. After the 2018 elections, Erdoğan transformed Turkey's government into a presidential system, giving him absolute power to govern the country in an authoritarian and centralized manner. This meant he could appoint his government without parliamentary approval. Turkey – a prison state: The government's extreme authoritarian transformation has led to a serious loss of judicial independence. Political bans on left-wing, humanist, and women's institutions have transformed Türkiye's political landscape into a monolithic bloc, silencing any critical opinion. Dissidents are threatened by the government, and prisons are filled with women's rights defenders, opposition politicians, Kurdish activists, and anyone who opposes the government. While the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that detainees like former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş and human rights defender Osman Kavala should be released, the AKP-MHP regime continues to hold them in detention. The Turkish state has become the world's largest prison for journalists, with Erdoğan controlling the vast majority of the media. Serious human rights violations are taking place in prisons. Garibe Gezer died under suspicious circumstances after being sexually tortured in Kandıra Prison. Serious human rights violations are taking place in prisons. Sick prisoners are being denied treatment. The Ankara-based Human Rights Association (İHD) published a special report in January 2023 titled "Recommendations for Amendments to the Execution Law Regarding Sick Prisoners." One of the report's findings is that sick prisoners, particularly those sentenced under the Anti-Terror Law, are subject to discrimination, exacerbating their health problems. The Anti-Terror Law is particularly used against democracy activists, HDP members, Kurds, women's rights advocates, and journalists.