Turkey’s Somalian Children

Turkey is carrying out a big aid campaign, led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for Somali who are suffering in the grip of drought.

In an effort to position himself as the leader of Muslim countries in the Middle East region, Erdogan is trying to show the slamic World that he is not indifferent to the Muslim Somalis. He stands up to Israel in order to gain sympathy of Muslim countries.

However, he is ignores those of his own citizens who are trying to lead their lives under very difficult conditions in Turkey. Because of the economic crises that have been experienced in Turkey, bankrupt businessmen live under very difficult conditions, and they are sought by the courts and police because of their debts.

When these businessmen are caught by the police, they are put into prison for five years. They do not have a prominent address and they constantly change the place they live in order not to be caught. They are unable to receive treatment when they get ill, because in hospitals, the police check whether the person is sought or not by the courts. And if they have a job, they can in no way benefit from social rights, because they cannot register for social security.

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Obama discusses regional upheaval with Erdogan

US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have agreed that peoples' demands for legitimate and natural democratic rights should be recognized by their leaders, as political upheaval continues to rock the Middle East, from Egypt to Tunisia and from Lebanon to Yemen.

Obama initiated a telephone conversation with Erdoğan on Saturday night, the Turkish prime minister's press office said in a written statement released on Sunday.

President Barack Obama stated that he attaches importance to assessing new developments in the region with Prime Minister Erdoğan as the leader of Turkey, which has strong democratic customs in the region, and as a leader who came to power by gaining successful election results many times, the statement said, noting that the two leaders reached consensus that the legitimate and natural rights of the people of the region should be provided for and their calls for democracy should be heeded.

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ECHR: Turkish State Liable in Hrant Dink Murder

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said Tuesday it has ruled that the Turkish state failed to protect the life of Hrant Dink, a Armenian journalist who was murdered in early 2007.

In a statement released in Strasbourg, the court also said it found that the Turkish state had failed to protect Dink's freedom of expression prior to his murder.

Dink had initially filed a case with the ECHR himself, after he was convicted of "insulting Turkishness" for a column he wrote in Agos, the Armenian Turkish newspaper he edited.

After his murder, the journalist's family launched another case before the court, accusing Turkish authorities of taking insufficient measures to protect Dink's life.

The two cases were eventually merged. In its ruling, the court sentenced the Turkish state to pay 105,000 euros (135,000 dollars) to Dink's family in compensation and an extra 28,595 euros to the court for expenditures.

The outspoken Dink was shot three times in the head on the sidewalk in front of Agos in January 2007. His accused murderer, Ogun Samast, was 17 years old at the time of the shooting. Samast is currently on trial for the murder.

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Armenian, American lawyers sue Turkey

The suit alleges breach of statutory trust, unjust enrichment, human rights violations and violations of international law.

Armenian-American lawyers filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the Turkish government and two banks seeking compensation for the heirs of Armenians whose property was allegedly seized nearly a century ago as they were driven from the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

Lawyers were seeking class-action status for the suit, a process that attorney Brian Kabatek said could take as long as three years. “We are rolling up our sleeves and are going forward,”
he said.

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Human rights violations in Turkey

In an annual report released on Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the top judicial body to rule on human rights violations in Europe, found that Turkey is by far the worst violator of human rights among the 47 signatory states of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In statistical data on violation judgments by country for the period between 1959 and 2009, Turkey topped the chart with 18.81 percent of all violation judgments, followed by Italy with 16.57 percent and Russia 6.34 percent. Within this timeframe, 2,295 judgments were entered for Turkey and only in 46 cases did the court find no violations.

The most common human rights violation committed by Turkey was the denial of the right to a fair trial. Italy scored second with 2,021 judgments against it. In 2009 alone, Turkey again topped the list in terms of violations of articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. In a tally of the number of judgments entered for Turkey, 356 cases out of a total of 1,625 put the country in the worst violator class. In only nine cases out of the 356 did the court find there was no violation, while stating that at least one violation occurred in the rest of the cases. Russia followed Turkey in 2009 with 210 judgments against it.

Human rights , Turkey