The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs characterizes what is mentioned in the State Department’s catapult report on the violation of human rights in Turkey as untrue and unfounded.

Specifically, the report mentions the imprisonment of Erdogan’s opponents and cruel torture.

In particular, it is reported that since the 2016 coup attempt, the authorities have fired or suspended tens of thousands of civil servants and state employees, including more than 60,000 police and military officers and more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors.

They arrested or imprisoned more than 95,000 citizens and closed more than 1,500 non-governmental organizations on terrorism-related grounds, mainly for alleged links to the movement of cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the government accused of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt and called as the leader of the “Fethullah Terrorist Organization”.

Ankara’s response

According to what the SKAI correspondent broadcasts from Istanbul, Manolis Kostidisfor its part, the Turkish ministry characterizes the report’s data as untrue and baseless and speaks of the Turkish authorities’ fight against terrorism.

At the same time, he attacks Washington, denouncing it for cooperation with Kurdish organizations in Syria.

The announcement of the Turkish Foreign Ministry states:

“In the US State Department’s 2022 Human Rights Report, as in previous years, there are false facts about our country, baseless claims and biased comments. We condemn and reject them completely.

For the security of our country and our region, our fight against terrorist organizations, especially PKK/PYD/YPG, FETÖ, DEAŞ and DHKP-C, continues resolutely within the framework of international law and respect for human rights. When this happens. we do not accept that this fair struggle of ours is distorted and portrayed in the report.

We regret that the report includes only a part of the terrorist attacks carried out by the PKK in our country in 2022 and the human rights violations committed by the organization on an incomparable scale. While the human rights violations committed by the so-called “Syrian Democratic Forces” in Syria are included in the Syria section of the report, it is funny that it does not mention that this structure is under the control of the PKK/PYD/YPG terrorist organization.

We draw the public’s attention that this report has been prepared by a country that turns a blind eye to the activities of the PKK/PYD/YPG and FETO terrorist organizations, and even establishes a “collaboration”, and we question its legitimacy and credibility.

We emphasize once again that this report, which is clearly politically motivated and completely lacking in objectivity, cannot be taken seriously and we call on the United States to focus on its own human rights record.”