EKİM ZEYNEP YAĞMUR

İstanbul-The practices of the state of emergency have almost eliminated the already narrow public sphere of civil society. 1419 associations, 145 foundations 174 press outlets have been shut down since March 20, 2018, according to the data of the Human Rights Joint Platform (IHOP). More than 100,000 people were dismissed, stood trial, and trustees were appointed to municipalities in the place of elected mayors. As a result, the mobility of civil society comes to a stopping point. The civil society dynamics of Amed (Diyarbakır), one of the important centers of the Kurdish issue and the struggle for human rights, and other cities in the region devastatingly affected by the state of emergency declared after the attempted coup in Turkey. We talked to Gülseren Yoleri, a lawyer and chairperson of the Human Rights Association’s (İHD) İstanbul Branch, about that period.

How do you evaluate the practices carried out during the state of emergency still being carried out today?

The state of emergency was not extended for the eighth time and officially lifted on 18 July 2018. However, the changes in laws by emergency decrees issued under the state of emergency become permanent and the changes in Law No. 7145, which entered into force on July 31, allowed the state of emergency practices to be carried out for three years. The changes in laws allow people to be held under custody for 12 days, the governorates to ban protests, the government to declare curfews. The presidential election and the Constitutional amendment for the “presidential system” make the parliament ineffective. One person has all powers; the president has the power to issue decrees so the declaration of a state of emergency is not needed now. Before emergency decrees were issued but now presidential decrees are issued.

The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) has been taken under protection and taken out of control with the legal changes made between 2014 and 2017. The kidnapped people during that period say they were kidnapped by unidentified persons introducing themselves as intelligence agents. The violations of the right to life, liberty, and the security of people have increased. The possibility of enforced disappearances is thought. Saturday Mothers are banned to protest, women’s protests have been banned, and police attack workers carrying out protests to demand their rights, trustees have been appointed to municipalities in the place of elected mayors and the judgments of the ECHR have not been implemented; these practices have become the usual practices of this period.

“We are talking about a more despotic, dictatorship regime”

 Can we say that the state of emergency is ongoing in Turkey?

If we say “the state of emergency is ongoing”, it will not define the situation. The declaration of a state of emergency is a temporal process, it is an extraordinary period. However, the current situation is now permanent. It will go nowhere, it is institutionalizing day by day. In other words, serious and permanent changes have been realized in the regime step by step. Now, we are talking about a more despotic, dictatorship regime.

According to recent research conducted by the Rawest Research Center, the pressures on NGOs, the appointment of trustees to local governments cause the influence of the civil society sphere to decrease. Can we say that this research actually shows us that the space of civil society become narrow?

This despotic regime surely takes us away from human rights, democracy, and peace. The space of civil society has been gradually narrowed in order to prevent people from reacting against oppression imposed on them. The increase of racist approaches in society during this process cannot be explained by coincidences. Polarizing society causes the isolation and weakness of society. The ruling party tries to overcome political and economic crises by creating chaos in society. The activities of NGOs are criminalized. As I said before, this situation is not temporary. The ruling party has made the conditions of the state of emergency permanent. This despotic regime continues to institutionalize by issuing laws.