Human Rights in Turkey Today

Hearing Notice

Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the human rights situation in Turkey. 

The U.S. State Department’s 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices noted in Turkey an alarming gravity and scale of human rights abuses. These included:

“arbitrary killings; suspicious deaths of persons in custody; forced disappearances; torture; arbitrary arrest and continued detention of tens of thousands of persons, including opposition politicians and former members of parliament, lawyers, journalists, human rights activists, and an employee of the U.S. Mission, for purported ties to “terrorist” groups or peaceful legitimate speech; political prisoners, including elected officials; transnational reprisal against individuals located outside the country, including kidnappings and transfers of alleged members of the Gulen movement without adequate fair trial guarantees or other legal protections; significant problems with judicial independence; support for Syrian opposition groups that perpetrated serious abuses in conflict, including the unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers; severe restrictions on freedom of expression and press freedom, including violence and threats of violence against journalists, closure of media outlets, and arrests or criminal prosecution of journalists and others for criticizing government policies or officials, censorship, site blocking, and criminal libel laws; serious restrictions on internet freedom; severe restriction of freedoms of peaceful assembly and association.”

Witnesses will discuss the government of Turkey’s human rights abuses, the U.S. response, and offer recommendations for Congress.

The hearing will be held in person and is open to Members of Congress, congressional staff, the interested public, and the media. The hearing will be livestreamed via the Commission website and will also be available for viewing on Channel ## of the House Digital Channel service. For any questions, please contact Mark Milosch (for Co-Chair Smith) or Kimberly Stanton (for Co-Chair McGovern).

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