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 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices noted in Turkey an alarming gravity and scale of human rights abuses. These included: 

enforced disappearance; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government or on behalf of the government; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; political prisoners or detainees; transnational repression against individuals in another country; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence and threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecution of journalists, censorship, or enforcement or of threat to enforce criminal libel laws to limit expression; serious restrictions on internet freedom; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association…. crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting members of national/racial/ethnic groups… 

In its 2025 Annual Report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that the U.S. State Department “include Turkey on the Special Watch List for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom”. The U.S. State Department, in its International Religious Freedom Report for 2023, specifies religious freedom violations or concerns involving non-Muslim religious minorities, including Alevis, Protestant Christians, and Greek Orthodox Christians. 

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 58 of the House Digital Channel service. For any questions, please contact Mark Milosch (for Co-Chair Smith) or Todd Stein (for Co-Chair McGovern).

Hosted by: