DATE: 30 August 2021

PLACE: Opposite of Number 10, Downing Street

COMMITTEE: Justice Corner

From China to Turkey, from Russia to Saudi Arabia illiberal countries are known to have engaged in enforced disappearances of opposition voices. Starting with the thwarted Coup attempt of 2016, Turkish government authorized its intelligence agency to engage in cross-border abduction operations and the officers of the Turkish National Intelligence Agency were protected with legal impunity.

On the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances (30 August) we were opposite Number 10, Downing Street, calling our government to be more proactive in preventing such practices and securing that the perpetrators of such violations of human rights be brought in front of justice.

Here is the speech HRS spokesperson delivered during the day of the protest:

Tool of Terror?

Dear Friends,

We are gathered today to observe the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

This day was promulgated by the United Nations, as an international observance in December 2010. The aim was to draw attention to the fate of individuals imprisoned at places unknown to their relatives. A decade later, we are here today, to raise our voices, and to remind our governments that nothing has changed…

Ten years of work has given no meaningful result.

Dear Friends,

In October 2020 the daily number of enforced disappearances surpassed 1,000 people worldwide. A majority of these people went missing during attempts of migration from a zone of conflict.

The Missing Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration has counted more than 35,000 migrants who lost their lives or went missing since 2014.

Only a little proportion of abductions are reported. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project reported in the 18 months before August 2020, more than 3,200 abductions and forced disappearances worldwide. More than half of these abductions took place in only four countries: China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico and Syria.

In later years, European countries were involved in abductions of opposition figures. Turkish intelligence agents found cooperating partners in Moldovo and Kosovo in kidnapping of their nationals.

Despite all revelations on disappearing Uyghurs at the Chinese concentration camps, our governments continue on favoring China as a trade partner.

We have seen how Western governments are contracting the task of their border protection against waves of immigration to dictators.

Our governments are at best silent on the face of these enforced disappearances.

The missing Uyghurs in China, families demanding information about their missing family members in Islamabad, funerals held after 3 decades in Afghanistan, and international abductions regime that turned Turkey into a pirate state…

All call for action!

And there is no action at the side of our governments.

Let us raise our voice for the victims of enforced disappearances all around the world.

Let us demand justice for them.

We demand our government to sign and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of all persons from Enforced Disappearance.

We demand our government to enhance the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime to include the perpetrators of enforced disappearances.

We demand our government to prioritize a complete stop to state run abduction campaigns as a precondition of friendly relations.

Let there be no more kidnappings!

Let there be no more enforced disappearances! No more abductions by state agents!

DATE: 21 March 2021 &

COMMITTEE: Independent project

PROTEST SPEECH:

Dear Friends!

I welcome you all in the name of Human Rights Solidarity.

Today we are in solidarity with victims of enforced disappearances all over the world.

Today we are here for people who are missing, or are kidnapped.

The Erdogan Regime became the prime perpetrator of enforced disappearances in the world.

We are here today for Yusuf Bilge Tunç who is missing for 673 days!

Where is Yusuf Bilge Tunc?

We are here today for Hüseyin Galip Küçüközyiğit who is missing for 164 days!

We join his daughter to shout: Where is Nursena’s father?

Where is Huseyin Galip?

We are here today for people kidnapped from outside Turkey and are being tortured or tormented in Turkey’s notorious prisons.

We are here today for Selahaddin Gulen.

Selahaddin was kidnapped from Nairobi, Kenya, where he was working as a teacher.

He was forcefully separated from his wife, from his family, from his students.

It is already a month he was brought into Turkey.

We are hearing horrible stories of beating, and torturing.

He was forced to sign witness statements he didn’t write.

We are here today for Orhan Inandi.

Orhan was the general director of Sapat Schools in Kyrgyzstan.

Orhan Inandi has been working in Kyrgyzstan since 1995. He is a citizen of Kyrgyzstan. He dedicated his life to education. He has nothing to do with politics.

Orhan Inandi is recipient of several state awards for his contribution to the reform and development of the Kyrgyz education system.

He has been missing for the last 10 days.

We are afraid that he will meet the same fate with Selehaddin.

We are afraid that he will be flied into Turkey… where he will be tortured…

For the time being, we still have hopes that he is in Kyrgyzstan.

And we are here to call to the Turkish and Kyrgyz authorities alike: Let Orhan Free!

Set him free!

Set him free!

Dear Friends!

Turkey has always been infamous for enforced disappearances.

About 17 thousand Kurds have gone missing during the 40 years long unrest in the South East of Turkey.

You would know the Saturday Mothers, who have been asking for the last 20 years: Where is my son? Where is my daughter?

Some of the Saturday Mothers died while still searching for their children.

We know that!

But something crucial happened since the coup attempt of 2016.

Now the Turkish intelligence agency is proudly declaring that it is kidnapping people.

Turkish embassies are publicly involved in kidnapping operations.

In Kosovo, the six Turkish teachers kidnapped were first brought to the Turkish embassy and the embassy distributed their photographs later on.

The same happened in Moldovo.

And now, we are hearing claims that Orhan Inandi is being kept as captive at the Turkish embassy in Bishkek.

This is in complete defiance of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

This means Turkey is using diplomatic immunity for criminal activity.

This is unacceptable!

This is unacceptable for the victims!

This is unacceptable for the whole world!

This is why we are here today.

We call Turkey to stop silencing the critics of the regime in Ankara.

We call Turkey to stop using its diplomatic missions for criminal activity.

We call Turkey to release Orhan Inandi now! And release all information they have about Orhan and other missing persons immediately!

Dear Friends!

We are here today not because we hate Turkey, or because we want to harm the interests of Turkey.

No!

We are here today because we think the mindset that is ruling over Turkey today is a mafia mindset.

This mindset does not recognize rule of law. This mindset does not honour the conventions Turkey has ratified.

This mindset is dangerous for Turkey and for its people.

The current regime in Turkey has been involved in human piracy.

The current regime in Turkey has been working with mafia, from Venezuela to Colombia.

The current regime in Turkey has been working with paid mercenaries, from Syria to Libya.

By was of protesting here, we do no harm to Turkey’s future.

The real harm, the real danger for Turkey’s future is this untranationalist – mafia coalition that is ruling over Turkey.

Dear Friends,

The President of Kyrgyzstan is in Turkey today.

Yesterday he was hosted by the President of Turkey.

Using this opportunity I want to say a few words to the Kyrgyz statesmen:

We know that you are under immense pressure from Turkey.

We know that Ankara is blackmailing you with all kinds of threats about economic sanctions and cancellation of all deals between the two countries.

We are sure, you are also thinking: Is it worth destroying a working international relationship for the sake of one person? Is it worth doing this just for a few schools?

We are sure, because this is how interest based politics works.

We don’t want Kyrgyzstan to freeze relations with Turkey. We are proud of the friendly relations between the two countries and the peoples of the two countries.

But rest assured!

This mindset ruling over Turkey is a temporary one.

In fact, it became even more aggressive recently, because it also knows that it is already disintegrating.

Don’t invest in temporary realities!

Invest in the future of Turkey.

Invest in the future of Kyrgyzstan.

Invest in education as Orhan Inandi invested his whole life.

Invest in rule of law. Invest in human rights.

Dear Friends,

I want to say a few words to the so-called human rights organizations of the world.

From the moment we realized Orhan has gone missing, we contacted international human rights organizations… begging them to start an emergency appeal… to call for immediate action…

Here is what we understand from what they say to us: They are afraid that if they stood with us, their representatives in Turkey will be harmed.

This is how dictatorships sustain their policies of persecution.

Human rights advocates are great people, precisely because they take the risk of being harmed, for the rights of the others.

Is it too risky to stand with the victim?

With whom else you can stand, if you are a human rights defender?

We would love to be participating in a protest organized by either one of these human rights organizations. But none is here!

That is a shameful failure on their behalf…

Human Rights Watch and Freedom House have publicised yesterday about their concerns for Orhan Inandi’s fate.

We thank for their efforts also. But more could have been done, at an earlier stage.

Dear Friends,

I thank you all for the time, and energy you spared for the victims of enforced disappearances. Thank you…