Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which are drafted every year by the US Department of State for more than 190 countries were published on 30 March 2021. “Turkey 2020 Human Rights Report” which is prepared in this context is yet again far from being objective and contains unfounded allegations and biased interpretations based on ambiguous sources.

This year’s report again refers as the “Gülen movement” to Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), which is the perpetrator of the 15 July heinous coup attempt, threatened our democracy and martyred hundreds of our citizens. This demonstrates that the U.S. still fails to understand our rightful fight against this terrorist organization, disregards the concrete evidence we have provided about this terrorist organization and is being instrumentalized once again by certain circles while drafting the report.

Allegations regarding our counter-terrorism operations in Syria are unacceptable. There can be no explanation for repeating such allegations, despite the fact that they were previously rejected by Turkish authorities on various occasions. On the other hand, it is worth noting that while various violations of PKK/YPG are mentioned in the report, its terrorist attacks against Syrians as well as separatist actions aimed at undermining the territorial integrity of Syria are disregarded.

It is also unacceptable that the report contains allegations which ignore the fact that PKK is a terrorist organization and amount to extending support to the claims of terror affiliated circles.

Our country’s resolve to promote and protect human rights remains firm. Two years after the publication of the Judicial Reform Strategy, the recently announced Human Rights Action Plan is a concrete example of this resolve. On the basis of democracy and the rule of law, Turkey will continue its efforts to promote and protect the rights of its citizens as well as those of millions of persons it is hosting.