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Presiding Officer must put human rights at top of agenda in Türkiye meeting

Scotland's Parliament must hold Türkiye to account for their atrocities.

The Scottish Greens have urged Parliament’s Presiding Officer to ensure that human rights are at the top of her agenda when she meets with the Consul General of Türkiye today.

The most recent Amnesty International human rights report on Turkey noted “baseless investigations, prosecutions and convictions of human rights defenders, journalists, opposition politicians and others persisted. Anti-terror and disinformation laws were used to curtail freedom of expression. Freedom of peaceful assembly was unlawfully restricted.”

Opposition MPs previously arrested include Leyla Birlik, a friend of Ross Greer. The Scottish Green MSP was her ‘sponsor’ during her arrest and led efforts in the UK to secure her release. Ms Birlik has since been granted asylum in Germany. Opposition leader Selahattin Demirtaş has been imprisoned since November 2016.

Türkiye is currently waging a war against the Kurdish minority in North East Syria using a combination of their own military and local proxy forces which include former ISIS and Al Qaeda fighters.

Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer said:

“The Turkish regime is currently attempting a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Kurds and other minority communities in North East Syria. Within their own borders jails are full of human rights defenders, journalists and opposition MPs. Even ordinary citizens who have tweeted criticism of President Erdogan or his policies have been locked up.

“Our Parliament is rightly united in condemning the horrific crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, yet Türkiye’s regime has carried out those same abuses against its own population and in neighbouring Syria.

“We wouldn’t roll out the red carpet for representatives of Putin’s Russia. We should not be doing so for the Erdogan regime, not least whilst it wages a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Syria.

“If this meeting must take place, the Consul General should be challenged and made to answer for these crimes.

“I hope that the Presiding Officer will take a stand and not allow Scotland’s Parliament to be used to whitewash or legitimise the Turkish regime and the atrocities it is inflicting.”