The Human Rights Association ( tr, İnsan Hakları Derneği, İHD) is an NGO for advancing

Human rights in Turkey Human rights in Turkey are protected by a variety of international law treaties, which take precedence over domestic legislation, according to Article 90 of the 1982 Constitution. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR ...

, founded in 1986 and headquartered in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Establishment

The İHD's origins can be traced to the victims of the purges in the aftermath of the military coup of 1980 and was founded on 17 July 1986. The 98 founding members comprised lawyers, journalists, intellectuals, but mainly relatives of

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although nu ...

s. The organization works on all kind of human rights, but is mainly focused on abuses in Turkey. After in 1992 the IHD came under scrutiny from the public for not holding the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK) accountable for their war crimes, the IHD acknowledged that in the southeast Turkey was raging a war.Kurban, Dilek (2020),p.190 In 1992, the statute was changed to cover humanitarian aspects as laid out in the

Geneva Conventions upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conv ...

. The IHD also criticized human rights violations of armed groups like the PKK which lead to criticism both by the PKK as the Turkish Government wanted the PKK to be mentioned as a terrorist organization and not a party in a conflict.

Structure and campaigns

Official figures of the İHD claim 10,000 members, in 29 branches in 81

provinces of Turkey Turkey is divided into 81 provinces ( tr, il). Each province is divided into a number of districts (). Each provincial government is seated in the central district (). For non- metropolitan municipality designated provinces, the central distr ...

.Portal for Civil Society
, Turkish, retrieved 26 August 2009 The 24 board members are elected for terms of two years on the association's general assembly. The headquarters in Ankara as well as many branches (in particular the branches in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

and Diyarbakir) are running commissions according to the need. The commission cover subjects such as the

Kurdish question Kurdish nationalism (, ) is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are a nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the Ottoman ...

, women, children, prisons and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...

. Some of the large number of campaigns of the İHD were:

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

(2001), general amnesty for prisoners (1999), abolition of the death penalty (abolished in 2002–2004), abolition of the state security courts (1997). In 2004 a project called "Don't remain silent against torture" (') was started. The İHD has also recognized the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

and has called for the Turkish government to end its denial.

Persecution

Since its foundation the İHD has been facing state intervention into its work, but also direct violence of individuals or nationalist groups. İHD website claims 400 court cases against executives of the association; the governors of some provinces ordered the closure of branches 30 times; the chairman of the branch in Diyarbakir that stayed close between 1997 and 2000, Osman Baydemir, had to face 60 investigative or penal cases against him in one year; in 2000 the branch in Izmir had the same number of cases initiated against it; because of speeches in 1995 and 1996 the then president of the İHD,

Akın Birdal Akın Birdal (born 2 January 1948, Niğde, Niğde Province, Turkey) is a Turkish human rights activist and politician. He was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the Democratic Society Party (DTP) (2007 to 2009) and the Peace ...

, was sentenced to 20 months' imprisonment, of which he served 14 months.Details can be found on the website of the Human Rights Agenda Association in a report calle
Defend Human Rights Defenders
with a direct link to download the report as a word-file; retrieved 26 August 2009 Its former president

Vedat Aydın Vedat Aydın (19537July 1991) was a Kurdish politician and human rights defender. He was married to Sükran Aydın. Early life and education He was born in 1953 in a village in Bismil, Diyarbakir. He graduated from the Literary department of ...

was prosecuted for having delivered a speech in Kurdish, which at the time was forbidden, at the Annual Meeting of the İHD in October 1990. Furthermore, the İHD lists 14 members who were killed. On 12 May 1998, Akın Birdal barely survived an assassination attempt, when two assailants fired 13 shots at him in the office of the association. On 25 November 1999 a group of 30 to 35 persons close to the

Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party (alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party; tr, Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) is a Turkish far-right and ultranationalist political party. The group is often described as neo-fascist, and has bee ...

(MHP) stormed into the office and beat the new President

Hüsnü Öndül Hüsnü ( ar, حسني) is a Turkish masculine given name. It is also used as a surname. People with the name include: Given name First name * Hüsnü Çakırgil (born 1965), Turkish basketball player * Hüsnü Doğan (born 1944), Turkish politici ...

. Repeatedly

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

issued urgent actions to draw attention and prevent threats against human rights activists of the İHD, e.g. for

Eren Keskin Eren Keskin (born April 24, 1959 in Bursa, Turkey) is a Kurdish lawyer and human rights activist in Turkey. She is the vice-president of the Turkish Human Rights Association (İHD) and a former president of its Istanbul branch. She co-founded th ...

, chairman of the branch in Istanbul. In July 2005 one of the founders,

Adalet Ağaoğlu Adalet Ağaoğlu (née Sümer; 23 October 1929 – 14 July 2020) was a Turkish novelist and playwright, considered one of the foremost novelists of 20th-century Turkish literature. She also wrote essays, memoirs, and short stories. Life She w ...

, left the association due to its connection with the

PKK The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of sout ...

which is classified as a terrorist organization in Turkey. She also accused the association of having a Kurdish

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

-nationalist attitude and further for not being able of criticizing the

.''Türkische Literatin meldet sich zurück''
die tageszeitung (taz) , 01.08.2005''İHD, PKK'cı artık istifa ediyorum''
,

Hürriyet ''Hürriyet'' (, ''Liberty'') is one of the major Turkish newspapers, founded in 1948. , it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 319,000. ''Hürriyet'' has a mainstream, liberal and conservative outlook. ''Hürriyet ...

, 30.07.2005

Publications

* Annual Reports 1990–2006 (Turkish) * Annual Reports 1990–1996 (English) * Annual Reports 1997–2003, 2005 (translated) * Annual Reports of the Treatment Centers (up to 2006 in Turkish) * Annual Reports of the Treatment Centers (up to 2005 in English)

Special Reports (Books)

* File on Torture – Deaths in Detention Places or Prisons 12 September 1980 – 1994 (Turkish-English), second edition up to 1985 * The Report on the Health Services and Health Personnel’s Problems in the Southeast (English) * Freedom of Expression and Migration (Turkish) * HRFT on Trial 1998 (Turkish) * Manuel on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment – ''Istanbul Protocol'' (Turkish-English) * Torture and Impunity 2005 (Turkish-English)

Awards

Following awards were delivered to the İHD: *1989 Prize for Those at the Top by the journal "Nokta" *1991 Prize for Those at the Top by the journal "Nokta" *1991

Bruno Kreisky Prize for Services to Human Rights The Bruno Kreisky Prize for Human Rights is a biennial award created in October 1976 on the occasion of the 65th birthday of Bruno Kreisky. The laureates are rewarded for their achievements in the field of human rights. The prize was divided in 199 ...

*1991 Orhan Apaydin Law and Human Rights Prize *1995 Partners Award by the Human Rights Law Group The İHD awards the ''Ayşe Zarakolu Freedom of Thought prize'' in honour of Ayşe Nur Zarakolu.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Society of Turkey Censorship in Turkey Human rights organizations based in Turkey Organizations established in 1986 1986 establishments in Turkey