31/01/2018 Monitoring
Ahead of the third hearing of Taner Kilic on 31 January 2018, the co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Turkey, Marianne Mikko (Estonia, SOC) and Nigel Evans (United Kingdom, EC), reiterated their call for the immediate and unconditional release of the Chair of Amnesty International Turkey who has been detained since June 2017. Taner Kilic, like any other individual, should feel safe and secure to express himself and assemble in Turkey.
”We urge once again the Turkish authorities to ensure that these fundamental freedoms are duly and effectively secured, and to put an end to the continuous arrests and detentions of those expressing dissenting and critical opinions, which cannot be as crimes,” they added.
”In this context, we are deeply concerned about today’s arrest of Turkish Medical Association Central Council members, including its chair, as well as hundreds of others for objecting the Turkish military intervention in Afrin. We call on the Turkish authorities to act and react in full respect of Council of Europe standards”.