Turkey launched over 1.7 million terror investigations in six years, says opposition deputy

Duvar English

Former the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy, now the opposition Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) deputy Mustafa Yeneroğlu evaluated the data on the trials for “membership of an armed terrorist organization” in Justice Ministry’s 'Justice Statistics 2021' report.

The number of investigations launched for the crime of “membership in a terrorist organization” was 191,964 in 2021 and a total of 1,768,530 between 2016 and 2021, the deputy said. 

Yeneroğlu said, "These statistics are the most obvious indication of how unlawful the vast majority of the trials were after the (failed) coup attempt of July 15.”

“The number of investigations in question has approached 2 million due to the trial of countless people who did not have any intention to commit a crime and did not have any action that could be considered a crime,” he added.

Following the failed coup attempt of July 2016, which is widely believed to have been undertaken by the Gülen network, which Ankara refers to by the acronym 'FETÖ,' the Turkish government declared a state of emergency.

After prolonging the state of emergency seven times, Ankara ended the measure on July 18, 2018.

However, despite the formal end of the state of emergency, the government kept many emergency powers in place with a new, tougher anti-terror law.

Since the coup attempt, more than 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others have been sacked or suspended on terror charges.

Yeneroğlu stated Turkey’s Constitutional Court (AYM) and the Court of Cassation are unable to prevent the "unlawfulness."

“So, judicial authorities continue to carry out unlawful practices. The decisions of the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) in recent years also show how unlawful the trials in our country are. A state of law can't handle this insanity, which is persistently perpetuating the lives of millions of people,” he added.