Rt. Hon. Dominic Raab MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
Whitehall
London SW1A 2AH
Copy to
Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Ref. PETITION FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS IN TURKEY
Turkey’s Constitutional Court must rule against the discriminatory and potentially lethal amnesty law.
On 14 April the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) passed a discriminatory law that violates the Turkish Constitution. This law offers amnesty, early release or temporary release, for 90,000 prisoners but excludes those prisoners convicted of terrorism-related charges. Those convicted of manslaughter, human trafficking, robbery and extortion, gang violence and corruption are eligible for release but those convicted for exercising freedom of expression, peaceful protest and criticism of the government are to be excluded.
The law was passed in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and overcrowded prisons in Turkey. The prison population has risen by 80,000 in four years with approximately 80,000 people convicted of terrorism-related crimes. Among those convicted are elected MPs, mayors, academics, civil servants, trade unionists, human rights campaigners, musicians and artists, and journalists. As one journalist remarked, ‘If I had a knife in my hand instead of a pen, I would be released.’ Turkey now has the world’s seventh highest incidence of Covid-19 infections. People have died from Covid-19 in Turkey’s prisons. The government is concealing the true number of cases.
The main parliamentary opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has said it will appeal to the Constitutional Court to repeal or amend the amnesty act as it violates the principle of equality of all before the law. The Turkish government interferes with the country’s judiciary, even sacking and replacing judges.
We ask you to urge the Turkish Justice Ministry to demand that the Turkey’s Constitutional Court rules against the discriminatory and potentially lethal amnesty law.
Supported by
Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
Baroness Christine Blower of Starch Green, former GS NUT
Maxine Peake, Actor
Mike Mansfield QC
Gareth Peirce, BirnbergPeirce Solicitors
Geoffrey Bindman, Solicitor
Prof Bill Bowring, Birkbeck, University of London
Gianni Tognoni, Secretary General, Permanent Peoples Tribunal
Geoff Shears, the President of Union Solidarity International and Treasurer of the Institute of Employment Rights
Paul Heron, Solicitor, Public Interest Law Centre
Stephen Knight, Secretary Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Paul Scholey, Morrish Solicitors
Chris Jones, researcher and journalist, Statewatch (signing in an
individual capacity)
Dr Thomas Phillips, Senior Lecturer in Law, Liverpool John Moores University
Dr Radha D’Souza, Westminster University
Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Lecturer of Political Sociology, University of Cambridge
Dr Johanna Riha, epidemiologist
Mick Whelan, ASLEF General Secretary
Doug Jewell, General Secretary GFTU
Manuel Cortes, General Secretary TSSA
Stephen Smellie, Deputy Convenor UNISON Scotland
Margaret Gallacher, Chair, UNISON South Lanarkshire
Tara McCarthy, International Officer, UNISON City of Edinburgh
Margaret Owen O.B.E. Barrister and Widows for Peace through Democracy
Melanie Gingell, barrister
Julie Ward, former MEP
Lord Hylton
Lord Rea
Lord Dholakia
Kariane Westrheim, Chair, EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC)
Prof Dr. Michael Gunter, Secretary-General, EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC)
Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Cymru
Stan Newens, President Socialist History Society and Liberation
James Kelman, writer
Bruce Kent
Lindsey German, Convenor Stop the War Coalition
Maggie Bowden, General Secretary “Liberation”
Andrew Burgin, Protect the People
Trevor Rayne, FRFI
Dr Sarah Glynn, Co-Convenor Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan
Rocky Rodriguez Jr, Director/ Writer
David Morgan, journalist
Jonathan Steele, journalist
John Lubbock, journalist
Raghu Jayantiya, social activist
Sarah Parker, human rights campaigner
Annette Lawson, human rights campaigner
Nick Hildyard, policy analyst
Emily Apple, Investigations Editor, The Canary
Eliza Egret, journalist
Shoal Collective
Felix Padel, archeologist
Margaret Healy, retired community organiser
Jonathan Bloch, writer
Saleh Mamon, Campaign Against Criminaising Communitiess (CAMPACC)
Dr. Brendan Burchell, Reader in Sociology, Cambridge.
Dr. Mónica G Moreno Figueroa, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Cambridge
Arsalan Ghani, Engineering Department, University of Cambridge
Dr Les Levidow, Senior Research Fellow Open University
Penelope Dimand, writer and actress
Estella Schmid, Peace in Kurdistan
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
44 Ainger Road, London NW3 3AT
Email: estella24@tiscali.co.uk
www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Gingell – Tel: 020 7272 7890
Fax: 020 7263 0596
Patrons: John Austin, Baroness Blower of Starch Green, former GS NUT, Prof Bill Bowring, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Prof Mary Davis, Lord Dholakia, Simon Dubbins, UNITE International Director, Jill Evans, former MEP, Desmond Fernandes, Lindsey German, Convenor STWC, Melanie Gingell, Christopher Gingell, Prof Dr. Michael Gunter, General Secretary, EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC), Rahila Gupta, Nick Hildyard, Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Cymru, James Kelman, Bruce Kent, Jean Lambert, former MEP, Elfyn Llwyd, Aonghas MacNeacail, Scottish Gaelic poet, Mike Mansfield QC, David Morgan, Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, GFTU, Dr. Jessica Ayesha Northey, Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy, Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Kate Osamor MP, Margaret Owen OBE, Ali Gul Ozbek, Former Councillor and Mayor of Haringey; Gareth Peirce, Dr Felix Padel, Maxine Peake, actor, Trevor Rayne, writer, Lord Rea, Joe Ryan, Tony Simpson, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Stephen Smellie, PIK Trade Union Liaison Officer, Jonathan Steele, Steve Sweeney, , Gianni Tognoni, General Secretary Permanent People’s Tribunal, Dr Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Dr Tom Wakeford, Dr Derek Wall, Julie Ward, former MEP, Kariane Westrheim, Chair, EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC); Hywel Williams MP.