WHO WILL DEFEND THE DEFENDERS?

It is no coincidence that as human rights violations in a country increase, so do the attacks on those people who defend them. It is also no coincidence that in times of greater repression, the job of human rights activists becomes more vital than ever: more vital and more dangerous.

Sadly, my colleagues İdil Eser and Taner Kılıç, the director and chair of Amnesty International Turkey, have come to be all too aware of the fact that speaking out to defend other people’s freedoms can end up costing you your own. They both have spent months behind bars after being arrested alongside 9 other human rights activists on absurd terror charges. Today their trial begins in Istanbul. If convicted they could face jail terms of up to 15 years.

Some may argue that becoming a target comes with the territory but we refuse to accept this. For more than five decades, Amnesty International has fought for human rights in Turkey. Some of the country’s best known figures – from poets to presidents – have at one time or another been classified as Amnesty Prisoners of Conscience and benefited from the fruits of our campaigning. The irony is therefore not lost that Amnesty’s Turkey chair and director, are now face becoming Prisoners of Conscience themselves.