Turkey rebuffs State Department report on human rights abuses

Ankara has rebuffed a report on human rights abuses in Turkey published Tuesday by the US State Department saying it contains “unfounded” and “biased” allegations against the country.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said the Turkey chapter of the annual report on Human Rights Practices “is yet again far from being objective and contains unfounded allegations and biased interpretations based on ambiguous sources.”

The ministry criticized the report for not designating Gulen’s network, which Ankara holds responsible for the failed 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as a terrorist organization. 

“This demonstrates that the US still fails to understand our rightful fight against this terrorist organization, disregards the concrete evidence we have provided about this terrorist organization and is being instrumentalized once again by certain circles while drafting the report,” the ministry said.

The ministry also rejected allegations regarding Turkey’s “counter-terrorism” operations in Syria. 

“There can be no explanation for repeating such allegations, despite the fact that they were previously rejected by Turkish authorities on various occasions,” it said. 

“It is worth noting that while various violations of PKK/YPG are mentioned in the report, its terrorist attacks against Syrians as well as separatist actions aimed at undermining the territorial integrity of Syria are disregarded,” it said.

“It is also unacceptable that the report contains allegations which ignore the fact that PKK is a terrorist organization and amount to extending support to the claims of terror affiliated circles,” it said.

The ministry asserted Turkey’s resolve to promote and protect human rights. 

“On the basis of democracy and the rule of law, Turkey will continue its efforts to promote and protect the rights of its citizens as well as those of millions of persons it is hosting,” it said.