Amnesty International: 130 Thousand Dismissed Public Sector Workers Seek Justice

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Amnesty International Turkey has prepared a report which is entitled "Purged Beyond Return?: No Remedy for Turkey's Dismissed Public Sector Workers". The report has specifically focused on the discharge of almost 130 thousand people from public service as per Statutory Decrees as well as the decisions taken by the State of Emergency Inquiry Commission.

The report was shared with the public at a press conference held in Amnesty International Turkey office in İstanbul yesterday (October 24).

Here are some of the highlights from the report:

"130 thousand dismissed public sector workers are still seeking justice.

"There were 125,000 appeals in total made to the State of Emergency Inquiry Commission as of 5 October 2018. The Commission has reached a decision with regard to 36,000 of these applications.

"Of the 109 decisions reviewed, seven cases resulted in the Commission finding in favour of reinstatement, which corresponds to the percentage of positive decisions amongst the 36,000 total decisions issued by the Commission (6.39% as of 5 October 2018).

"Amnesty International research, which involved a review of procedures and a sample of decisions taken by this Commission and interviews with dismissed individuals and their families, reveals that the Commission – by its very design – is not set up to provide an effective remedy to the thousands of public sector workers dismissed from their jobs by emergency decrees.

"The minimum period an applicant had to wait for a decision since their dismissal was 7.5 months, while some waited for as long as 21 months.

"There are others who are yet to receive a response from the Commission despite having been dismissed more than two years earlier, or having submitted applications to the Commission over a year ago. Applicants who have not received a decision, who represent the vast majority of those who applied, have been given no indication of when it may be issued.

"At the time of their dismissal under emergency decree, public sector workers were not provided with official reasons beyond a generalized justification put forth in relevant executive decrees that they were assessed to have links to 'terrorist' organizations.

"All applicants to the Commission interviewed by Amnesty International said that they had to speculate about the reasons for their dismissals while making their application.

"Reinstated public sector workers face the possibility of being left in a position that is materially worse than the one they had enjoyed prior to their wrongful dismissal, falling short of restitution of the status quo ante.

"While Turkey's state of emergency has come to an end, the government looks intent on continuing its mass purges."

"Commission does not give opportunity for appeal"

Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International's Turkey Strategy and Research Manager, reminded that it is the second report prepared by the organization regarding discharges and said:

"More than two years since the first dismissals, tens of thousands of public sector workers are still living without access to an effective remedy.

"Despite the clear arbitrary nature of the dismissals, the Commission established to review them, is not providing an opportunity for meaningful and effective appeal and is acting as a de facto rubber stamp for the vast majority of government decisions.

"Two years after the first summary dismissals were carried out by emergency decrees, it is time for the authorities in Turkey to reinstate all public sector workers dismissed in this way and compensate them for damages, including loss of earnings, as well as physical and psychological harm.

"Any genuine allegations of wrongdoing should be handled through regular disciplinary processes with all the procedural safeguards normally guaranteed under law." (EMK/SD)

Click here to read the report