Torture victims group calls on government to release Dr. Şeyhmus Gökalp

Click to read the article in Turkish

The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) has called on the government to release Dr. Şeyhmus Gökalp, who was arrested in late November as part of a "terrorism-related" investigation in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

Gökalp is a member of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV/HRFT), which is an IRCT member organization.

While Gökalp was arrested for attending an "illegal meeting," the authorities had no evidence of his presence at the meeting in question, the IRCT noted.

In the same investigation, which targeted the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), more than 100 people were arrested in Diyarbakır.

"IRCT believes that the arrest and charges against Dr. Gökalp are an attempt to silence him for conducting his professional and ethical duties to provide essential healthcare and defend human rights," the group said in the statement.

"The arrest of Dr Gökalp comes at a time where Turkey has increased its repression against health professionals and more recently, those who speak out against the government's handling of the Covid-19 response.

"Just in November of this year, Dr Serdar Küni, a medical doctor with HRFT, was sentenced to four years and two months in prison for providing healthcare during a time of open-ended curfews in the southeast of Turkey.

"We call on the Turkish government to:

"Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Dr Gökalp,

"Immediately release him from custody and drop all charges against him,

"Put an end to reprisals against health professionals and human rights defenders in Turkey.

"We also take this opportunity to remind the Turkish government that by providing medical and psychosocial support, health professionals play an invaluable role in overcomingt the Covid-19 pandemic as well as promoting healing, justice and freedom for its citizens."

Full text of the letter addressed to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

(AS/VK)