The AKP and its leader Erdoğan claim at every opportunity that the old era of repression is over and that Turkey is now a country of freedoms, but reports by human rights organisations show that repression and torture have systematically increased.

According to AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey is now a country where everyone can express their thoughts and live freely. The annual reports of the Human Rights Association (IHD), however, reveal the opposite. In its early years, the AKP government was not a party of freedoms, as it declared or tried to show to people through its media power, but a party that systematically sought ways to suppress those who did not think like it. According to IHD data, the balance sheet of the 22 years of AKP rule is as follows:

Extrajudicial executions

1,229 people lost their lives and 3,147 others were wounded in extrajudicial executions perpetrated by the police, gendarmerie and village guards. Only in prisons 916 people lost their lives and 64 people were wounded.

19 disappeared in custody

During the AKP rule, 19 citizens disappeared in detention. Until today, the efforts of human rights defenders regarding these citizens have been fruitless.

73 murdered in custody

Detention continued to be used as an instrument of torture and oppression under AKP rule. 200,139 people were detained, 19,992 of them were subjected to torture. 73 citizens were murdered in detention.

80 thousand people were tortured

Torture ceased to be a system applied only in detention during the AKP rule and spread to the streets as well. 10,459 citizens were subjected to torture during protests and events. 9,737 prisoners were subjected to torture by guards and soldiers. The number of torture cases involving village guards was announced as 321. In total, nearly 80 thousand citizens were tortured in different places.

Attacks by state-affiliated forces

In the mass and individual attacks of state forces or gangs against rights defenders, 647 people lost their lives and 5,415 people were injured. In the attacks whose perpetrators were not caught and which were recorded as unknown perpetrators, 422 people lost their lives and 684 citizens were injured.

1,579 people forced into spying

The government did not limit its method of oppression on the society only to attacks and torture. In 22 years, the government has imposed spying on many people in organisations, unions and parties opposed to the government in order to obtain information. Kidnappings, offers of money and blackmailing continued year after year. In 22 years, 1,579 people were forced into spying through various methods.

Thousands of publications confiscated

Press, media and culture and arts activities were among the most affected by the AKP's repression. Stating at every opportunity that the Kurdish language is free, the AKP government banned 1,322 events, the majority of which were Kurdish art events. The ban even came to such an extent that even a wedding was banned. 1,165 books and magazines were confiscated. Offices of newspapers and magazines were raided 203 times. Cultural centres were raided 32 times.

Nearly 30 thousand political arrests

In Turkey, which they describe as the ‘Land of Freedom’, 8,030 demonstrations were attacked or banned by the authorities. Political party buildings were raided 1,843 times; party and association buildings were attacked 527 times. Tens of thousands of people were investigated for their opinions, 29,369 people were arrested for expressing their opinions or participating in a protest action.