The co-chairs of the Greens and the Left Party of the Future (Yesiller ve Sol Gelecek Partisi) Eylem Tuncaelli and Naci Sönmez were taken into custody on Friday 9 February.
The international secretary Burcu Genc confirmed in a telephone call this morning that they were arrested by special forces at their homes in Istanbul at 6am. No formal charges have been issued....
moreIn plenary, Ska spoke about the consequences on Turkey's continuing human rights violations and violations of rule of law.
"Turkish President Erdoğan continues his relentless course against democracy and human rights, and he has put thousands of people into jail – journalists, teachers, politicians, and also, more and more EU citizens – and this is unacceptable....
moreThere are 49 percent of the Turkish society who boldly voted “NO” and against the authoritarianism of Erdogan. We stand on your side and will not forget you! To Mr. Erdogan, we need to say clearly: We know what you want from us, it is a business deal for your state corporations, but you will not get it. We will not forget about human rights, freedom of press and the...
moreLast week the European Parliament adopted a resolution on EU-Turkey relation. The parliamentarians demanded a temporary freeze of the accession negotiations as a reaction to the Human Rights violations in Turkey.
While they demand a freeze of negotiation on the one hand the Commission negotiates a mandat for the enlargement of the Customs Union. That is absolutely the...
moreOn occasion of the Sakharov-Prize Ska nominated in the name of the Greens/EfA group Can Dündar as laureate.
Click here for the video.
Therefore she pointed out that Can Dündar definitely belongs to the most important activists in the fight for freedom and freedom of speech:
"Can Dündar is an outstanding figure of Turkish journalism. He is a living symbol of freedom...
moreTurkey is a country that uses its army against its own people. It is a country where reportedly border guards have shot at refugees. It is a country where press freedom is under attack. And it is a country that the European Commission wants to declare a 'safe third country'. Does the European Commission really believe this? The way I read the definition of a 'safe third...
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Together with the Social Democratic MEP Richard Howitt, Ska has drafted a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Davotoglu. In it, she urges the Turkish authorities to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the Sur district in the south eastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir. Sur has been under curfew since 11 December 2015 and the infrastructure in the city is largely destroyed...
moreThe European Union needs to stay stron on human rights. The situation in the south east of Turkey is disastrous. Civilians are being killed every day. When academics call for peace, they get threatened by Erdogan. It was a big mistake to bock the accession process of Turkey. This is my speech on the situation in East-Turkey.
You can find the petition of the Academics...
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Together with other MEPs Ska signed a letter to the Turkish prime minister Davutoğlu. You can find the letter in English below and in Turkish when you follow this link.
Dear Prime Minister Davutoğlu,
First and foremost, we would like to offer our condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives and were injured on Saturday's double bomb attacks in...
moreKurdish villages are under attack, press freedom is violated - and where is the EU´s voice? They are silent and court President Erdogan to make sure that he will stop refugees from Syria and Irak on their way into Europe. But the European Union gets it really wrong: This dirty deal is not worthy of the European values.
You can watch Ska's plenary speech on youtube.
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