• About Us
  • Contact
  • Donate

Stockholm Center for Freedom

  • Home page
  • News & Analysis
  • Press Freedom
  • Hate Speech
  • Torture
  • Radicalism
  • Rule of Law
  • Abroad
  • Reports
The undeclared policy being applied at Turkish consulates has victimized many Turkish nationals who are left without valid passports and unable to obtain official documents such as birth certificates and powers of attorney.

Turkish gov’t systematically denies consular services to critics abroad

SCF 02 Mar 2017 Abroad, Editors Choice, News, Rule of Law, Top Story

The refusal of counselor services to own nationals by Turkish embassies and consulates in a flagrant violation of Turkey’s international commitments as well as national laws has picked up a pace ahead of critical referendum on constitutional amendments.

Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF), a monitoring group that tracks rights violations in Turkey, has been receiving reports of systematic campaign of denial of consular services to Turkish nationals who are perceived to be critical of Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The arbitrary practices range from the seizure of passports and denial of passport renewals to not processing marriage and birth certificates and refusal of notary and document validation requests.

These arbitrary and unlawful practices that put Turkey in conflict with its international obligations under the conventions such as the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.

When probed on consular services on April 2016 by the UN Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) that operates under the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Turkey said “regardless of the statuses of Turkish citizens living abroad such as ‘worker/employer’ or ‘asylum seeker/refugee,’ all the acts related to their civil status, nationality, passport, and notarial acts are carried out by the Turkish General Consulates and Consular Sections of Embassies of the Republic of Turkey.”

That statement turns out to be false given the fact that so many reports SCF has received about refusal of consular services by Turkish embassies and consulates to Turkish citizens living abroad. In one case, a Turkish citizen living in Paris was denied an affidavit for parental consent for processing a passport application for a family member back in Turkey. The consular office initially said computer networks were down so she could not process the affidavit. The consulate eventually said it won’t grant the affidavit after the applicant made repeated inquiries over time. SCF decided to keep the applicant’s name as confidential for safety reasons. In a similar case, another applicant in Washington D.C. was denied notary services.

Turkish citizens living in Nigeria, reported multiple cases of service denials by Turkish consulates for various services including birth registry and passport renewals. Turkish consulate-general in Rome was also among reported to have engaged in these unlawful practices. SCF received reports from Asian country Sri Lanka where Turkish consular officers have started rejecting applications for all kinds of consular services from Turkish expats who are believed to be critical of Erdoğan.

Among the most targeted include members of Hizmet movement, a civic group that was inspired by the US-based Muslim intellectual Fethullah Gülen whose teachings focus on science education, volunteerism, community involvement and interfaith and intercultural dialogue. Gülen is a vocal critic of Erdoğan on pervasive corruption in the government and Turkish President’s support for armed radical Jihadists in Syria.

Kurds, Alevis and leftist groups were also targeted in what appears to be a mass-scale persecution campaign perpetuated by the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) against government critics.

SCF has learned that the consul generals are instructed by Turkish capital to implement this undeclared policy of refusal of services to critics. Afraid of being named and shamed by Turkey’s partners and international organizations, consulate generals are also ordered to decline requests by rejected applicants to receive a written document explaining why the services were denied. In one such case, an applicant told SCF that he asked the name of the consular officer who engaged in such a practice but the officer declined to reveal his identity. The officer also admitted that he was under strict instructions from Turkish Foreign Ministry to not produce any document detailing the reasons for the refusal.

SCF calls all Turkish citizens abroad to report the abuse of consular functions in Turkish embassies and consulates to the UN offices in respected countries or inform the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva. The host countries’ foreign ministries should also be made aware of these practices.

March 2, 2017

 

Take a second to support SCF on Patreon!

Related

Share on Facebook Share
Share on TwitterTweet
Share on Google Plus Share
Share on Pinterest Share
Share on LinkedIn Share
Send email Mail
Print Print
abroad AK Party AKP citizens consulates convention democracy embassies Erdogan Gülen Movement Hizmet Movement human rights law Paris passports rule of law SCF Sri Lanka Turkey Washington DC witch hunt 2017-03-02
SCF
Tags abroad AK Party AKP citizens consulates convention democracy embassies Erdogan Gülen Movement Hizmet Movement human rights law Paris passports rule of law SCF Sri Lanka Turkey Washington DC witch hunt

Authors

Posted by : SCF
Previous Article :

Artist and journalist Zehra Doğan sentenced for 3 years of prison

Next Article :

Murdered Terzi invited to Ankara by Gen. Aksakallı, says suspected putschist

Related Articles

Authorities’ negligence kills a pregnant woman and her baby in Turkish prison

Authorities’ negligence kills a pregnant woman and her baby in Turkish prison

SCF 05 Nov 2017
‘My 5-month old son is slowly going blind in prison,’ says jailed mother

‘My 5-month old son is slowly going blind in prison,’ says jailed mother

SCF 03 Aug 2017

Lists

Lists

Videos

EDITOR’S CHOICE

  • Jailed Turkish journalist Mustafa Ünal: My scream for justice has faded away in a bottomless pit

    Jailed Turkish journalist Mustafa Ünal: My scream for justice has faded away in a bottomless pit

    SCF 10 Apr 2018
  • Afghans collect 1 million signatures to prevent seizure of Turkish schools by Erdoğan regime

    Afghans collect 1 million signatures to prevent seizure of Turkish schools by Erdoğan regime

    SCF 09 Apr 2018
  • Turkey tries to snatch Gülen supporters in Gabon

    Turkey tries to snatch Gülen supporters in Gabon

    SCF 03 Apr 2018
  • COMMENTARY — CPJ downplays the number of jailed journalists in Turkey

    COMMENTARY — CPJ downplays the number of jailed journalists in Turkey

    SCF 26 Mar 2018
  • Jailed Turkish academic Laçiner: I got used to lynching, at least accusations should make sense

    Jailed Turkish academic Laçiner: I got used to lynching, at least accusations should make sense

    SCF 25 Mar 2018

Twitter

US Human Rights Report: Torture and mistreatment in police custody increased in Turkey https://t.co/31AS1JTt4m
h J R
StockholmCF

- April 21, 2018

Austrian Chancellor says will bar Turkish politicians from campaigning on its soil https://t.co/ikMKcrzwmq
h J R
StockholmCF

- April 21, 2018

Turkish courts give life sentences to 890 people over alleged links to Gülen movement https://t.co/PdQ85rOcnt
h J R
StockholmCF

- April 21, 2018

Turkish gov't detains dozens of people over alleged links to Gülen movement https://t.co/qnrMbIu5IB
h J R
StockholmCF

- April 21, 2018

Turkish gov't jails 4 more journalists from left-leaning Etkin news agency https://t.co/OFldgyZ7IQ
h J R
StockholmCF

- April 21, 2018

Follow StockholmCF

Facebook

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Donate
© Copyright 2017, All Rights Reserved / Stockholm Center for Freedom
info@stockholmcf.org