Turkey: Letter to Minister Aksu calling for the abolition of the village guards

Excerpt

The Turkish government must take immediate steps to abolish the system of village guards, which has given rise to some of the most serious human rights violations in southeast Turkey, and continues to present an obstacle to the return of displaced villagers in that area.

Quotes

Highlights

• For more than eighteen years Human Rights Watch has been receiving reports of violations by village guards—murders, rapes, robberies, house destruction, and illegal property occupation, among others. We have received, from various sources, numerous complaints relating to village guards, not all of which we have confirmed first-hand.

Sources