The results of a new study by Tahir Elçi Human Rights Foundation and Rawest show that Kurds living in different parts of Türkiye believe that mostly Kurds, women, children and poor are subjected to violations of human rights.
Tahir Elçi Human Rights Foundation and Rawest, a pollster focusing on the country’s Kurdish regions announced the results of their joint study, “Human Rights Perception of Kurds.”
The results of the study show that the Kurds living in different parts of Turkey believe that mostly Kurds, women, children and poor are subjected to violations of human rights while the mostly violated right is “the right to live.”
The study revealed that the participants aged over 30 express that the recent period and 90’s are similar with respect to the situation of human rights in Turkey. The average of the participants’ scores has been 3,84 for today while 3,94 for 90s. This shows that the weight attached to human rights has dropped behind that in the 90’s.
Right to life being violated in Turkey
79 percent of the interviewers answered the question on if human rights were being violated in Turkey, saying “yes.” 8 percent said “no” while 13 percent said they did not have an idea.
72 percent said that the right to live was the most important human right. “Freedom of expression” “right to live” and “women’s rights” were the three mostly violated rights, with 63, 60 and 53 percent of the interviewees indicating them as the mostly violated human right respectively.
“Kurds and women subjected to violations of rights most”
The researchers also asked about the groups that are mostly subjected to violation of human rights. 67 percent responded saying the women, 61 percent the Kurds, 19 percent the poor, another 19 percent the children and 13 percent saying that the unemployed were mostly subjected to violation of human rights.
According to the participants “ethnic identity” is one of the most important reasons for being subjected to discrimination. 50 percent of the interviewers said that ethnic identity was a reason for discrimination, while those saying that gender was a reason for discrimination followed next with 15 percent and those saying that religion and religious sect followed next, with 7 and 6 percent respectively.
Human rights not getting better
73 percent of the participants thought that the situation of human rights got worse in Türkiye in the last 10 years. The ratio of those who thought that human rights got better in this period was only 9 percent. 15 percent of the interviewers thought that the situation of human rights was the same in the last ten years.
“Education language should be dual”
76 percent agreed that “men and women should be equal in all areas.”
70 percent disagreed that “men should receive a higher wage than women even when the do the same job,” while 44 percent disagreed that “the state should shut down associations of homosexuals.”
62 percent of the participants in Kurdish majority cities agreed that “the education language should be dual, both Turkish and the mother tongue, while 45 percent agreed with this in the west provinces.”
Source: Bianet