Türkiye
The US State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) 2021 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Türkiye identified significant human rights issues including “credible reports of: arbitrary killings; suspicious deaths of persons in custody; forced disappearances; torture; arbitrary arrest and continued detention of tens of thousands of persons, including opposition politicians and former members of parliament, lawyers, journalists, human rights activists, and employees of the U.S. Mission, for purported ties to ‘terrorist’ groups or peaceful legitimate speech”.
Enforced disappearances have been reported in Türkiye in the context of the 1980 military coup and the failed coup attempt of 2016, as well as the conflict between security forces and Kurdish separatists, and government efforts to quell protests over human rights violations, including enforced disappearance.
In addition to the issue of enforced disappearance, the influx of millions of refugees from the conflict in Syria, as well as the large number of migrants transiting Türkiye en route to Europe, has been associated with a high instance of people trafficking and missing persons cases.
In February 2023 a series of powerful earthquakes in southeastern Türkiye caused tens of thousands of casualties, with a huge number of people being buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings. ICMP immediately offered to work with the authorities and the international Disaster Victim Identification community to help account for those who were missing as a result of the disaster.
