Turkey and crimes against humanity : A case study on Turkish treatment of civilian population

Abstract: Despite the developments in the international arena to ensure and protect human rights, evidence from around the world showcase examples of organized and systematic violations of human rights in the form of war crimes, genocides, and crimes against humanity. Turkey is one of the countries that has shown decline in the last ten years when it comes to respect for human rights. Aftermath of the Coup d’etat from 2016, involvement in Syrian civil war, and Kurdish question raised concern within the international community regarding human rights. Consequently, this research aims to provide a deeper understanding of how Turkish government treats the civilian population in these three cases in order to assess if there is a risk of Turkish government committing crimes against humanity. Furthermore, in order to get a more objective view of the happenings, this paper will also examine Turkish actions through the lenses of Realism. A qualitative research with an abductive approach with case study design was conducted. Analytical framework, that presents 10 risk factors for committing atrocities and crimes against humanity, developed by Dieng and Welsh was utilized to make sense of gathered data. Realism, with focus on national interest and security, was used to examine Turkish actions. Findings suggest that all 10 risk factors are presented in each case through different indicators. Journalists, lawyers, professors, refugees, and Kurds face systematic threat of mostly arbitrary detentions and imprisonments. Furthermore, findings show that Turkish actions can be explained through national interest expressed through security and unitary national identity.