The Turkish Democracy Project has called on The Peninsula hotel to refuse to host the Turkish President Recep Erdogan for the 77th annual United Nations General Assembly this week, as new research continues to highlight his regime’s mounting human rights violations.
The Turkish Democracy Project (TDP) has highlighted the dire condition of Turkish democracy and President Erdogan’s unrelenting assault on Turkish civic and economic life. The Turkish state and pro-government businessmen control 90% of Turkey’s media landscape, while hundreds of journalists have been imprisoned in the last five years. Over 160,000 investigations have been launched under a 2014 law making it an offense to insult the office of the president. Political opponents have been harassed, with 32 mayorsin the Kurdish region stripped of office and opposition politicians imprisoned, amidst dire backsliding of women’s rights. Last year saw 280 femicides, the same year in which the government pulled Turkey out of the Istanbul Convention, an international accord designed to protect women. Meanwhile, Erdogan’s corrupt and kleptocratic economic policy has seen inflation soar to over 80% and the cost of food rise to 89%.
TDP has called on The Peninsula, an historic luxury New York hotel, to stand in solidarity with the Turkish people and refuse to host President Erdogan and his delegation during the annual UN General Assembly.
Commenting on Erdogan’s endless human rights abuses, Madeleine Joelson, executive director of the Turkish Democracy Project said:
“With Erdogan set to appear in person at the annual UNGA, it is critical that the international community, including political and business leaders, use this opportunity to confront the Turkish President. Next year’s presidential election may well determine the fate of Turkish democracy, and it is crucial that all self-styled defenders of democracy expose Erdogan’s malignant regime for what it is.”
