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Amnesty International Turkey began by a 1995 initiative of volunteers in Istanbul. The AI initiative group’s first action in 1996 aimed to attract attention to human rights violations in the People’s Republic of China. The event, which caught the attention of Turkish media , helped form the nucleus for further AI work. At the same time these years saw serious political unrest and human rights violations in Turkey.
The work that had been begun by AI volunteers in Istanbul was later in 1997 broadened to Ankara and following that to Izmir, as volunteer initiatives started in these cities. In 1997 the main campaign of AI spanned Human Rights of Refugees worldwide. The initiative groups in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir carried out important work relating to Refugees’ Human Rights in Turkey. Today, AI Turkey has a coordinator actively involved in refugee work through great personal efforts.
By 1998 the initiative groups in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir were on one hand working for the growth and recognition of AI Turkey while on the other hand actively taking part in the “Get Up, Sign Up” campaign of AI, launched at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Tens of thousands of copies of the Universal Declaration were printed and distributed and signatures were collected in the framework of the campaign. The same year the AI Turkey groups, notably the Istanbul group, were recognised by the international movement and they came together under as a National Coordination body. The position of Secretary-General for the Coordination was held by the Istanbul group member Hasan Kemal Elban on a voluntary basis for two consecutive years.
At the same time, in 1998, the AI Turkey groups were taking part in the “Rights for All” campaign, relating to human rights violations in the United States of America. The same year the “Forest of the Disappeared” project of the Istanbul group got a lot of attention from the public. The “Forest of the Disappeared” action involved planting of 100 trees to represent 100 “disappeared” in 28 countries.
In 1999 the volunteers of AI Turkey started a campaign for the signature and ratification by Turkey of the CEDAW Additional Protocol, jointly with several NGOs. A letter addressing AI concerns relating to the use of death penalty in the USA was presented to president Clinton at the occasion of his visit to Turkey. The AI Turkey groups took active part in the campaigns focusing on human rights violations in Israel/Occupied Territories and Saudi Arabia. In 1999 the number of AI Turkey groups rose to four, as the earlier ones were joined by the Diyarbakir group.
As Amnesty International started its third campaign against torture in 2000, the AI Turkey volunteers prepared a comprehensive programme and launched the campaign in Turkey concurrently with the international movement. The “Stop Torture” campaign was widely noticed in national media. Furthermore, the AI Fair Trial Manual was published by Iletisim Yayinlari the same year. Fair trial seminars were arranged in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Diyarbakir in cooperation with the respective bar associations. The Fair Trial Manual is currently available on the AI Turkey web site free of charge . In addition, intensive and still ongoing work on the International Criminal Court started. The same year Mehmet Nur Terzi from the Izmir group was elected Secretary-General of the Coordination.
In 2001 AI Turkey arranged a reception in Ankara to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Amnesty International. Within the same year the AI Turkey volunteers filed an application to the Ministry of Interior for the official recognition of AI Turkey as an association under Turkish law. Due to strict bureaucracy and anti-democratic legislation the founding of AI Turkey was delayed for some time. However, with the backing of the international movement the volunteers of AI Turkey carried out an effective legal struggle and lobby work.
The results of this struggle were soon to materialise. In 2002 the Turkish Section of Amnesty International was officially founded. One of the first persons starting the activities of AI Turkey, Ozlem Dalkiran, became the first official chairperson of AI Turkey. At the same time as AI Turkey was officially founded an office was opened in Istanbul. Work was carried out relating to the campaign to end human rights violations in Russia.
In 2003 the basic human rights education resource book “First Steps” was translated into Turkish and printed. The book was introduced to teachers and distributed to be used in human rights education in Turkey. The structure supported the Control Arms campaign, which started in 2003.
The AI Turkey volunteers very actively took part in the “Stop Violence Against Women!” campaign, launched in 2004. The campaign, which is supported by several popular bands and football teams, as well as some local authorities and women’s rights groups, continues and has reaped great success. At the 2004 AGM the first board of AI Turkey was elected and Levent Korkut from the Ankara group became the new chairperson of AI Turkey.
In 2005, while the AI Turkey volunteers carried out campaigning fully coordinated with the international movement, a wide-scope human rights education project, REAP, was started. The education programme targets 80 teachers and 100 clerics. For this purpose a HRE office was opened in Ankara, where a project coordinator works professionally. As a result of growing membership in 2004, 2005 and 2006 new initiative groups were founded in Bursa, Adana/Mersin, Malatya, Tunceli, Nazilli, Van, Ankara and Istanbul, and the fifth AI group was established in Batman.
2004 also saw the beginning of children’s rights and youth work within AI Turkey. Several large-scale children’s rights events were arranged in Ankara and Istanbul. The youth group grew at a rapid pace and besides a nucleus group in Ankara, university working groups came into being in Bursa and Çanakkale. In 2006 AI Turkey established a Refugee Office in the border city of Van, with one part time employee.
Today AI Turkey has got four employees in the Istanbul office, including an office coordinator, a campaigner, an externally funded membership recruiter and the Director.
At present, AI Turkey has 490 official members and a volunteer board consisting of 7 people. The board is elected at the biannual general meeting. Further an informal member meeting is arranged every year to review ongoing work and plans. At the general meetings the volunteer thematic coordinators and working groups are elected and set up. The current volunteer thematic and group coordinators are as follows:
– International Law Network Coordinator
– Youth Coordinator
– Children’s Rights Coordinator
– Women’s Rights Coordinator
– Refugee Coordinator
– Health Network Coordinator
– Human Rights Education Coordinator
– Membership Coordinator
– Fundraising Coordinator
– Press Coordinator
– LGBT Coordinator
– Urgent Action Network Coordinator
– Group Coordinators
The volunteer thematic coordinators play an important part in the AI Turkey activities, thanks to their committed work. Furthermore, the thematic coordinators and the board convene together twice a year for an expanded board meeting.
Today AI Turkey, as a structure growing in size and strength and a part of the worldwide AI family, is endeavouring to light the barbed wire candle also in Turkey.
