Human Rights: Let Criticism Start at Home
Re “ ‘New’ Turkey, Same Old Injustice,” by Christiane Bird, Commentary, April 27:
Obviously, Turkey’s human rights record is not something that the Turks can be proud of. On the other hand, one wonders how in the world a human rights activist like Bird, whose country detains hundreds of people without any court order and without access to attorneys and uses the death penalty regularly for punishment, as it is utilized in Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea and China, can write about the human rights issues in Turkey, where Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a terrorist organization, and his collaborators have access to attorneys, have at least been tried in some kind of court under the scrutiny of the European Union and do not face the death penalty.
What are we going to see next -- criticism of Turkey’s civil rights record in Saudi newspapers?
Ergun Kunter
Irvine
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