President Erdoğan’s message on Human Rights Day
Following is the message President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued on the occasion of December 10 Human Rights Day:
“On the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I would like to congratulate the Human Rights Day of Turkish citizens and the whole world.
Unfortunately, we celebrate this day at the end of a year, in which the rights guaranteed by the Declaration were violated, injustice increased, innocents were murdered because of their faith, and new walls were built between compassion and humanity.
Terrorist attacks carried out in this year that targeted a mosque in Christchurch, a church in Sri Lanka and a synagogue in California, demonstrated once again the grave level that cultural racism, intolerance and Islamophobia has reached.
Those most accountable for this phenomenon that threatens global peace and stability are politicians who use Islamophobia for gaining votes, media that normalizes hate speech under the pretense of freedom of speech, and international organizations which are incapable of solving current problems with their existing structures.
The international community that remains indifferent to the suffering of millions of people in our neighbor Syria for nine years, has delivered the biggest blow against the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The fact that a racist, who denies the genocide committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and defends war criminals, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature will have no meaning other than rewarding the human rights violations on the Human Rights Day, on December 10th.
Through the humanitarian aid it provides to millions of people in need and through its concurrent fight against multiple terrorist organisations, Turkey assumes the responsibility for manifesting justice in the world during such a period when human rights are being disregarded.
Besides our endeavours on a global scale, we continue to strive for the highest level of protection of human rights in Turkey and for guaranteeing the fundamental rights and freedoms set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for everyone living in Turkey.
In 2019, our new Judicial Reform Strategy was announced, the first legislative package pursuant to this strategy was enacted and efforts have been accelerated to complete the Human Rights Action Plan.
Our country, inspired by its human-centred state tradition, will continue to pursue its will for reform in the field of democracy and fundamental freedoms in the period ahead.
With these thoughts in mind, I would like to celebrate once again the Human Rights Day, and hope that this day will bring peace, serenity and justice to the Turkish nation and to the entire humanity.”
