ABSTRACT
Although Turkey has been exposed to human rights language and claims for decades through its founding membership of the UN and its signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the European Convention of Human Rights, its human rights record has often been severely criticized on the grounds that these rights have not been fully enjoyed by its citizenry. Turkey’s human rights record was particularly poor in the 1990s, mostly owing to measures taken to combat the PKK (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, Kurdistan Worker’s Party)-the terrorist-guerrilla organization that launched a violent secessionist campaign in the South-East. Among such measures, the state of emergency which extended to cover 10 cities where the military and governors enjoyed immense powers, the establishment of the ‘village guards system’ and the Anti-Terror Law which contained severe restrictions on human rights and liberties were the most significant, paving the way for very serious human rights violations.
