• Press Release

Trump and Erdogan meeting no time for self-congratulation

May 16, 2017

Photo by Lintao Zhang, Getty Images

As President Donald Trump prepares to host Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House, Amnesty International USA’s Executive Director Margaret Huang said:

“While these two leaders sit and congratulate each other in the White House, thousands of people around the world are feeling the effects of their spiraling assaults on human rights.

“President Trump recently praised President Erdogan for winning a referendum in which dissenting opinions were ruthlessly suppressed. Yet President Trump has been silent on Turkey’s alarming crackdown on the media. This is a disturbing reflection of President Trump’s contempt for human rights. Trampling the freedoms of journalists and protestors is no cause for celebration.

“This meeting is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the way that President Trump and President Erdogan are contributing to a global climate of toxic and dehumanizing politics. The world will be watching, hoping that both presidents will reaffirm their commitments to protecting human rights.”

Background

Amnesty International recently launched the #FreeTurkeyMedia campaign to demand the release of over 120 journalists jailed in Turkey since last summer’s failed coup and has previously drawn scorn from Erdoğan for revealing credible evidence that some of those detained after the coup were beaten and tortured.

AIUSA recently published 100 ways Trump and his administration have attempted to violate human rights in his first 100 days as president.