Its leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, told the crowd that, amid all the turmoil, “the parliament stood proudly, Turkey stood proudly, lawmakers stood proudly, people in this square have stood proudly, and democracy won”. Despite the high tensions since the coup attempt, the mood at the Istanbul rally was strongly patriotic. Erdoğan’s government has also sacked thousands of teachers, professors and civil servants and closed schools and universities. Amnesty claimed it had “credible evidence” some detainees were being “subjected to beatings and torture, including rape, in official and unofficial detention centres in the country”. “Turkey is understandably concerned with public security at the moment, but no circumstances can ever justify torture and other ill treatment or arbitrary detention,” said Amnesty’s Europe director, John Dalhuisen.

Source: The Guardian July 25, 2016 03:45 UTC