Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of trends in reports of torture and human rights abuses of citizens by Turkish authorities; and whether her Department has plans to take steps in response to that matter.

We are clear in our expectation that Turkey, like all countries, should live up to its human rights obligations towards all its citizens. We welcome Turkey's response to the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) 2019 report which reinforced its commitment to zero tolerance against torture and determination to cooperate with the CPT. The CPT also visited Turkey in January 2021 as part of its regular monitoring of conditions. As an active member of the Council of Europe, we support the important monitoring work of the CPT.