Turkey

Turkey continued implementing ODIHR's Training against Hate Crime for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme, following a memorandum of understanding signed in 2016. In 2020 alone, the Turkish National Police and Police Academy trained 509 police officers through the "Seminar on Informing Law Enforcement against Hate Crimes".

In March 2021, the Human Rights Action Plan (Action Plan) was announced by the Turkish government. One of the Action Plan’s goals is dedicated to addressing hate crime and includes: (i) a commitment to separately criminalize acts of hate crime which target the human dignity and peaceful coexistence of different groups and to take all the measures necessary to fight against these criminal offences effectively (hate crimes based on language, religion, race, colour, sex, political views, philosophical beliefs, sect, or other similar reasons are specifically mentioned); (ii) national and international developments to be tracked and periodical reports to be prepared on instances which constitute discrimination or hate speech/crime such as intolerance against Muslims, xenophobia, intolerance against migrants, and racism; (iii) investigation guides to be prepared with a view to effectively combating discrimination and hate crimes; (iv) the Turkish Criminal Code to be amended to include a new provision on discrimination and hate crimes; (v) continuous monitoring to be ensured by taking into account the opinions of the Criminal Law Science Commission; (vi) psycho-social and legal support to be offered to the victims of discrimination and hate crimes; (vii) a database to be created and a proper collection of statistics to be secured with regard to criminal offences and misdemeanours involving hate and discrimination (to this end, law enforcement and prosecution staff to be offered training); and (viii) the awareness of hate crimes and discrimination to be raised by means of training and preparing handbooks for media representatives. "The Human Rights Action Plan Monitoring and Assessment Board" has been established to monitor implementation of the Action Plan. The Board is chaired by the President of the Republic and consists of relevant ministers. The secretariat services of the Board, which convenes every 6 months, are carried out by the Ministry of Justice.