Turkish police targeted doctors who helped protesters, report says

A new report confirms that Turkish authorities deliberately targeted health workers who gave medical help to antigovernment protesters injured during clashes with authorities in June.

The report comes as Turkey prepares to debate a bill that would criminalise improvised emergency care that was not authorised by the government and could see doctors fined or imprisoned for responding to the needs of injured protesters on the streets in future.

The report by the US based group Physicians for Human Rights quotes several doctors saying that they were attacked by police while trying to treat protesters.1

One volunteer doctor in Istanbul said, “Last Saturday I was wearing a beret that said I was a doctor. The police were deliberately shooting at my beret. Finally I took my beret off. It …