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Diplomat: Turkey one of most unfavorable states in terms of observing rights of Russians

Konstantin Dolgov says at least 1,000 addresses and complaints of Russian citizens to consular offices of the Russian Federation in Turkey are registered annually

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. Turkey is one of the most unfavorable countries in the world in terms of observing rights and freedoms of Russian citizens, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and Supremacy of Law Konstantin Dolgov told TASS on Friday.

"In the sphere of ensuring rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of Russian citizens, Turkey is one of the most unfavorable countries in the world," Dolgov said. "We annually register at least 1,000 addresses and complaints of Russian citizens to consular offices of the Russian Federation in Turkey," he added.

"This happens because of fraud and manipulation of different Turkish companies and organizations (insurance, real estate, banking, etc.). ungrounded and biased actions of state agencies and structures, including policemen (illegal arrests of Russian citizens, their detention in unacceptable conditions, and so on), courts (especially in cases of lawsuits dealing with custody rights for children born in Russian-Turkish families) and so on," Dolgov said.

The Turkish side "systematically ignores its commitments to timely inform Russia’s consular offices about detention and other types of freedom deprivation of Russian citizens, despite their respective demands," the commissioner noted. "This is a flagrant violation of Article 36 of Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 and bilateral consular convention of 1988 (which demands to notify "as soon as possible but not later than in five days")," he added.

"We demand that Ankara strictly observes rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of Russian citizens in Turkey," Dolgov said. "We will continue active political and diplomatic work in this direction," Dolgov concluded.