Executive Summary This alternative report has been prepared for the 21st session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in relation Turkey’s documents in the first reporting cycle. None of the relevant documents have been translated to Turkish or accessible format by the State party. It pertains to the headings of Art. 5 Equality and Non-Discrimination, Art. 12 Equal Recognition Before the Law, Art. 13 Access to Justice, Art. 29 Participation in Political and Public Life and Art. 31 Statistics and Data Collection. These headings have been chosen in direct connection to AMER’s area of work as well as data and experience collected through various projects, pertaining to the time period in which the reporting takes place. Turkey’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol is an important development for persons with disabilities in their enjoyment and access to human rights and fundamental freedoms. The initial step has been taken in this process with the enactment of the Disability Act (No: 5378), yet there is still a long road to go for the effective implementation of the Convention. Domestic law has not been harmonized with UNCRPD in the past 12 years since the ratification of the Convention. Unfortunately, the main approach of the State to disability is still the charity or the medical model. While many Plans of Action and Strategies are referenced, the outcomes of the previous such initiatives or the progression of the ongoing ones are not mentioned. An important issue arises in terms of the lack of intersectional perspective, target oriented and specific policies with respect to persons with disabilities. Further, the involvement of CSOs and DPOs have been mentioned, but the Report is silent on the variety of these participants as well as their criticisms or the effects of this collaboration. Serious structural and institutional barriers exist with respect to access to justice for persons with disabilities in Turkey. Among other things, measures should be taken to raise awareness of the persons with disabilities about their rights, complaint mechanisms; physical accessibility issues should be solved and legal system should be adapted in accordance with the needs of the disabled. Concerning the participation in political and public life, it is hard to find persons with disabilities in the posts of state, government and local authority levels. Enjoyment of the right to vote for the disabled persons continue to be a problem and their full and independently involvement in the public life is hampered by accessibility issues. Data Collection is required to implement almost all provisions of the Convention. However, Turkey is far from collecting disaggregated data on persons with disabilities and sharing them with the general public in accordance with the Convention. Discrimination against persons with disabilities is highly prevalent in society, yet persons with disabilities are reluctant to take action on discriminatory practices for several reasons described in the report in detail. An overall action is required to increase the level of awareness for persons with disabilities on the right to equality and non-discrimination, besides a clear-cut definition and grounds of discrimination should be explicitly included in the legislation. 5