ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 27 people over alleged links to the Gülen movement. In October 2020, a UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) opinion said that widespread or systematic imprisonment of individuals with alleged links to the group may amount to crimes against humanity. Solidarity with OTHERS has compiled a detailed database to monitor the Gülen-linked mass detentions since a failed coup in July 2016.
August 1: Mustafa Said Türk, an 86-year-old bedridden man who was convicted of links to the Gülen movement, was hospitalized soon after being sent to prison to serve his sentence. Although Türk’s lawyer requested a stay of execution of the sentence, citing old age and severe illness, it was denied by Manisa courts.
ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES
No news has emerged of Yusuf Bilge Tunç, a former public sector worker who was sacked from his job by a decree-law during the 2016-2018 state of emergency and who was reported missing as of August 6, 2019, in what appears to be one of the latest cases in a string of suspected enforced disappearance of government critics since 2016.
FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION
July 31: Gendarmes in Hatay intervened in a demonstration against the expropriation of agricultural lands, detaining seven people.
August 1: The Tunceli Governor’s Office banned three concerts that were planned as part of a local cultural festival. Several band members were detained after the announcement of the ban.
August 1: An İstanbul court ruled that a ban on a 2021 cultural event organized by a Kurdish NGO was unlawful.
August 2: Gendarmes in Muğla intervened in an environmental protest against the construction of a coal mine in a forested area, briefly detaining one activist.
August 2: Gendarmes in Mardin and Şanlıurfa intervened in protests against a local electricity supplier, detaining a total of seven people.
August 4: A district governorate in İstanbul banned an opposition exhibition event on the grounds that “it could turn into an opposition rally.”
August 4: The Adana Governor’s Office issued a ban on all outdoor gatherings for a day.
August 5: The Van Governor’s Office issued a ban on all outdoor gatherings for a period of two days.
August 5: The police in İstanbul and Adana intervened in demonstrations about those who disappeared in police custody in the 1990s, detaining a total of 44 activists.
August 5: The Samsun Governor’s Office banned a concert, citing national and spiritual values.
August 6: The police in İstanbul detained a man named Nurettin Koç for staging a sit-in protest in a park about the government’s economic policies.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
August 1: A seven-day broadcast ban imposed on the pro-opposition TELE1 TV channel by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) took effect after an Ankara court lifted an injunction that was previously imposed on the sanction by a lower court.
August 3: An İstanbul court ruled to block access to at least three news reports covering allegations that children under state protection were sent to an event organized by a religious foundation.
August 3: Ankara prosecutors launched an investigation into opposition party employee Gençosman Killik over a brochure. Killik was summoned by the police for a questioning as part of the investigation.
August 4: Diyarbakır prosecutors launched an investigation into journalist Diren Yurtsever over her reporting on a local electricity distribution company. Yurtsever was summoned by the police for a questioning as part of the investigation.
August 4: Ankara prosecutors indicted journalist Hasan Sivri over his social media posts about the earthquakes in February. Sivri faces charges of spreading misinformation.
August 4: The Constitutional Court ruled that a suspended prison sentence handed down to musician Erdal Güney on charges of insulting the president due to the lyrics of a song was in violation of the freedom of expression.
August 5: An Ankara court ruled to block access to at least six news reports covering judicial corruption allegations made by an exiled mob boss who used to have close ties to the government.
KURDISH MINORITY
August 1: An İstanbul court ruled that a ban on a 2021 cultural event organized by a Kurdish NGO was unlawful.
August 2: A women’s prison in Ağrı sent several inmates to one-person cells as a disciplinary punishment for singing in Kurdish and performing a folk dance.
OTHER MINORITIES
July 31: A trans woman named Atiye Güney was physically assaulted by three unidentified individuals in İstanbul.
PRISON CONDITIONS
July 31: The Human Rights Association (İHD) released a report which found that at least 10,789 rights violations took place in 153 prisons in 58 provinces across Turkey in 2022.
August 2: Several inmates held in an İstanbul prison reported that rats were present in their wards and that their complaints about it were ignored by the prison administration.
August 5: Reports indicated that meals provided to inmates in two Yozgat prisons were inadequate and unhygienic.
REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
July 31: Greek authorities reportedly pushed back five Turkish nationals after they fled across the border to seek political asylum. The asylum seekers were immediately detained by Turkey’s security forces after being pushed back.
August 2: An İstanbul prosecutor launched an investigation into the suspicious death of Nabeel Hasan, a Palestinian national, in a Turkish prison less than a week after he was arrested for involvement in a fight.
August 3: The İstanbul Governor’s Office released a statement ordering Syrian refugees who are registered in other provinces to leave İstanbul by September 24.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
July 31: The guards in a Konya prison mistreated inmate Vahdettin Erdem. On August 3, reports indicated that Erdem was verbally threatened by prison guards after his family announced the mistreatment to the media.
July 31: A women’s prison in İstanbul restricted the communication privileges of five inmates for holding an event to commemorate the victims of a terrorist bombing in 2015.
August 1: Burhan Barut, an inmate incarcerated in Antalya, went on a hunger strike alleging that he was subjected to severe torture including being hogtied.
August 2: A women’s prison in Ağrı sent several inmates to one-person cells as a disciplinary punishment for singing in Kurdish and performing a folk dance.
August 2: An İstanbul prosecutor launched an investigation into the suspicious death of Nabeel Hasan, a Palestinian national, in a Turkish prison less than a week after he was arrested for involvement in a fight.
August 5: An Adana prison denied hospital referrals to inmates who refused to undergo mouth searches.
August 5: A prison administration in Adana arbitrarily restricted inmates’ social and cultural privileges.
TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
July 31: The UN Human Rights Council reportedly received a formal complaint regarding Turkish airstrikes in Iraq, allegedly targeting a civilian hospital and resulting in the death of eight people.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
August 2: Men killed 22 women and inflicted violence on at least 63 women in July, according to a gender-based violence report.