ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 64 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.
October 4: A Turkish couple, Abdülkadir Arslan and Nurcan Arslan, on Saturday was arrested and sent to prison to serve sentences for conviction of links to the Gülen movement, leaving their six children in the care of relatives.
October 5: Turkish authorities have arrested and sent to prison Mustafa Şener, a former judge suffering from severe visual impairment who was sentenced to prison on conviction of links to the faith-based Gülen movement.
ARBITRARY DEPRIVATION OF LIFE
October 3: Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Fethi Açıkel has announced that at least 40 child workers in Turkey lost their lives, in the first eight months of the year.
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
October 5: Students protesting against food price hikes at Izmir Dokuz Eylül University's cafeteria were escorted out of the Tınaztepe Campus cafeteria today by Special Security Unit (ÖGB) officers. Eight of the students were detained by the police after a violent intervention.
October 6: The Governorate of Van banned all activities such as press declarations, sit-ins and surveys, setting up/opening tents and stands, organizing petitions, distributing leaflets, brochures and flyers and all kinds of protest actions for 4 days as of October 6, 2023.
October 6: Şırnak Governorate announced a ban on demonstrations, marches, and open-air meetings for 10 days starting from October 6.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
October 2: At least 3 news articles on alleged corruption in the MHP-affiliated Manisa Metropolitan Municipality and alleged misconduct by some executives were blocked on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
October 2: At least 3 news articles mentioning Erhan Uludağ, the owner/partner of companies that came to the agenda with allegations of restoration scandals, were ordered to be blocked and deleted on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
October 2: At least 2 news articles about Ali Erbaş, President of Religious Affairs, were blocked on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
October 3: As part of a Tunceli based investigation against Partizan magazine and Yeni Demokrasi newspaper, 6 people including a reporter of Yeni Demokrasi newspaper were detained in house raids in Tunceli and Istanbul.
October 3: Veteran Turkish journalist and Halk TV host Ayşenur Arslan was briefly detained after being targeted by Ebubekir Şahin, chairman of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), due to comments on a recent suicide bombing near Turkey’s parliament in Ankara.
October 4: Freedom House reported that internet freedom in Turkey has steadily declined over the past decade, with the country again ranking among the “not free” countries concerning online freedoms
October 5: The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), Turkey’s government regulator for broadcasting, has imposed a five-time program ban as well as an upper limit fine on the government-critical Halk TV over comments made in news programs.
October 5: The coalition of international media and journalism organizations led by the International Press Institute reported increased harassment, arbitrary imprisonment, and prosecution of journalists, particularly in the wake of May’s parliamentary and presidential elections and February’s devastating earthquakes.
October 5: Etkin Haber, Komun Dergi, Gazete Patika and Kızıl Bayrak were blocked on the grounds of national security and protection of public order.
October 6: At least 3 news articles about Konya Selçuk University and its rector Metin Aksoy were blocked on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
October 6: Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reporter Ahmet Kanbal was detained on charges of "making illegal organization propaganda" in a raid on his house in central Mardin, based on his social media posts and news reports.
October 6: Veteran Turkish actor İlyas Salman is set to stand trial on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to an indictment drafted by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
October 6: Turkish prosecutors have issued detention warrants for 23 people over their messages on social media about a terrorist attack in Ankara on Sunday that left two police officers injured.
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
October 5: A senior member, Leyla Şahin Usta, of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) accused an opposition lawmaker, Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, of disseminating propaganda for the Gülen movement after he brought to the floor of parliament the plight of children whose parents were arrested due to their alleged links to the faith-based group.
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
October 2: Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and chief justice Zühtü Arslan have condemned a recent decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) that faulted Turkey for the conviction of a teacher on terrorism charges due to his links to a faith-based group.
October 4: The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has faulted Turkey for violating a Syriac foundation’s rights by expropriating a property that was used by the minority community for centuries in Mardin province.
October 4: The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has faulted Turkey over the conviction of two individuals on charges of “disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organization” and “insulting the president” by way of the content they had shared on social media.
October 6: The Ministry of Justice has refused to disclose the number of people serving prison sentences due to the Sivas massacre in July 1993 on the grounds that the issue “does not concern the public”.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
October 4: Ahmet Zeki Üçok, vice chair of the nationalist opposition İYİ (Good) Party claimed that journalists Batuhan Çolak and Süha Çardaklı, who are in Sincan Prison awaiting trial on charges of fomenting enmity and hatred and spreading disinformation on their X social media accounts, were subjected to forms of torture, including having their hair forcibly cut very short.
TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
October 5: Koray Vural, a Turkish businessman who had gone missing in Tajikistan in mid-September and was being sought by Turkey over his links to the Gülen movement, was renditioned by the country’s National Intelligence Organization.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
October 4: Forty-two women were murdered by men in Turkey in September, while 20 died under suspicious circumstances.