ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 7 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.
ARBITRARY DEPRIVATION OF LIFE
January 2: Osman Hacısalihoğlu, a former police officer who was summarily removed from his job and subsequently served a prison sentence due to conviction of alleged links to the Gülen movement, died of cancer.
January 5: Hüseyin Geçmek, a construction technician previously imprisoned on conviction of links to the Gülen movement, died on Friday of pancreatic cancer, which had begun and spread during his incarceration.
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 EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
January 3: HalkTV's Seyhan Avşar's news article titled "How was the 2nd Zindaşti Attempt Prevented in the Judiciary? The Baron in a Wheelchair Doesn't Sit Still" was blocked from access by the Istanbul 7th Criminal Judgeship of Peace on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
January 4: Ekşi Sözlük,one of Turkey’s most popular social media websites, has been removed from mobile application distribution platforms in another attempt to prevent its readers from accessing it after facing an access ban from the country’s telecommunications authority last year.
January 5: A travel ban has been imposed on a well-known journalist, Fatih Altaylı, as part of an investigation launched on accusations of praising a criminal due to his remarks allegedly in support of a university student who punched a protestor carrying an Islamic flag earlier this week.
January 5: Ankara 9th Criminal Judgeship of Peace ordered the blocking and deletion of at least 3 news articles about Deputy Minister of Justice Ramazan Can being caught on camera responding one by one to requests for 'torpil' for the 'promotion' exam and directing them to his personal staff, on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
January 5: At least 3 news articles on the allegation that Mustafa Atmaca, a doner seller in Erzurum who was arrested for insulting Atatürk, was released on the grounds of tuberculosis, were blocked from access with the decision of Erzurum 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
January 5: At least 3 news articles on the allegation that a judge in Mardin detained three students who allegedly swore at his wife, a teacher, when he came to the school with five police cars, were blocked from access by the Mardin 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
January 3: The Turkish judiciary has faced a crisis as the Supreme Court of Appeals has defied a Constitutional Court (AYM) ruling for the second time in the case of Can Atalay, a lawyer and rights activist who was elected to parliament in May.
KURDISH MINORITY
January 4: A university student F.B. in İstanbul was allegedly brutalized by roommates due to his Kurdish and Alevi identities.
PRISON CONDITIONS
January 2: The family members of inmates in a northern Turkish, Ordu, prison have said the lack of adequate nutrition has led to increasing health problems in the facility.
REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
January 3: Hasan Muhammed (28), a Syrian refugee, died under suspicious circumstances in Ankara Akyurt Repatriation Center.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
January 4: Prisoners in Ağrı Patnos L Type Prison were not given hot water, the drinking water given to prisoners was contaminated and books belonging to prisoners were seized during ward searches.
January 4: Mehmet Ali Uğur, an ill prisoner in Ağrı Patnos L Type Prison, was not given food suitable for his diet.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
January 2: At least 315 women were killed by men in Turkey in 2023, with incidents of femicide increasing during the election period due to the “misogynist policies” of the government.
January 6: The Mesopotamia Women Journalists Association (MKG) released a report focusing on alleged rights violations of female journalists in Turkey in 2023, which found that 168 of them stood trial throughout the year.
