ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 46 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.
21 December: Turkish authorities detained 85 individuals over alleged links to the Gülen movement recently, citing ByLock messaging app, despite this being declared inadequate and invalid by the ECtHR in the Yalçınkaya judgment.
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
17 December: In Ankara, police intervened with rubber bullets and tear gas against a march organized by the Hakkımı Ver Platform and the Private Sector Teachers' Union, demanding secure working conditions, from Çankaya Municipality to Parliament Park, detaining 49 people, including Süleyman Keskin, President of Enerji-Sen under DİSK, and Nebiye Merttürk, President of Halkevleri, using physical violence.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
16 December: During the İYİ Party Regional Consultation Meeting in Çorum on December 15, 2024, bodyguards of İYİ Party leader Müsavat Dervişoğlu forcibly removed journalists covering the event, using verbal and physical violence.
19 December: The Kocaeli 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace imposed an access ban on three separate NuJINHA news agency accounts on the social media platform X (Twitter), which shared content in Kurdish, Turkish, and English.
21 December: Hidayet Karaca, former chief executive of the now-defunct Samanyolu Media Group, has entered his 10th year of imprisonment in Turkey on charges based on scripted TV series content and witness testimonies deemed unreliable.
21 December: Turkish police detained 30 individuals, including 20 journalists, during a protest in İstanbul's Şişhane Square against the killing of two Kurdish journalists in a reported Turkish drone strike in northern Syria.
21 December: The pro-Kurdish daily Yeni Yaşam newspaper's website was blocked for the seventh time by a decision from Diyarbakır 2nd Criminal Judgeship of Peace, according to the Information and Communication Technologies Authority.
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
16 December: The Turkish government imposed financial sanctions on six opposition-held municipalities, part of its oppression targeting opposition-run administrations since the ruling party lost control of major municipalities in 2023 election.
16 December: The ECtHR referred the case of Şaban Yasak, convicted in Turkey for alleged Gülen movement links, to its Grand Chamber following criticism of its prior ruling validating Turkey’s broad anti-terrorism laws.
17 December: The ECtHR ruled against Turkey for the unlawful pretrial detention of 450 individuals following the 2016 failed coup, citing insufficient evidence to justify their detention and violations of their right to liberty and security, ordering the Turkish government to pay €3,000 in non-pecuniary damages to each applicant.
KURDISH MINORITY
18 December: Turkey's Interior Ministry defended banning the Kurdish-language play "Qral û Travis" in Ağrı, citing public order concerns under laws criticized for enabling censorship of Kurdish cultural expression and linking cultural events to separatist activities without evidence.
18 December: Kurdish filmmaker Kerem Tekoğlu was arrested in Istanbul on charges of alleged membership in a terrorist organisation, with his professional links to former Esenyurt mayor Ahmet Özer reportedly misinterpreted deliberately.
21 December: Human Rights Watch urged Turkey to stop prosecuting individuals for Kurdish language and cultural activities, describing in its report that such actions undermine minority rights, foster discrimination, and constitute a misuse of anti-terrorism laws to silence Kurdish identity.
PRISON CONDITIONS
19 December: In Erzurum Dumlu No. 2 Prison, inmates face restrictions on activities, confiscation of personal items, overcrowded and damp conditions, denial of open visits, and five inmates were punished with solitary confinement and fines for alleged property damage.
19 December: In Tekirdağ F-Type No. 2 Prison, inmates are forced to buy their own spoons, and Kurdish letters are withheld by authorities, labeled as written in an "unknown language."
REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
17 December: Turkey deported 300 Eritreans to Eritrea, where they face risks of torture and indefinite conscription, violating the principle of non-refoulement under international refugee law, according to UN special rapporteurs.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
19 December: Mehmet Bahaddin Öncü, an inmate at Muğla Bodrum Type D Prison, was denied permission by prison authorities to attend his mother's funeral, citing "local security concerns."
TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
20 December: Two Kurdish journalists, Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin, were killed in northern by a Turkish drone strike while covering clashes between Turkish-backed militias and U.S.-supported Kurdish forces.
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