ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 32 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.

31 January: Turkish authorities detained 23 people over the past week for alleged links to the Gülen movement, including eight former judges and prosecutors, amid ongoing post-coup investigations based on accusations such as using ByLock, contacting movement members via pay phones, and having accounts at Bank Asya.
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
29 January: Police detained three people during a protest in front of Siirt Municipality against the appointment of a trustee replacing pro-Kurdish DEM Party Mayor Sofya Alağaş.
29 January: Following the removal of Siirt Co-Mayor Sofya Alağaş from office, the Siirt Governor’s Office announced a 10-day ban from January 29 to February 7 on all public gatherings, protests, and related activities, including the entry of individuals and vehicles for such events.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
28 January: A woman, identified as N.K., was arrested for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his family after criticizing his leadership in a street interview, following an investigation launched by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

29 January: Veteran journalist Şirin Payzın announced that Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into her for allegedly “disseminating terrorist propaganda” under Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law.

29 January: A court order blocked access to 361 URLs containing news articles and social media posts about former AKP Mersin MP Zeynep Gül Yılmaz’s 2021 roadside argument with police during a routine road check, which was publicized by CHP MP Ali Mahir Başarır, citing violations of personal, trademark, and copyright rights.

1 February: On February 1, Turkey’s media watchdog RTÜK imposed the highest possible fine on Halk TV for airing a phone conversation between journalist Barış Pehlivan and a court-appointed expert witness, citing privacy violations under Law No. 6112, while Pehlivan, along with journalists Seda Selek and Serhan Asker, was detained as part of a criminal investigation for alleged privacy breaches and attempting to influence judicial proceedings.
1 February: Academic and journalist Çiğdem Bayraktar Ör was arrested by an İstanbul court on Friday following an investigation by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into a social media post allegedly insulting the president and a public official.

JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
27 January: Turkish prosecutors initiated a new investigation into İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on accusations of “attempting to influence a judicial officer” and “attempting to influence a fair trial” after he criticized a court expert for allegedly being selectively assigned to cases against opposition-run municipalities.
31 January: Turkey remains the highest case-count country before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in 2024, with approximately 21,600 pending applications, accounting for 35.8 percent of the court’s caseload.

2 February: The We Are Still Witnesses Platform has called for solidarity ahead of the February 7 hearing at İstanbul’s 15th High Criminal Court, urging support for sociologist and writer Pınar Selek, who faces retrial and a possible aggravated life sentence despite four acquittals in the 26-year-long Egyptian Bazaar case, which has been marred by forged evidence and judicial irregularities.

KURDISH MINORITY
29 January: The Turkish Interior Ministry removed Siirt Mayor Sofya Alağaş from office and appointed a government trustee after a court sentenced her to over six years in prison on terrorism charges, making Siirt the eighth pro-Kurdish DEM Party municipality taken over by the government since the March 2024 elections.

OTHER MINORITIES
31 January: Turkish authorities have refused to comply with a Constitutional Court ruling recognizing the Vakıflıköy Armenian Church Foundation’s property rights, rejecting its restitution request despite a legal mandate and prompting the foundation to file a criminal complaint.

TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
27 January: Tokat T-Type Prison inmate Mehmet Şirin Kaya was reportedly subjected to forced mouth searches and handcuffed medical examinations during infirmary and hospital transfers.
TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
30 January: Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned a January 18 drone strike by the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) on a Kurdish Red Crescent ambulance in northern Syria as an apparent war crime, following an earlier attack on protesters at Tishreen Dam that killed at least six people and wounded 16 others.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
1 February: Turkey’s Court of Cassation overturned the aggravated life sentence of Cemal Metin Avcı for the 2020 murder of university student Pınar Gültekin, ruling that he did not act with "monstrous feeling" and should receive a reduced sentence with an "unjust provocation" reduction.

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