Turkey Rights Monitor - Issue 265
- Solidarity with Others
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 474 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.
15 July: On the ninth anniversary of Turkey’s 2016 coup attempt, authorities launched sweeping operations targeting over 400 alleged Gülen movement members, detaining dozens, seizing two major retail chains.
20 July: Severely disabled former teacher Ali Aki was arrested in Osmaniye and charged in İstanbul for allegedly receiving aid from other emergency decree victims to cover his basic needs, despite a prior acquittal and serious health problems.
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
20 July: On July 20, 2025, during a march in Ankara’s Çankaya district marking the 10th anniversary of the Suruç Massacre, police detained 40 people using physical violence and reverse handcuffing.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
16 July: Turkish prosecutors have indicted 21 people, including actor Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu, for promoting an opposition-led boycott campaign following the arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, accusing them of inciting hatred and disrupting the economy.
20 July: A court in İzmir sentenced Mezopotamya agency journalist Delal Akyüz to six years and three months in prison for alleged PKK membership, despite defense claims of insufficient evidence.
20 July: Journalist İsmail Arı revealed he was again threatened via text messages targeting his family after reporting on judicial corruption involving a known criminal network, accusing Turkish authorities of inaction despite earlier complaints and warning that police and the Interior Ministry would be responsible if harm comes to him.
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
16 July: İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was sentenced, in a separate case, to 1 year and 8 months in prison for insulting and threatening a public official, while being acquitted of targeting individuals involved in counterterrorism.
18 July: Turkish authorities issued detention warrants for 18 more people in a sweeping corruption probe against İstanbul’s opposition-led municipality, bringing total arrests to 97 and drawing criticism for being politically motivated.
KURDISH MINORITY
15 July: In Istanbul’s Bayrampaşa district, Turkish police reportedly beat and detained 10 Kurdish family members returning from a picnic for playing Kurdish music in their car, resulting in a pregnant woman being hospitalized after an emergency cesarean.
PRISON CONDITIONS
17 July: The release of seven inmates who had completed their prison sentences at Bolu F-Type Prison, was postponed for three months by the Prison Administration and Observation Board (CİGK), some for the seventh time.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
18 July: Former Harran University assistant professor Musa Günay was subjected to severe torture during a 2017 police interrogation in Şanlıurfa while already imprisoned, but his legal complaints were dismissed, as revealed by MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu.
TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
18 July: A classified Turkish police memo shows efforts to bypass INTERPOL rules to seek a Red Notice against exiled journalist Levent Kenez, despite his asylum in Sweden and previous rejections over political motivations.
