ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 14 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
July 27: The Constitutional Court ruled that the state violated the rights of an inmate who committed suicide in prison in 2015.
ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES
No news has emerged of Yusuf Bilge Tunç and Hüseyin Galip Küçüközyiğit, former public sector workers who were sacked from their jobs by decree-laws during the 2016-2018 state of emergency and who were reported missing respectively as of August 6, 2019 and December 29, 2020, in what appear to be the latest cases in a string of suspected enforced disappearance of government critics since 2016.
FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION
July 26: The police in İstanbul briefly detained activist Nursel Tanrıverdi while staging a sit-in to protest her summary removal from her public sector job in the aftermath of the July 2016 coup attempt.
July 27: An İstanbul court put on trial 17 HDP members for attending a demonstration against the construction of a nuclear power plant in southern Turkey.
July 30: The police in Van, Mardin, İstanbul and Ankara intervened in several demonstrations organized to protest the racist attack against a Kurdish family in Konya, detaining a total of 23 people.
July 30: The Hakkari Governor’s Office issued a ban on all outdoor gatherings for a period of 15 days. The ban has been held in effect since June 2020.
July 31: The police in İstanbul blocked a protest march held by workers, briefly detaining seven people.
August 1: The police in İstanbul blocked a protest march held by workers, briefly detaining two people.
August 1: The police in İstanbul intervened in a protest organized by the HDP, detaining 15 people.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
July 26: A media report claimed that the ruling party is preparing to propose a new law that stipulates up to five years in prison for social media users who spread “disinformation” online.
July 27: A Diyarbakır court ruled to block access to web addresses used by the pro-Kurdish Kızıl Bayrak and Umut newspapers.
July 27: According to a report, 109 journalists appeared before a court in May and June in Turkey.
July 28: The authorities confiscated the print issues of a magazine published by a leftist jurists’ association on the grounds of a court order and detained one person.
July 28: The Coalition for Women in Journalism reported that 44 female journalists were subjected to police violence and 13 detained while covering events in the field in the first half of 2021 in Turkey.
July 29: Broadcasting watchdog RTÜK imposed an administrative fine on pro-opposition broadcaster TELE1 due to comments made by a doctor regarding President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s health.
KURDISH MINORITY
July 26: Gökhan Yavuzel, a Kurdish writer in Wales whose name is on a hit list targeting critics of the Turkish government living abroad, was attacked in a park near his house in Cardiff.
July 26: The German Federal Police warned Hasip Kaplan, a former HDP lawmaker, of a planned assassination targeting him based on a hit list that includes the names of 55 critics of the Turkish government living in exile.
July 27: An İstanbul court put on trial 17 HDP members for attending a demonstration against the construction of a nuclear power plant in southern Turkey.
July 27: A Diyarbakır court ruled to block access to web addresses used by the pro-Kurdish Kızıl Bayrak and Umut newspapers.
July 28: A Kurdish person and his/her five children suffered a racist attack by their neighbors in Ankara.
July 30: Armed assailants in Konya killed seven members of a Kurdish family in a racist attack.
August 1: The police in İstanbul intervened in a protest organized by the HDP, detaining 15 people.
OTHER MINORITIES
July 26: Trans woman Beren Ecmel was physically assaulted by an unidentified individual in İstanbul.
REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
July 26: Tanju Özcan, the opposition mayor of the Bolu province, announced an additional and discriminatory water and solid waste tax 10 times the normal tax to be imposed on migrants living in the province.
July 28: Turkey’s coast guard detained more than 200 migrants, including Afghans and Syrians, while trying to cross the Aegean Sea to reach Greece.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
July 26: A new documentary revealed the details of an incident of torture against former Turkish diplomats at the Ankara Police Department in May 2019.
July 27: The guards and gendarmes in a Kayseri prison physically assaulted inmate Bekir Kuduk for resisting to a strip-search during an involuntary prison transfer.
July 28: The guards in a Şanlıurfa prison physically assaulted inmates Mürşit Aslan, Mahsum Temel, Mehmet Salih Eliş, Mahmut Parsak and Hamdullah Hozan. The authorities reportedly refused to hospitalize the victims.
July 28: Municipal police officers in İstanbul physically assaulted two people.
TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
July 26: The German Federal Police warned Hasip Kaplan, a former HDP lawmaker, of a planned assassination targeting him based on a hit list that includes the names of 55 critics of the Turkish government living in exile. In response to a written parliamentary question, the federal German government confirmed the existence of such a list.
July 28: A US district appeals court in Washington D.C. rejected Turkish government motions to dismiss two lawsuits filed by protesters who were attacked by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s security guards near the residence of the Turkish ambassador in May 2017.
July 28: Official documents revealed that Germany rejected Turkey’s request to hand over government-critical writer Abdullah Aymaz in 2019.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
July 27: Esra Sarı, an employee of the Presidency, was dismissed from her position after reporting sexist behavior and mobbing on the part of her manager.