Arbitrary Detention and Arrest
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 1 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.
5 October: Confidential police records revealed that authorities profiled 207 university students using information about investigations and prosecutions involving relatives over alleged links to the Gülen movement.
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.
6 October: The lawyer for missing university student Gülistan Doku said investigators were examining the phone of former Tunceli governor Tuncay Sonel for new evidence in the case, while Doku’s whereabouts have remained unknown since January 2020.
Freedom of Assembly and Association
7 October: Police used force to block demonstrators in İzmir who attempted to march to the metropolitan municipality after Mayor Cemil Tugay switched from the opposition to the ruling AKP.
10 October: Turkish prosecutors charged 45 people, including political party officials and a civic organization leader, over a July protest against the NATO summit in Ankara, accusing them of participating in an unlawful assembly and failing to disperse.
Freedom of Expression and Media
6 October: Journalist organizations urged X to reject vague or disproportionate blocking requests from Turkey, warning that account-wide restrictions undermine press freedom and public access to news.
6 October: An İstanbul court sentenced LeMan cartoonist Doğan Pehlevan to an 11-month suspended prison term for insulting President Erdoğan over social-media posts attributed to an account that Pehlevan denied owning.
6 October: A Turkish court sentenced Melek Karahan to 15 months in prison for publicly disseminating misleading information over social-media posts questioning the official account of the July 2016 coup attempt.
7 October: The European Court of Human Rights found that Turkey violated investigative journalist Müyesser Yıldız’s freedom of expression by holding her in pretrial detention for nearly five months over reporting on Turkey’s military involvement in Libya.
7 October: A Turkish court sentenced JINNEWS editor Öznur Değer to 18 months and former Yeni Yaşam editor-in-chief Osman Akın to 10 months over reports alleging torture by a gendarmerie commander, with Akın’s sentence suspended.
7 October: A Turkish court sentenced two men to life in prison for the 2025 killing of journalist and documentary filmmaker Hakan Tosun, while his family continued to seek investigation of another person they believe was involved in the attack.
8 October: Turkish authorities detained actress Berna Laçin over a social-media post criticizing İzmir Mayor Cemil Tugay’s switch to the ruling party, in an investigation for allegedly inciting hatred and hostility.
9 October: Turkish prosecutors opened a disinformation and defamation investigation into Cumhuriyet reporter Gülnur Saydam over a report on a municipal land sale despite the municipality having confirmed the sale in writing.
9 October: Turkish authorities detained journalists Mustafa Balcı and Şaban Sevinç over alleged misleading information concerning an investment-fund scandal involving claims about ruling-party officials.
10 October: Turkey published regulations banning children under 15 from using social-media platforms from November 1 and requiring providers to implement age-verification and other technical restrictions.
Freedom of Religion
5 October: Education union Eğitim Sen criticized a new Education Ministry Alevi-Bektashi curriculum, saying the state cannot determine the “correct” interpretation of a belief and warning that the program raised concerns about state neutrality and secular education.
Judicial Independence & Rule of Law
6 October: The European Court of Human Rights asked Turkey whether the parents of 11-year-old Rabia Naz Vatan had an effective remedy after the Constitutional Court found serious flaws in the investigation into her death but did not order it reopened.
6 October: Turkish courts jailed four opposition mayors and an acting mayor pending trial while police detained 45 people in a new municipal operation, amid opposition allegations of politically motivated prosecutions.
7 October: Turkey’s Constitutional Court warned that lower courts’ refusal to implement its binding judgments could throw the legal system into “chaos,” ordering retrial proceedings for jailed Gezi Park defendant Tayfun Kahraman.
7 October: An Ankara regional administrative court rejected dismissed academic Hakan Koçak’s reinstatement appeal based on his signature of the Peace Petition, despite Constitutional Court case law and Council of State rulings saying the signature alone cannot establish affiliation with a terrorist organization.
9 October: A report found that 40 opposition CHP mayors had been arrested since the March 2024 local elections, with investigations leading to suspensions and government intervention in municipal administrations.
9 October: The European Union said developments affecting media freedom, LGBTIQ+ rights and local democracy were deepening concerns over democratic standards and widening the gap between Turkey and EU membership criteria.
10 October: Lawyers for victims of the 2015 Ankara train-station bombing demanded prosecution of public officials, access to restricted investigation files and the return of fugitive suspects, saying accountability remained incomplete 11 years after the attack.
Kurdish Minority
7 October: DEM Party co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan said the government had failed to take basic steps on rights and political freedoms during the Kurdish peace process, including reinstating dismissed academics and ending media censorship and trustee appointments.
Other Minorities
5 October: Turkey’s parliament returned a proposal seeking an investigation into the 1955 anti-minority violence after deeming the word “pogrom” offensive, prompting MP Meral Danış-Beştaş to defend the term as an accurate description of organized violence targeting Greek, Armenian and Jewish communities.
Prison Conditions
5 October: Rights groups reported that prison administrative and observation boards had repeatedly postponed the release of at least eight women in Sincan Prison, including long-term and seriously ill prisoners, on grounds including a lack of “remorse.”
9 October: Independent lawmaker Mustafa Yeneroğlu warned that 73-year-old Abdullah Tırpan, imprisoned over alleged Gülen movement links, could die in custody after he was found unable to stand and suffering from advanced gangrene despite repeated findings that he was fit to remain in prison.
Refugees and Migrants
5 October: Kurdish Iranian journalist Zanyar Aziznezhad said guards at a Turkish removal center beat him repeatedly and tried to force him to sign deportation papers despite his fears of political persecution in Iran.
7 October: An Iraqi asylum seeker said migration authorities denied his request for a Kurdish interpreter during an international-protection interview in Afyonkarahisar and incorrectly recorded him as an Afghan national, putting his application at risk.
Torture and Ill-Treatment
6 October: Former Turkish Air Force pilot Kerime Yıldırım said police threatened her with rape and harm to her family while she was in custody following the 2016 coup attempt.
7 October: Turkey’s Constitutional Court found that prison officials subjected dismissed prosecutor Hasan Dursun to treatment incompatible with human dignity and that authorities failed to effectively investigate his complaint.
8 October: The Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee reported credible allegations of beatings and electric shocks in Turkish detention facilities and raised concerns about prolonged solitary confinement, inadequate healthcare and safeguards against abuse.
Women’s Rights
6 October: Turkey’s Court of Cassation overturned a 12-year prison sentence for aggravated sexual assault and ordered the defendant’s release, drawing criticism from the complainant’s lawyer over alleged procedural irregularities and gender-biased reasoning.
8 October: The We Will Stop Femicide Platform reported that 28 women were killed by men in Turkey in September and 19 others died under suspicious circumstances.
Gender Rights
5 October: Amnesty International launched an Urgent Action calling for the immediate and unconditional release of at least 23 detained LGBTI+ rights defenders and journalist Tuğba Tekerek, saying their detention in connection with advocacy and journalism was arbitrary, punitive and discriminatory.
