Oct 17, 2023
Updated: Oct 19, 2023
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 12 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.
October 11: The mother of Yusuf Kerim Sayın, who died of bone cancer last week, was detained on Monday by police in Turkey’s Sakarya province to finish serving a sentence on conviction of alleged links to the Gülen movement.
October 11: Lawyer Şevin Kaya from ÖHD Ankara Branch stated that political prisoners who are eligible for parole are being prosecuted by the administration under the name of "interview".
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.
October 9: The march planned for October 8 in Tandoğan Square as part of the "World Women's March" and the Anıtpark concerts were banned by the Ankara Governorate.
October 10: The police used batons, pepper spray and rubber bullets to intervene against the protesters who were demonstrating against urban transformation in Şahintepe neighborhood of Başakşehir district of Istanbul and detained 10 people by using physical violence.
October 11: During the closing concert of the 3rd International Refugee Film Festival organized by the Peoples' Bridge Association, held at Izmir Ahmet Adnan Soygun Art Center, a demand was made to stop the concert on the grounds that while Bajar was on stage, a traditional Kurdish dance, halay, was being performed in the hall.
October 12: The governorate of Mardin made a declaration on October 12, 2023 and announced that all meetings, demonstrations, press declarations, open and closed meetings and similar events and activities are banned for 7 days as of October 13, 2023.
October 12: Turkish police detained at least 40 people in the country’s southeast on Thursday for holding a demonstration in protest of ongoing airstrikes by the Turkish military in northeast Syria.
October 12: A Turkish court in İzmir handed down varying prison sentences to four people due to their attendance at a gathering in support of Boğaziçi University protests.
October 13: Octoberfest, which was planned to take place in Eskişehir Odunpazarı on October 14-15, was banned by the Eskisehir governor's office after it was targeted by some circles, especially trade unions, since the announcement of the event was published.
October 14: The gendarmerie intervened in the protest against the dismantling of horse transformers in Dilimli rural neighborhood of Eyyübiye district of Şanlıurfa and detained 6 people, including the headman of the neighborhood, using physical violence.
October 9: At least 1 news article on the torture of minors during "zikir" in Şanlıurfa was blocked by Şanlıurfa 1st Criminal Judicature of Peace on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
October 10: Horasan Criminal Judicature of Peace blocked at least one news article on the second corruption operation against the AKP-led Horasan Municipality on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
October 10: At least one column about Konya Selçuk University and its rector was blocked by Konya 4th Criminal Judgeship of Peace on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
October 11: A Turkish court has ordered Kurdish politician and former member of parliament Sebahat Tuncel to pay damages to a paramilitary organization with alleged ties to the country’s president due to a speech she made in 2016.
October 12: Bakırköy 3rd Criminal Judicature of Peace ordered at least 3 news articles about journalist Murat Ağırel's article on how much land was sold in the area where Canal Istanbul will pass through and who bought land to be blocked from access and deleted on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
October 13: At least 3 news articles about Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor İsmail Uçar's report to the General Secretariat of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors on the bribery scheme in the courthouse were first blocked by the Istanbul 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace on the grounds of violation of personal rights, and then the news articles were ordered to be deleted with an additional decision.
October 14: A Turkish court in Aydın has ruled to arrest two teenagers out of three who were detained on allegations of denigrating the public’s religious values on social media, releasing one under judicial supervision.
October 13: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on Thursday urging Turkey to comply with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and calling for the immediate release of philanthropist and businessman Osman Kavala.
October 14: The Ankara police have carried out house raids to detain 20 people, including lawyers from the Progressive Lawyers’ Association (Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği, ÇHD), on terrorism-related accusations based on an anonymous tip they received over the phone.
October 10: On the eighth anniversary of the biggest terrorist attack in the history of the Turkish Republic, lawyers for the victims’ families are still demanding accountability for the lack of transparency in the case, the failure to arrest the main suspects, the ignoring of earlier leads and the withholding of evidence and intelligence reports from the court.
October 13: LGBT advocacy group KAOS GL has released a report that revealed that nine out of 10 LGBT individuals in Turkey regularly face digital violence.
October 9: 39 political prisoners in Ankara Sincan Women's Prison were sentenced to 1 month of deprivation of communication rights as part of a disciplinary investigation against them for the 3-day food boycott organized for the release of sick prisoners.
October 13: The guards in a prison in western Turkey allegedly strip-searched and verbally assaulted Berna Çelik, a provincial executive of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) who was recently arrested on terrorism-related charges.