7 - 13 September 2026
Arbitrary Detention and Arrest
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 31 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.
10 September: Thirty-six people, mostly university students, remain in pretrial detention three months after an İzmir-based operation over alleged Gülen movement links, with prosecutors yet to file an indictment.
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 Expression and Media
10 September: Turkish prosecutors indicted seven journalists on terrorism charges over alleged Gülen links, citing journalistic work, professional payments and use of messaging apps as evidence.
11 September: Turkish cartoonist Nuri Kurtcebe, 78, faces more than two years in prison after his conviction for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over five Facebook posts became final.
11 September: Turkish prosecutors launched an investigation into exiled news outlet TR724 under Turkey’s “disinformation law” over its coverage of the crackdown on the Süleymanlılar religious community.
12 September: Turkish journalist Ahmet Polad was jailed pending trial in İstanbul after Syrian authorities transferred him to Turkey following nearly eight months in Syrian custody, during which he says he was tortured.
Judicial Independence & Rule of Law
8 September: Turkey’s ruling AKP regained control of İstanbul’s Üsküdar Municipality through a city council vote after elected mayor Sinem Dedetaş was jailed and suspended.
11 September: A Turkish court sentenced jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu to more than two years in prison for insulting former Tuzla mayor Şadi Yazıcı and imposed a potential political ban, pending appeal.
11 September: A Turkish court sentenced two pastry shop operators to eight years in prison and ordered their conditional release over the collapse of an apartment building that killed 35 people in the 2023 earthquakes.
12 September: Handwritten court records revealed that senior Justice Ministry officials began mapping and grouping judges in 2013, months before the December corruption investigations, laying groundwork for a government-backed bloc to gain control of Turkey’s judicial governing board.
Kurdish Minority
8 September: Nine Kurdish seasonal farmworkers were injured in an attack in Bursa that they said was triggered by their wearing Amedspor jerseys.
8 September: Former Diyarbakır co-mayor Selçuk Mızraklı was released after nearly seven years in prison and called for the release of jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş.
10 September: A Turkish police officer was given a suspended 18-month sentence for killing 16-year-old Kurdish teenager Mazlum Turan in 2015.
Torture and Ill-Treatment
8 September: The Human Rights Association’s 2025 report documented at least 1,842 cases of torture or ill-treatment and 6,719 arbitrary detentions in Turkey.
Gender Rights
13 September: Turkish police detained dozens of people in raids targeting LGBTI+ organizations and venues in İstanbul and Ankara, while authorities blocked access to websites and social media accounts of 73 groups and activists.
Women’s Rights
10 September: Twenty-two women were killed by men in Turkey in August, while 33 others died under suspicious circumstances, according to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform.
