Arbitrary Detention and Arrest
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 43 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.
29 September: Turkish police detained 20 people, including five serving and four dismissed public servants, in operations across six provinces over alleged links to the Gülen movement, citing contacts, digital material, Bank Asya activity and payphone records as evidence.
Arbitrary Deprivation of Life
29 September: The FİSA Child Rights Center reported that at least 239 children died from preventable causes in Turkey during June–August 2026, including at least 14 deaths linked directly to public institutions or the acts or omissions of public officials.
2 October: A newly disclosed forensic report documented that Kurdish villager Servet Turgut died from complications of severe blunt-force trauma, including a brain hemorrhage, 11 broken ribs and spinal and internal-organ injuries, after he was detained by Turkish gendarmes in 2020; the investigation remains open and no one has been charged.
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
30 September: UN human rights rapporteurs raised concerns over what they described as continued judicial harassment of İstanbul’s Tarlabaşı Community Center, including proceedings declaring the organization legally defunct and seeking its dissolution over activities involving minority, women’s, children’s and LGBTQ+ rights.
Freedom of Expression and Media
28 September: Turkish authorities blocked access to at least 150 X accounts, including those of journalists Meral Danyıldız, Sarya Toprak and Esra Tokat and the news outlet Bizim TV, amid restrictions targeting commentary on financial markets, court cases and civil-rights issues.
28 September: A Turkish court convicted comedian Deniz Göktaş of insulting President Erdoğan and publicly insulting religious values over remarks in a stand-up performance, sentencing him to 18 months in total while ordering his release after 88 days in custody.
28 September: Ankara prosecutors charged DW Turkish judicial reporter Alican Uludağ with repeatedly spreading misleading information over posts linking subway construction to a fatal building collapse, although a later expert report commissioned by prosecutors supported a connection between the construction and the collapse.
30 September: An İstanbul court sentenced journalist Züleyha Müldür to six years and three months for membership in a terrorist organization, with prosecutors citing her journalism, attendance at demonstrations and public events and social-media activity as evidence.
30 September: An İstanbul court shut down independent news website T24 and its social-media accounts after prosecutors alleged that 118 items published by the outlet constituted “LGBT propaganda.”
1 October: Turkish authorities blocked the X account of EngelliWeb, the Freedom of Expression Association project that documents online censorship, without initially disclosing the court or legal basis behind the order.
Human Rights Defenders
29 September: A Turkish court released four Human Rights Association members after more than three months in pretrial detention following mass arrests ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, while two other İHD members remained imprisoned.
Judicial Independence & Rule of Law
29 September: The European Court of Human Rights found violations in 947 cases involving alleged Gülen movement links convictions in Turkey, including fair-trial violations stemming from shortcomings in defendants’ ability to challenge evidence used against them.
29 September: The Council of Europe’s GRECO reported that Turkey had still not implemented 21 of 32 recommendations on preventing corruption among senior government officials and law-enforcement personnel, while seven of 22 recommendations concerning lawmakers, judges and prosecutors also remained unimplemented.
1 October: Jailed MP Can Atalay began a 24-hour hunger strike demanding implementation of Constitutional Court rulings in his favor and restoration of his parliamentary status, as he remained imprisoned despite two top-court findings that his rights had been violated.
1 October: Police detained Mersin Mayor Vahap Seçer, two other mayors and 59 other people in corruption investigations targeting three municipalities, as opposition figures alleged unequal and politically motivated use of judicial measures while the government denied interference.
2 October: Police detained Eyüpsultan Mayor Mithat Bülent Özmen and 27 others in a corruption investigation, continuing a series of operations against opposition-run municipalities that the CHP says are politically motivated and the government says are independent judicial proceedings.
3 October: Police detained Ataşehir acting mayor Murat Güneş and 12 others in a bribery investigation, five months after the district’s elected mayor was jailed, with opposition leader Özgür Özel alleging that Güneş was targeted after refusing pressure to resign.
Kurdish Minority
28 September: The Turkish government assigned responsibilities to four committees overseeing the PKK disarmament and peace process but gave no timetable for verifying disarmament, which is a prerequisite for legal relief under legislation adopted in August.
30 September: Turkish prosecutors indicted Pro-Kurdish JINNEWS editor Öznur Değer on terrorism-propaganda charges carrying up to five years in prison over social-media posts containing news reports and photographs.
1 October: The family and lawyer of imprisoned Kurdish singer Nûdem Durak called for her release as her health deteriorated after more than 11 years in prison, saying her prosecution relied largely on her Kurdish musical and cultural activities.
Prison Conditions
28 September: Jailed journalist Tuğba Tekerek was reported to be sleeping on the floor beside a toilet in an overcrowded Sincan Prison ward, while nine-month-pregnant prisoner Tuğba Ağırşen, who requires oxygen support for a respiratory condition, was also sleeping on the floor.
29 September: Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that solitary-confinement penalties imposed on 23 female prisoners over publications and handwritten notes seized during prison searches violated their freedom of expression.
1 October: Lawyers reported that LGBTI+ detainees in Mersin Prison were held in overcrowded conditions, with 18 people in a ward designed for eight, 10 sleeping on the floor, and some detainees facing difficulties obtaining medication, clothing and confidential access to lawyers.
Refugees and Migrants
30 September: İstanbul police detained Uyghur woman Akide İsmail despite her valid residence permit and transferred her to a removal centre without a publicly stated reason, prompting fears that she could be deported to China.
Torture and Ill-Treatment
1 October: Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine declared cancer patient İbrahim Halil Al fit to remain imprisoned despite signs that his cancer had progressed following roughly five months without treatment while awaiting medical assessment.
2 October: Kurdish university student D.K. said he was tortured after being detained during protests near the Syrian border in Nusaybin, while prosecutors declined to prosecute his torture complaint and a subsequent objection was rejected.
Women’s Rights
29 September: Women’s-rights advocates warned that Turkey’s 150 women’s shelters, with reported capacity for 3,650 people, were insufficient and that failures to effectively enforce protection orders were leaving women fleeing violence without adequate protection.
30 September: A women’s-rights advocate called for stronger protection measures after 13 women were murdered by men in Turkey between 19 and 28 September, 12 of them by husbands or men from whom they had separated.
30 September: Turkey’s Constitutional Court annulled the phrase “indefinitely” in the Civil Code provision governing poverty alimony, ruling that automatically indefinite payments without case-specific criteria were unconstitutional; the ruling will take effect after a nine-month transition period.
2 October: Women’s rights platform EŞİK called for an investigation after police recorded a woman in her home in pajamas during a detention operation and the footage was subsequently distributed publicly despite her asking officers to stop filming.
Gender Rights
1 October: Turkish prosecutors indicted openly queer pop singer Mabel Matiz on obscenity charges carrying up to three years in prison over a music-video scene showing two men dancing together.
2 October: PACE called on Turkey to end repression of LGBTQ+ people and human-rights defenders, noting that the ongoing “My Family Is Safe” operation had targeted 162 people, nine associations and 13 businesses, with at least 116 people detained and 82 jailed pending trial.
