ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 15 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.
August 12: The Constitutional Court ruled that jailed Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk should receive neurological and psychiatric treatment in hospital while rejecting a plea for her release. Tuğluk’s lawyers and rights groups have announced that she suffers from dementia and repeatedly called for her release.
August 13: Zülfü Yıldırım, a 68-year-old severely disabled and sick prisoner, lost his life in an Elazığ prison. The authorities announced that the cause of death was a heart attack and a consecutive falling down.
August 14: An Ankara prison denied parole to Mukaddes Kubilay, jailed Kurdish politician and the former mayor of Ağrı, on the grounds that she had exchanged greetings with families of other prisoners.
ARBITRARY DEPRIVATION OF LIFE
August 10: The Constitutional Court found no violation of the right to life in the case of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, a university student who was beaten to death by police officers during the Gezi Park protests of 2013. The court ruled that a police officer involved in the incident should be retried for the violation of the prohibition of torture and that Korkmaz’s family should be paid compensation.
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
August 9: The police in Muğla intervened in a protest vigil against the construction of a hotel, briefly detaining 15 people.
August 9: The police in İstanbul intervened in a funeral organized for a leftist militant, detaining 10 people.
August 10: The Batman Governor’s Office restricted all outdoor gatherings for a period of 10 days.
August 11: The police in İstanbul detained two people staging a demonstration to support a prisoner who is on hunger strike.
August 11: The police in İstanbul intervened in a workers’ protest, briefly detaining 12 people.
August 11: A district governor’s office in Balıkesir refused to authorize a music festival, citing public order reasons.
August 11: The police in İzmir raided a local leftist party office in anticipation of a planned demonstration to commemorate a militant, briefly detaining 20 people.
August 11: The police in Tekirdağ briefly detained 10 activists in anticipation of a planned demonstration to support a prisoner who is on hunger strike.
August 11: A district governor’s office in İstanbul banned all outdoor gatherings for a period of one month. The decision was announced following demonstrations organized by workers to protest a construction company.
August 12: The police in İstanbul intervened in a workers’ protest, detaining 10 people.
August 13: The police in İstanbul intervened in a demonstration to commemorate a leftist militant, detaining 23 people.
August 13: The police in İstanbul intervened in a demonstration about sick prisoners, briefly detaining 40 people.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
August 8: An İstanbul court ruled to block access to 23 news reports about allegations that a relative of a prominent cleric was awarded a ministerial construction contract.
August 9: An İstanbul court ruled to block access to three news reports on allegations that Nermin Aydıner, a medical doctor and the wife of high judiciary member Ömer Faruk Aydıner, was appointed to replace the chief physician of a hospital who was prosecuted by her husband over alleged links to the Gülen movement.
August 9: İstanbul prosecutors launched an investigation into a group of football fans whose chants during a league game allegedly contained insults against the president. The prosecutors instructed the local police department to identify the people based on video footage of the game.
August 10: Prosecutors indicted journalist Nazan Özcan over her coverage of bribery allegations implicating a former lawyer for the president.
August 10: An İstanbul court ruled to block access to a news report about bribery allegations implicating a former lawyer for the president.
August 10: The Constitutional Court ruled that advertising bans imposed on government-critical newspapers BirGün, Cumhuriyet and Evrensel were in violation of the right to freedom of expression and media.
August 10: Prosecutors launched an investigation into lawyer Ebru Demirtepe due to her social media reaction to an armed assault on a HDP bureau in İzmir last year that killed a party employee.
August 11: An İstanbul court ruled to block access to a news report on allegations that a number of people were brought to high-level government positions after obtaining diplomas fabricated by fake foreign-based universities.
August 12: The police in İstanbul detained journalist Zeynep Kuray who was following a workers’ protest.
August 12: Several Kurdish musicians announced that the municipal police in İstanbul were preventing them from singing in Kurdish on the streets.
August 13: Journalist Ebru Uzun Oruç announced that she and her family was targeted in an armed attack in İstanbul. The incident took place after Oruç received threatening messages over her street interviews critical of far-right politician and ruling party ally Devlet Bahçeli.
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
August 10: Boğaziçi University administration refused to extend academic Can Candan’s employment contract despite an administrative court decision that ordered the stay of execution on the academic’s dismissal.
August 11: İstanbul prosecutors decided that there was no grounds for legal action in the case of inmate Ferhan Yılmaz who committed suicide in April 2022 following an incident of torture in an İstanbul prison.
KURDISH MINORITY
August 9: The police in Batman detained local HDP executive Sezgin Yavuz.
August 11: The police in Şırnak detained local HDP executive Sabuha Akdağ.
August 12: The Constitutional Court ruled that jailed Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk should receive neurological and psychiatric treatment in hospital while rejecting a plea for her release.
August 12: Several Kurdish musicians announced that the municipal police in İstanbul were preventing them from singing in Kurdish on the streets.
August 13: The police in Hakkari detained nine people, including local HDP executives.
August 14: Jailed Kurdish politician Mehmet Candemir died after being taken to a hospital from a prison in Giresun. The authorities said the cause of death was a heart attack. Candemir was serving a sentence of 17 years, six months on terrorism-related charges.
August 14: An Ankara prison denied parole to Mukaddes Kubilay, jailed Kurdish politician and the former mayor of Ağrı, on the grounds that she had exchanged greetings with families of other prisoners.
August 14: The police in Mersin, Hatay, Adana, İzmir, Van and Manisa detained 43 members and executives of the HDP.
OTHER MINORITIES
August 12: A Greek minority association announced that it was forced to cancel a traditional Assumption Day event following complaints filed with authorities.
PRISON CONDITIONS
August 8: Media reports revealed that tap water supply in an Adana prison has been limited to one hour per day for nearly two months.
August 8: An Afyon prison kept four inmates who tested positive for Covid-19 in the same ward as inmates who tested negative and did not offer medical care to the infected inmates.
August 8: The Constitutional Court ruled that an İstanbul court violated inmate Mahmud Sıddık Ecevit’s rights by restricting his visitation rights.
August 9: The lawyer for Alparslan Kuytul, the arrested leader of an anti-government religious group, announced on social media that Kuytul was kept in a one-person cell in a prison located at 900 kilometers from his family and that his phone and video calls with his family were arbitrarily restricted.
August 12: Reports said that a women’s prison in Diyarbakır was offering insufficient food and hygiene products to inmates.
REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
August 9: Turkish coast guard recovered the bodies of three migrants who were pushed back into Turkish waters by Greece.
August 12: The Greek government called on Turkey to help some 40 migrants who were believed to be stranded for several days on a river islet on the two countries’ common border.
August 13: Four Syrian refugees were attacked by a racist mob and injured in Bolu. Four people were detained and arrested in connection with the incident.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
August 10: A lawyers’ association announced that their client Mehdi Mıhçı was mistreated while in police custody in İstanbul.
August 10: The Constitutional Court found no violation of the right to life in the case of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, a university student who was beaten to death by police officers during the Gezi Park protests of 2013. The court ruled that a police officer involved in the incident should be retried for the violation of the prohibition of torture and that Korkmaz’s family should be paid compensation.
August 11: The guards in a Konya prison confiscated inmates’ sheets and blankets. The prison administration launched a disciplinary investigation into inmates who objected to the confiscation and interrupted the phone calls of those who told about the mistreatment.
August 11: İstanbul prosecutors decided that there was no grounds for legal action in the case of inmate Ferhan Yılmaz who committed suicide in April 2022 following an incident of torture in an İstanbul prison.
August 11: The Constitutional Court ruled in favor of Deniz Şah who was physically assaulted by prison guards in Bolu for trying to stage a sit-in protest.
August 13: The police in İstanbul strip-searched 23 people who were detained during a demonstration.
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