ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least seven 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.
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
April 17: The police in Ankara intervened in an election campaign booth set up by a leftist party, briefly detaining three party members.
April 20: The governorates of İstanbul and Ankara banned Armenian Genocide remembrance events.
April 22: The police in İstanbul intervened in a demonstration held to raise awareness about enforced disappearance cases of 1980s and 90s, briefly detaining 17 activists.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
April 17: The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) imposed a monetary fine and a temporary broadcast ban on the Show TV channel on the grounds that a series had content that “encouraged” violence against women.
April 18: A Diyarbakır court sentenced Kurdish journalist İsmail Çoban to one year, six months in prison on charges of disseminating terrorist propaganda.
April 18: An Elazığ court sentenced journalist Mehmet Güleş to one year, nine months, 25 days in prison on charges of disseminating terrorist propaganda on social media.
April 18: An Ankara court overturned a fine imposed on a social media user on charges of insulting a political party leader.
April 19: Ankara prosecutors demanded up to two years, four months in prison for actress Hazal Kaya on charges of insulting a former soldier convicted of raping an 18-year-old who later died by suicide.
April 19: An Ankara court ordered opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to pay non-pecuniary damages to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for raising allegations that Erdoğan and his close associates were planning to flee the country.
April 20: The police in Çanakkale detained journalist Serdar Akinan on charges of disseminating misleading information for raising allegations about the failed coup attempt of July 2016. Akinan was released under judicial probation the next day.
April 20: An Ankara court ruled to block access to five news reports and a tweet covering child abuse allegations implicating a deputy minister.
April 20: The authorities blocked access to the YouTube account of a Kurdish businessman who has recently been making allegations about the ruling party.
April 22: The police in Van briefly detained Kurdish journalist Gülşen Konuk over news reports and social media posts.
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
April 17: The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) filed a criminal complaint against the administration of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), Turkey’s public broadcaster, for failing to air its campaign video for the upcoming elections.
April 18: Mardin prosecutors dismissed a complaint against police officers who physically assaulted a person during Newroz celebrations on the grounds that the officers involved in the incident were not identified.
KURDISH MINORITY
April 18: A Diyarbakır court sentenced Kurdish journalist İsmail Çoban to one year, six months in prison on charges of disseminating terrorist propaganda.
April 18: The police in Şırnak detained former district co-mayor Berivan Kutlu. Kutlu was released the next day.
April 19: A court sentenced Kurdish politician Ayşe Gökkan to three years, nine months in prison on terrorism-related charges.
April 22: The police in Van briefly detained Kurdish journalist Gülşen Konuk over news reports and social media posts.
April 23: A racist mob in Antalya attacked a passenger bus to a predominantly Kurdish province, injuring three people.
PRISON CONDITIONS
April 19: An Antalya prison denied medical care to inmates who refused to receive treatment in handcuffs.
April 20: A prison administration in Edirne did not allow inmates to write a joint letter to inmates incarcerated in another prison. The administration also restricted inmates’ social rights.
April 20: Rights groups reported overcrowding and malnutrition in a Giresun prison. Reports also said items sold at the prison cafeteria were overpriced.
April 20: An Edirne prison denied medical care to inmates who refused to receive treatment in handcuffs.
April 20: Prison administrations in Rize and Bayburt restricted inmates’ social and sportive activities and confiscated their letters.
April 22: Abdulvahap Kavak, an inmate with chronic diseases incarcerated in a Bolu prison, was reportedly deprived of needed medical care.
REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
April 19: The Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) revealed that the cause of death of Barış Büyüksu, a 30-year-old Turkish asylum seeker who crossed the Aegean Sea and was later found unconscious in a boat that was pushed back from Greece to the Turkish coast in October, was the torture he was subjected to prior to pushback.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
April 18: More than 60 women who are incarcerated in an Ankara prison sent a joint letter to the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), demanding immediate action on suspicious deaths in Turkey’s prisons.
April 18: Mardin prosecutors dismissed a complaint against police officers who physically assaulted a person during Newroz celebrations on the grounds that the officers involved in the incident were not identified.
TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
April 20:Mehmet Cintosun, a Turkish businessman who went missing in Iraq in January, turned up in police custody in Turkey. Cintosun was reportedly abducted by Turkish intelligence due to his links to the Gülen movement.
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