ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 145 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.
September 28: The Supreme Court of Appeals of Turkey has upheld the convictions of five defendants including prominent businessman and civil society leader Osman Kavala, human rights lawyer and Workers Party of Turkey (TİP) lawmaker Can Atalay, journalist and film producer Çiğdem Mater, city planner Tayfun Kahraman and filmmaker Mine Özerden in the Gezi Park trial, while it overturned the convictions of three others.
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
September 27: The police intervened in the sit-in protest of Trendyol workers, who were dismissed from their jobs for being union members, in front of the headquarters and detained 15 people using physical violence.
September 29: Writer Murat Gülsoy, a retired faculty member at Boğaziçi University, was banned from entering the school.
September 29: Governorate of Van made a declaration on September 28, 2023 and banned all activities such as press declarations, sit-ins and surveys, setting up/opening tents and stands, organizing petitions, distributing leaflets, brochures and flyers and all kinds of protest actions for 2 days.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
September 25: An investigation was launched against journalist Oktay Candemir for his social media post about the Turkish Women's National Volleyball Team.
September 26: A Turkish court has imposed an access ban on 17 more news reports concerning bribery allegations made by a mobster against a member of a top court that sparked a debate in Turkey about the shadowy relationship between the mafia and the judicial authorities.
September 26: Turkish prosecutors have indicted a journalist, Levent Gültekin, on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan due to his criticism of the president on TV.
September 27: A Turkish court has sentenced Kurdish politician and former MP Selma Irmak to four years, two months in prison on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and denigrating the government.
September 28: Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry announced that it has withdrawn its support for a film festival after the organizing committee reversed its decision to remove a documentary, titled “Kanun Hükmü” (With the Force of Law), depicting the plight of victims of a post-coup purge in Turkey.
September 29: Police in Dersim prevented the distribution of the Yeni Yaşam daily newspaper and detained the distributor.
September 30: A municipality in southern Turkey on Friday canceled a 60-year-old film festival, Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, after a controversy over the removal of a documentary depicting the plight of victims of a post-coup purge in Turkey.
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
September 26: The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Tuesday ruled that Turkish courts’ conviction of a teacher of terrorism over activities such as the use of a mobile application or having an account at a certain bank was unlawful.
September 27: Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç has slammed the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for faulting Turkey in the case of a teacher convicted of terrorism due to his links to a faith-based group, accusing the court of exceeding its authority and acting as an appeals court.
September 29: A Turkish court has released a police chief Yadigar Işık, from the Tekirdağ police department, who was arrested for allegedly stealing assistance intended for survivors of earthquakes that devastated southeastern Turkey in February.
OTHER MINORITIES
September 26: The rainbow flag on the stand opened by Feminist Boğaziçi was forcibly removed by plainclothes police officers and private security units at Boğaziçi University South Campus in Istanbul.
PRISON CONDITIONS
September 27: Isa Kaya, a prisoner in Kayseri T Type Prison, was not given his Kurdish book "Mirxas" for 3 months on the grounds that it is "under review".
September 29: Selver Yıldırım, an ill prisoner in Ankara Sincan Women's Prison, was not being treated and was at risk of losing her eyesight.
REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
September 25: Syrian refugees who were registered in Turkey’s earthquake disaster zones faced the prospect of returning to the region despite unacceptable living conditions.
September 27: Turkish authorities deported 20 Syrian refugees to the city of Ras Al-Ain in northern Syria on Aug. 22, forcing them to sign with their fingerprints documents stating that they asked to return, after confiscating their money, luggage and cell phones.
September 29: An Ankara court has acquitted a police officer accused of sexually assaulting a woman who was held at a migrant detention center.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
September 28: A person named Hasan Dinç was subjected to physical violence of the guards at Aegean National Garden in Ankara. Hasan Dinç was also subjected to torture and ill-treatment in the toilet of Yavuz Selim Police Station where he was taken after being detained.
TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
September 30: The Orion Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.,-based think tank, has published a report that found Turkey as both a perpetrator and a destination of transnational repression, which refers to attempts by governments to intimidate, harass, silence and persecute foreign-based citizens.
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