ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 123 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.
5 July: Turkish police have detained 108 people across 29 provinces over their alleged links to the Gülen movement.
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
1 July: Several hundred people participated in an LGBTQ Pride march in İstanbul that had been banned by local authorities, leading to the detention of 15 of the protestors.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
3 July: The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), Turkey’s broadcasting and streaming regulator, has cancelled the broadcasting license of independent radio station Açık Radyo (Open Radio) due to a reference to “genocide” in the mass killing of Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.
4 July: The Mezopotamya Female Journalists Association (MKG) has announced in a monthly report that a total of 22 women journalists were involved in trial proceedings in June over their professional activities.
4 July: The news about former Minister of Transportation Cahit Turhan's appointment as CEO of the Northern Marmara Motorway company, which is jointly operated by Limak, Cengiz, Kolin and Kalyon companies, was blocked from access with the decision of Istanbul 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace.
4 July: The news reports on the statements taken within the scope of the investigation against Ayhan Bora Kaplan, who is on trial for being the leader of a criminal organization, that some public officials took bribes and abused their duties, and that a new investigation was launched into the allegations against these individuals, were blocked from access by the Istanbul 10th Criminal Judgeship of Peace.
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
1 July: Özgür Taşçı, a law school graduate, has been eliminated in the interview stage for the position of judge despite ranking second nationally in last year’s judge candidacy exam, sparking nationwide controversy about Turkey’s interview system for judicial positions and civil service jobs.
5 July: The Turkish Justice Ministry has rejected a petition from the lawyers of jailed businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala asking the ministry to assert its authority to instruct the top appeals court to review its decision upholding his sentence.
KURDISH MINORITY
4 July: Eight Kurdish journalists who were arrested as part of an Ankara-based investigation and released pending trial on May 16, 2023 have been sentenced to six years, three months in prison.
6 July: Fermani Çetin, an inmate serving a life sentence in northwest Turkey, has seen his parole postponed by six years based on disciplinary penalties that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had ruled violated his rights.
PRISON CONDITIONS
5 July: The Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey (TİHEK) reported severe overcrowding and inadequate facilities in Maltepe Type-L Prison, which houses 2,188 inmates despite a capacity of 1,760, with complaints of torture and ill-treatment remaining unaddressed.
REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
1 July: A group of men targeted Syrian businesses and properties in Kayseri on Sunday evening, with videos on social media showing a grocery store being set on fire.
3 July: Turkish social media erupted with hate speech targeting Syrian refugees on Tuesday, following a series of attacks on the refugee community across the country since Sunday.
3 July: Ahmet Handan El Naif, a 17-year-old Syrian refugee worker, was killed in Antalya on Tuesday as racist attacks on Syrians have been spreading across various Turkish provinces since Sunday.
5 July: A massive data breach has compromised the personal information of over 3 million Syrian refugees residing in Turkey amid a wave of anti-Syrian violence in the country.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
4 July: Turkish men killed at least 205 women in acts of domestic violence in the first six months of 2024, while 117 others died under suspicious circumstances in the same period, according to a platform monitoring domestic violence in Turkey.
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