ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 20 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.
11 July: LGBTI+ activist and Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) member İris Mozalar was detained in İstanbul and subsequently arrested for social media posts defending refugees after attacks on Syrian refugees in Kayseri.
12 July: Turkish police have detained 11 students and five homemakers in recent raids in Bursa and İstanbul over suspected 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
11 July: The police in Ankara forcibly broke up a protest staged by an education workers labor union, detaining 15 teachers.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
8 July: A total of 515 journalists faced prosecution in Turkey in the first six months of 2024, with 36 of them receiving prison sentences or substantial fines.
9 July: Istanbul 6th Criminal Judgeship of Peace decided to block access to the news on the allegation that AKP Bursa MP and former Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank, his relative businessman Islam Cevahir, DHMI General Director and THY Board Member Hüseyin Keskin and Simit Sarayı boss Abdullah Kavukcu made a pilgrimage on a private jet owned by Abdullah Kavukcu.
10 July: Journalist Tolga Şardan appeared in court on Tuesday facing charges of spreading misleading information and degrading state institutions after his T24 article on a judicial report by the intelligence agency, potentially facing up to five years in prison.
11 July: The news and columns about Simit Sarayı, which received a significant amount of state funding due to its pro-government stance, were blocked from access by the Istanbul 3rd Criminal Judgeship of Peace.
11 July: News reports on the 168,000 Turkish lira dinner between Metin Kıratlı, the Presidential Chief of Administrative Affairs, and Serkan Korkutata, the AKP's Ankara deputy provincial chairman, were blocked from access by the Ankara 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace.
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
9 July: The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Monday notified Ankara of 1,000 applications in its docket for convictions of Gülen movement membership over the use of the ByLock smartphone application, following a landmark ruling in September 2023 that found the use of the application to not constitute a reliable piece of evidence or a criminal offense.
9 July: A 16-year-old girl who was detained on May 7 together with 13 other minors in connection with an ongoing investigation into the Gülen movement is now facing accusations of terrorism.
11 July: Journalist Hayko Bağdat, a Turkish-Armenian journalist based in Germany, has been given a 14-month suspended sentence for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
KURDISH MINORITY
9 July: S. A. (15, m) was subjected to physical violence by the gendarmerie during a house raid in Eskihisar village of Mardin's Nusaybin district.
OTHER MINORITIES
11 July: The Freedom of Belief Initiative's 2023 report, "Hate Crimes in Turkey Based on Religion, Belief, or Non-Belief," highlights 47 hate crimes primarily targeting Christians, followed by Jews, Alevis, Muslims, Ezidis, and atheists, based on media monitoring and community notifications, aiming to prevent such crimes and eliminate impunity.
PRISON CONDITIONS
9 July: Numerous inmates at Ankara Sincan 1 Nolu High-Security Prison were poisoned by the breakfast provided and were sent to the emergency room, with allegations also stating that at least 850 inmates at Sincan Open Prison were poisoned by the meals served.
REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
8 July: In Konya, Aleppo Restaurant run by Syrian refugees was stoned and rendered unusable by anti-refugees.
9 July: A life raft carrying migrants crashed into rocks off Turkey’s Aegean coastal town of Çeşme, killing seven people on board.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
10 July: The family of Mehmet Darga, a 65-year-old inmate suffering from diabetes and hypertension who has undergone two angioplasty procedures while in prison, is calling on Turkish authorities to grant him release for medical reasons.
11 July: Yaşar Bayar, a prisoner in Giresun Espiye L Type Prison, was not taken to the prison infirmary and was not referred to a hospital despite of loss of vision and back pains.
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