ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 63 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.
1 August: Turkish police have detained 55 people across 21 provinces in the last four days over their alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement.
1 August: Within the scope of the investigation conducted by Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on the grounds of ''violating the Law on the Prevention of Financing of Terrorism'' and ''membership in an illegal organisation'', 6 people including Nilay Güleser, Co-Chair of Aegean Association of Relatives of Prisoners and Detainees (Ege TUHAYDER), were detained.
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 EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
30 July: MedyaRadar's website www.medyaradar.com was blocked by the decision of Istanbul 3rd Criminal Judgeship of Peace.
31 July: Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has imposed administrative sanctions on Netflix, MUBI and BluTV for hosting content deemed immoral.
31 July: The post of economist Selçuk Geçer, who shared the list of big companies that do not pay taxes, and the news reports on the subject were blocked from access by the decision of Istanbul 5th Criminal Judicature of Peace on the grounds of violation of personal rights.
2 August: Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into a famous actress, Berna Laçin, who criticized the lawmakers who backed a law that is criticized for paving way for the mass killing of stray dogs in the country.
2 August: Following the appointment of Yasin Ekrem Serim, the son of Maksut Serim, a member of the board of directors of Halk Bank and presidential advisor, to the post of ambassador to Nicosia, news about the document allegedly proving the partnership between Yasin Ekrem Serim and murdered casino operator Halil Falyalı was blocked from access by the Istanbul 10th Criminal Judicature of Peace.
3 August: Instagram has been blocked in Turkey due to the Meta representatives’ rejection of Turkey’s demand to censor content praising certain groups the country deems terrorist organizations.
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
29 July: Metin Can Yılmaz, a Turkish human rights lawyer who was sentenced to over 12 years in prison on alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement and after the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s ruling, was arrested again upon the Ankara prosecutors’ opposition to the release on grounds that he posed a flight risk.
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
1 August: Turkey’s Constitutional Court has said removing the parliamentary status of an opposition lawmaker whose incarceration led to a judicial crisis is “null and void,” once again reviving calls for his immediate release.
KURDISH MINORITY
30 July: Turkish police have detained Veysi Dilekçi and Gülşen Kurt, provincial co-chairs of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy and Equality Party (DEM Party), along with several others in the eastern province of Van.
30 July: Unidentified people have defaced Kurdish-language traffic signs in the eastern provinces of Diyarbakır and Van, in what appears to be a racially motivated attack on the minority language.
1 August: Turkish police have detained five people for playing Kurdish-language songs at a wedding in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.
1 August: The Şırnak Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into 13 members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) for singing a Kurdish anthem during a protest in southeastern Turkey.
OTHER MINORITIES
3 August: Garo Kaprielyan, the former chairman of the board of Kınalıada Surp Krikor Lusavoriç Church, who lives in Kınalıada, Istanbul, was subjected to racist insults and physical assault by the employees of a supermarket in the area.
PRISON CONDITIONS
1 August: On 22 July 2024, Mehmet Sorkun (57, m), one of the prisoners in Denizli Kocabaş D Type, T Type and Open Prison, died after being referred to hospital for the second time due to poisoning.
REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
3 August: Mayor of Afyon Municipality Burcu Köksal announced at the opening of the 'Public Restaurant' application launched throughout the province that public restaurants will serve only citizens.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
31 july: A health worker working in Kayseri Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine Emergency Department was subjected to physical violence by Remzi Yıldırım, Incesu District Police Chief Remzi Yıldırım and his two sons who wanted to be examined before it was their turn to be examined.
1 August: Mustafa Aytaç, an inmate at a prison in the western Turkish province of Afyon, remains incarcerated despite suffering from cancer and a medical report indicating a high probability of death.
2 August: Six teenagers who were detained in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Wednesday allege that they were mistreated by the police.
3 August: Yıldırım Demir, an ill prisoner in Bolu F Type Prison, was not given the medication he needed and was not referred to the internal medicine department despite being referred to the hospital emergency department 3 times due to stomach bleeding he had in 1 week.
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