ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 36 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.
2 October: In the most recent turn of events in Turkey’s ongoing crackdown on the faith-based Gülen movement, authorities have apprehended a former judge and a former prosecutor who were being sought due to their alleged ties to the movement.
3 October: Turkish police have detained 13 students in an operation based in the southern province of Mersin 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
3 October: Police intervened in a protest organized by members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district against Israel's attacks on Palestine and Lebanon. Five people, including journalist Yadigar Aygün from Gazete Patika, were detained with reports of torture and ill-treatment during the arrest.
4 October: Police intervened in a protest organized by members of TAYAD in Ankara’s Yüksel Street, demanding the closure of Y and S-Type prisons, detaining 5 people with reports of torture and ill-treatment during the arrest.
5 October: Police detained three members of the Direniş Çadırı group at Adana Şakirpaşa Airport during TEKNOFEST 2024 after they protested Turkey’s trade relations with Israel during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s speech.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
1 October: News reports about İsrafil Demir, who was arrested in the US for selling counterfeit Cisco network devices and later seen on stage with President Erdoğan during his US visit, was blocked by Gölbaşı (Ankara) Criminal Court.
4 October: The governor’s office in the southern Turkish province of Antalya has banned a documentary depicting the plight of victims of a post-coup purge in Turkey at a film festival in the city, in the latest example of censorship faced by the documentary’s director.
4 October: Ankara courts blocked and ordered the deletion of news reports about RTÜK President Ebubekir Şahin allegedly hiring family members and appointing his police guard as a consultant.
KURDISH MINORITY
30 September: Members of the music group Koma Hevra—Zeynep Doğan, Gencay Morkoç, and Yusuf Keleş—were detained on the grounds of making 'terrorist propaganda', after performing Kurdish songs at a concert in Diyarbakır.
4 October: In Aydın, 7 people, including DEM Party officials Görkem Özyürek, Sedanur Aydın, and Helin Uçar, were detained in house raids, with a confidentiality order placed on the investigation and a 24-hour restriction on lawyer access.
PRISON CONDITIONS
1 October: Reports indicate that sick inmates in Van province prisons face delays in medical treatment, with one prisoner suffering from skin disease lacking timely care, and another inmate with cancer unable to access appropriate treatments, worsening their conditions.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
30 September: Abdullah Aydoğan, an 82-year-old Turkish man imprisoned for alleged links to the Gülen movement, was released on parole after losing sight in his right eye during his incarceration.
1 October: Turkish authorities have denied parole for the fourth time to İsmail Hakkı Tursun, ailing from high blood pressure and a hernia, citing a lack of remorse, despite his eligibility for release and worsening health conditions.
2 October: A Kurdish inmate with ALS, Abdulkadir Kuday, died in a Turkish prison after authorities denied his release despite his critical condition and appeals from his family and advocates.
4 October: Turkish authorities sent 67-year-old cancer patient Abdurrahman Gemicioğlu to prison to serve an eight-year sentence, despite his severe health issues, including colon cancer and heart failure, which his family says makes it impossible for him to care for himself.
4 October: A police officer physically assaulted gas station employee C.A.C. during an argument in Çankırı, leading to the launch of both judicial and administrative investigations.
5 October: In Şanlıurfa’s Karaköprü district, Hasan and Sinan Harman were subjected to physical violence, handcuffed, and sprayed with tear gas by police after questioning the search of their vehicle, later filing a complaint with medical evidence.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
3 October: In September, men in Turkey killed 33 women, one child, and harassed or abused numerous others, according to Bianet's Male Violence Monitoring Report, which also highlighted suspicious deaths and violence across the country.
Comments