ARBITRARY DETENTION AND ARREST
Throughout the week, prosecutors ordered the detention of at least 41 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.
10 December: Turkish police detained 24 individuals over alleged links to the Gülen movement in a series of coordinated house raids in seven provinces.
13 December: Turkish police detained 14 individuals over alleged links to the Gülen movement in a series of coordinated house raids in three provinces.
13 December: The U.S. State Department's "Country Reports on Terrorism 2023" criticized Turkey for continuing to arrest individuals, including alleged members of the Gülen movement, based on scant evidence and minimal due process.
ARBITRARY DEPRIVATION OF LIFE
9 December: Turkey recorded 709 prison deaths in the first 11 months of 2024, according to official Ministry of Justice data, amid ongoing concerns about prison conditions and healthcare access.
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 December: The Urfa Governor's Office announced on December 11, 2024, a seven-day ban on public gatherings, marches, press statements, hunger strikes, sit-ins, rallies, leaflet distribution, and similar activities, as well as entry and exit of individuals deemed likely to participate, effective from December 11 to December 18, 2024.
13 December: Nine pro-Palestinian activists, who interrupted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's speech on November 29 to protest Turkey's alleged ongoing trade with Israel, face charges that could lead to up to three years in prison.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA
9 December: Turkish journalist İbrahim Haskoloğlu, known for investigating government corruption and political issues, went into indefinite exile after receiving escalating death threats related to his reporting.
9 December: The news reports that Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Şuayip Birinci, who held a meeting with general practitioners who held a strike action on 5-7 November 2024, criticised the strike decision and stated that people did not feel the absence of family doctors, were banned from access by the decision of Gölbaşı (Ankara) Criminal Judicature of Peace.
12 December: Lawyer Dilek Ekmekçi, who was investigating the Sinan Ateş assassination, was arrested after the nationalist MHP filed a complaint against her and was forcibly hospitalized under claims of mental disability during her hunger strike.
13 December: Folk musician Pınar Aydınlar was detained after displaying a poster of Seyid Rıza, leader of the 1937 Dersim rebellion, during her concert in Istanbul, leading to an investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for "praising a crime and a criminal."
JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE & RULE OF LAW
10 December: Turkey's Constitutional Court upheld a regulation prohibiting doctors and veterinarians convicted of political charges from working in private hospitals.
10 December: The Venice Commission has concluded that Turkey's Council of Judges and Prosecutors is under complete executive control, undermining judicial independence and violating international standards.
KURDISH MINORITY
13 December: Turkish police have detained Reşat Aşan, the Mersin provincial chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), along with five others, as part of an investigation by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
13 December: Serhat Durmuş, an employee of the pro-Kurdish Yeni Yaşam newspaper, was arrested during house raids in Siirt, accused of providing aid to a terrorist organization, while two others, Mehmet Nezir Kaplan and Yusuf Özbay, were released under judicial control.
REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
11 December: On December 6, 2024, a boat carrying 30 refugees off the coast of Seferihisar, İzmir, faced a sinking risk; 25 were rescued, two bodies were recovered on December 10, and a third was found dead on December 11, while search efforts continue for the remaining two missing individuals.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
10 December: Four young men in Hakkari province were subjected to ill-treatment by Turkish police, including detention, strip-searches, and physical assault, following a road rage incident with plainclothes officers.
11 December: Turkish labor union official İsmet Aslan, suffering from mycosis fungoides—a rare skin cancer—has been denied access to his prescribed medication in an Istanbul prison.
12 December: In ‘The case of detained girls on 7 may 2024’, a university student identified as S.N.B. testified that she was subjected to a strip-search while in custody, describing the experience as "deeply humiliating and inhumane."
TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION
12 December: UN Secretary-General António Guterres has pledged active advocacy against the forced return of refugees, following Kenya's deportation of four Turkish nationals linked to the Gülen movement, which critics argue violated international law.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
11 December: Turkey's Constitutional Court has dismissed an application challenging the country's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, ruling it inadmissible on the grounds that the applicants failed to demonstrate personal and direct impact from the withdrawal.
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