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Author: Zaman Australia

  • Police ban on Kurdish music in İstanbul street sparks Kurdish music frenzy

    Police ban on Kurdish music in İstanbul street sparks Kurdish music frenzy

     

    A large number of politicians, singers and social media users have shared videos of their Kurdish song performances and those of Kurdish singers in protest after police officers recently prevented four young street performers from singing in Kurdish in İstanbul’s popular İstiklal Street.

    In a video posted on Twitter over the weekend, the group is seen performing a Kurdish song on İstiklal Street when they are approached by police officers who warn them to stop singing. When the music suddenly stops, the audience is heard urging them to continue.

    According to a report by the Mezopotamya news agency on Monday, the singers were later taken into custody where they were subjected to mistreatment. They were cursed at by police officers who seized their instruments and the money they earned by singing in the streets, and made them pay to get their instruments back, Mezopotamya said.

    Meral Danış Beştaş, parliamentary group deputy chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), on Monday sang the same song performed by the street musicians during a press conference at parliament, protesting the police ban on Kurdish songs.

  • Documentary tells story of businessman who died from cancer after belated release from prison

    A documentary telling the story of businessman Medeni Arifoğlu, who succumbed to cancer after he was belatedly released from prison despite his deteriorating health, premiered on YouTube on January 25, the second anniversary of his passing.

    Titled “The Brave Son of Bingöl: Medeni Arifoğlu,” the documentary reveals how he was kept in prison despite serious health problems.

    According to the documentary, Arifoğlu was a well-known and respected businessman in Turkey’s eastern Bingöl province, a pioneer of charity activities before a government crackdown on the Gülen movement began.

    He was arrested due to alleged links to the Gülen movement in the aftermath of a coup attempt in June 2016, and his assets were seized. The authorities insisted on keeping him in prison despite the fact that he had a liver transplant. His appendix burst in prison, and he developed cancer during that time. Arifoğlu was released in March 2019 and died in January 2020.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

    Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following the abortive putsch on July 15, 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.

    A total of 319,587 people have been detained and 99,962 arrested in operations against supporters of the Gülen movement since the coup attempt, Turkey’s Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on November 22.

    Human rights activists and opposition politicians have frequently criticized the authorities for not releasing critically ill prisoners so they can seek proper treatment. Human rights defender and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu said ill prisoners were not released until they were at the point of no return.

    According to the Human Rights Association (İHD), as of June 2020 there were more than 1,605 sick inmates in Turkish prisons, approximately 600 of whom were critically ill. Although most of the seriously ill patients had forensic and medical reports deeming them unfit to remain in prison, they were not released. Authorities refuse to free them on the grounds that they pose a potential danger to society. In the first eight months of 2020, five critically ill prisoners passed away because they were not released in time to receive proper medical treatment.

  • Turkey’s opposition bloc leaves AKP-MHP alliance behind: MetroPoll

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Public Alliance, which includes his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally, the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), would have been left in the dust by the country’s opposition bloc if a general election were to have been held in January, according to a survey conducted by the Ankara-based MetroPoll.

    The results of the survey, titled “Turkey’s Pulse – January 2022” and conducted between Jan. 8 and 12 on 1,508 people in 28 provinces, were shared Friday by the pollster on social media.

    When asked “Which political party would you vote for if a general election were to be held this Sunday?” 34 percent of respondents said they would vote for the ruling AKP, while only 5.9 percent said they would support the MHP, which is below Turkey’s election threshold.

    Turkey has a 10 percent election threshold, which means if a party fails to get 10 percent of the national vote in the general election, they lose the opportunity to be represented in parliament.

    According to MetroPoll, the figures show the results after the proportional distribution of undecided, unresponsive or protesting votes, which corresponds to 22.6 percent of respondents.

    While the AKP-MHP vote would have stood at 39.9 percent in total in a January election, the parties comprising the rival Nation Alliance — the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the nationalist İYİ (Good) Party — would have received 41.7 percent in total, with the CHP garnering 28.4 percent of the vote and İYİ 13.3 percent.

    The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) stood at 11.6 percent, while the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) received 2.6 percent of the vote.

    The poll showed that Turkey’s opposition bloc would have left the AKP-MHP alliance behind in terms of electoral support in a January election, although the AKP’s votes increased by 2 percent compared to the previous Metropoll survey conducted in December.

    In the last general election, held in June 2018, the AKP garnered a nationwide vote of 42.6 percent. However, public surveys have increasingly been showing the party’s public support to be slipping.

    Erdoğan, whose ruling AKP has been in power as a single-party government since 2002, was elected president in 2014 and reelected in 2018. His election in 2018 was under a presidential system as Turkey switched from a parliamentary to a presidential system of governance with a public referendum in 2017. Under the presidential system, Erdoğan is accused of establishing one-man rule, destroying the separation of powers and silencing dissent.

    The AKP government launched a massive crackdown on non-loyalist citizens following a failed coup in July 2016 as thousands of people were jailed on trumped-up terrorism or coup charges.

  • Lawyers’ report on torture in police custody not published, causes rift in bar association

    Lawyers’ report on torture in police custody not published, causes rift in bar association

    A report by lawyers from the Ankara Bar Association’s human rights committee on allegations of torture made by detainees held at a police detention center has not yet been published, prompting a rift between the rapporteurs and the bar administration, Deutsche Welle’s Turkish edition (DW Türkçe) reported on Friday.

    According to a report by the TR724 news website this week, people who were detained due to alleged links to the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, were subjected to torture at a police detention center in Ankara.

    TR724 said 300 people have been detained in the last two weeks in police raids across Turkey as part of investigations overseen by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

    Some of the detainees were beaten and forced to sign false confessions while in police custody, TR724 reported, citing their families and lawyers.

    After receiving complaints of torture and mistreatment, lawyers from the Ankara Bar Association’s human rights committee interviewed the detainees and compiled their findings in a report, according to DW Türkçe.

    According to the report citing the lawyers’ findings, detainees said they were subjected to beatings, forced nudity, torture involving the use of water and threats of rape.

    The report was presented to the administration of the Ankara Bar Association; however, they decided not to publish the report, opting to instead file a criminal complaint with the public prosecutor’s office.

    The Bar Association’s decision not to publish the report sparked indignation among the lawyers who had drafted the report, and after some back and forth, the rapporteurs decided to submit their resignation in protest.

    Ankara Bar Association Chairman Kemal Koranel is set to meet with the lawyers on Monday to talk them out of their decision to resign, according to DW Türkçe.

    Human rights defender and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu has called on Turkish authorities to investigate claims of mistreatment and torture at the Ankara police center.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement since the corruption investigations of Dec. 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

    Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch on July 15, 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.

    A total of 319,587 people have been detained and 99,962 arrested in operations against supporters of the Gülen movement since the coup attempt, Turkey’s Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on November 22.

    After the abortive putsch, ill-treatment and torture became widespread and systematic in Turkish detention centers as evidenced by the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment in a report based on his mission to Turkey between Nov. 27 and Dec. 2, 2016. Lack of condemnation from higher officials and a readiness to cover up allegations rather than investigate them have resulted in widespread impunity for the security forces.

  • Former teacher arrested on Gülen charges, leaving 3 children behind

    Elif Çelik Demir, 42, a former kindergarten teacher and a mother of three, was arrested on Tuesday for alleged links to the Gülen movement, leaving her children to the care of relatives, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing the Bold Medya news website.

    Demir, who was summarily fired from her job by a government decree in the aftermath of a coup attempt in July 2016, was arrested in the city of Ereğli after a six-year, three month prison sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeals.

    She was first arrested in November 2016 and was released pending trial eight months later.

    Human rights defender and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu criticized the decision on Twitter.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

    Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch that he accused Gülen of masterminding.

    The purge has damaged the unity of many families and left children to the care of relatives. Such separations have had a negative impact on the mental and physical well-being of the children. In cases where grandparents are responsible for the child’s care, they are unable to meet every need, especially help with schoolwork.

    A total of 319,587 people have been detained and 99,962 arrested in operations against supporters of the Gülen movement since the coup attempt, Turkey’s Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on November 22.

  • [OPINION] Why legitimate Kurdish politics disturbs Erdoğan

    [OPINION] Why legitimate Kurdish politics disturbs Erdoğan

    Türkmen Terzi https://www.turkishminute.com/

    Recent election surveys show that the electoral alliance between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is failing to secure sufficient support for the next general election, slated for June 18, 2023. For Erdoğan to be elected president for a second term under the presidential system, Kurdish votes are crucial and he has thus sought to create a rift in the Kurdish political movement to secure these votes.

    Erdoğan’s recent comments indicate ulterior motives in his Kurdish policy as he attempts to pit pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) former co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been in jail since 2016, against the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, to secure Kurdish votes.

    “The one in Edirne will be called to account by the one in İmralı,” he said, referring to the prisons where Demirtaş and Öcalan are held.

    Öcalan and Demirtaş, who both remain imprisoned, are still considered a threat by Erdoğan. Öcalan is considered a threat to Turkey’s national security, being the founder of the PKK. Tens of thousands of armed PKK militants still regard Öcalan as their symbolic and sublime leader. Erdoğan, however, views Demirtaş as an even bigger threat than Öcalan since the young Demirtaş has risen in popularity among Kurds, and this will likely complicate the election outcome for him.

    Erdoğan secured 52 percent of the vote, while his main rival, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, secured 38 percent of the vote in the first presidential election by popular vote in 2014, and this huge victory meant there was no need for a runoff. The HDP’s candidate Demirtaş garnered 9.76 percent of the vote and was the first presidential candidate in Turkish history who did not hesitate to reveal his Kurdish identity during an election campaign.

    While Demirtaş did not win the election, he paved the way for the HDP to participate in the general election a year later, also adopting a more left-wing rhetoric that addresses Turkey’s general problems. Demirtaş’s “peace”-oriented politics bore fruit in the June 2015 election, with his party, the HDP, gaining the highest number of votes in the party’s history, surpassing the 10 percent election threshold and garnering 13.1 percent of the vote, thereby securing 80 seats in parliament. Turkey’s ruling AKP lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in 13 years but remained the largest party. Of course, Erdoğan refused to accept the election results and a snap election was announced by him on Aug. 24, 2015. The AKP secured 49.5 percent of the vote in the November 2015 election. The HDP managed to secure 10.8 percent despite the violence they faced following the June victory.

    Former Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoğlu, who resigned as AKP chairman and prime minister in May 2016 following pressure from Erdoğan, told the media in August 2019 that the days between June 7 and Nov. 1, 2015 were among the darkest in Turkish history as many bomb blasts hit several Turkish cities and hundreds of Kurds lost their lives. He accused the AKP administrators of being responsible for these brutal acts, which transpired despite Turkey’s counterterrorism policy. Erdoğan ended a settlement process between the HDP and his government that aimed at solving Turkey’s decades-long Kurdish issue by declaring on June 17, 2015 that he no longer recognized the “Dolmabahçe Agreement,” which was signed between the AKP and the HDP in February 2015. The document outlined a 10-item list as a roadmap for a final solution to Turkey’s Kurdish issue and a 30-year-long PKK armed insurgency.

    Demirtaş who has been imprisoned since 2016, was Turkey’s first presidential candidate who from a jail cell secured 8.32 percent of the vote in the 2018 presidential election. Turkish courts accuse Demirtaş of disseminating terrorist propaganda and refuse to release him despite a landmark judgment issued by the European Court of Human Rights on Dec. 22, 2020 requiring his immediate release.

    The HDP’s latest blow to Erdoğan’s AKP was the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) victory in the İstanbul municipal election held on June 23, 2019. The election was a repeat of the March 2019 mayoral election, which was annulled by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) on May 6, 2019. The HDP’s votes contributed to the victory of CHP candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu.

    It is ironic that Erdoğan had long recognized PKK leader Öcalan as an interlocutor in the Kurdish settlement process that was initiated in 2009 as part of a meeting between Turkish intelligence officers and Öcalan, but not the legitimate pro-Kurdish party HDP leader Demirtaş. Öcalan’s PKK has been involved in an armed struggle against the Turkish state since 1984 that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Turkish soldiers and civilians. Erdoğan also allowed Öcalan’s “peace” letter to be read to a crowd of hundreds of thousands celebrating the traditional spring festival of Nowruz in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Diyarbakır in March 2015. Turkey’s state-owned Kurdish-language TV channel TRT Kurdi aired an interview with Öcalan’s younger brother, Osman Öcalan, who called on the Kurds in Turkey to remain impartial in the Istanbul municipal election rerun on June 23 and criticized CHP candidate İmamoğlu for failing in service delivery to the Kurds.

    On the other hand, the Turkish president shows no mercy for Demirtaş, who was involved only in legitimate politics in parliament and who received not only the Kurdish vote but also support from various segments of Turkish society, such as leftists, liberals and conservatives.

    Erdoğan fully backed the Kurdish peace process between 2013 to 2015 but then found an excuse to launch a war against Kurds following his party’s loss of its parliamentary majority in the June 2015 general election. Prominent journalist Hasan Cemal, well-known for his extensive writing on the Kurdish issue, predicted Erdoğan’s real intention and asserts that Erdoğan’s objective with regard to the Kurdish peace process was merely to secure the Kurdish vote, and when he lost Kurdish support, did not hesitate to launch a full-fledged war on Kurds and shed blood.

    Demirtaş has continued challenging Erdoğan and just last week issued a statement criticizing Erdoğan for keeping Öcalan in complete isolation for years.

    Erdoğan has no intention of solving the Kurdish issue but has his sights set on Kurdish votes. The AKP government has no qualms about sitting with members of the outlawed PKK or HDP leaders to gain more votes; however, when the party loses votes, the AKP without hesitation destroys Kurdish cities to please its nationalist allies.

  • Authorities order release pending trial of NCO accused of sexual abuse of 2 minors

    A Turkish court ruled yesterday for the release pending trial of a noncommissioned officer who is being prosecuted for allegedly sexually abusing two high school students in southeastern Van province, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing Turkish media.

    Talip Korcan was charged with sexually harassing two minors on October 25, 2021. However, the prosecutor ruled that there were no grounds to take legal action against accusations of rape. In his defense, Korcan admitted that he took the girls to his home but claimed he did not abuse them.

    Korcan also allegedly served alcohol to the two girls and later threatened them to stay silent about the encounter.  Korcan’s release sparked outrage among activists, who said sexual abuse of minors was a serious crime. Women’s rights group Women’s Assembly (Kadın Meclisleri),  said authorities had released the perpetrator without a thorough investigation into the claims. “We will not allow child abusers to walk freely [among society],” they said on Twitter.

  • Turkish prosecutors ordered detention of 78 people over alleged Gülen links in a week

    Turkish authorities have ordered the detention of 78 people in the last five days due to alleged links to the Gülen movement, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing Turkish media.

    The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Friday issued detention warrants for 20 people including 17 lawyers over alleged links to the movement. Police conducted operations across seven provinces as part of the operation and detained 18 of the suspects.

    On Wednesday the chief public prosecutor’s office in Ankara ordered the detention of 29 people including active duty and dismissed gendarmerie officers over alleged Gülen links. Police conducted operations in 20 provinces to detain the suspects.

    An additional 11 detention warrants were issued in Manisa and Adana provinces on Thursday.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

    Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.

    The İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday issued detention warrants for 18 former civil servants including doctors, police officers and teachers on accusations that they used the ByLock messaging app, once widely available online and considered by the government to be a tool of secret communication among supporters of the movement. Police raids were conducted at 22 locations across four provinces to detain the suspects.

    The UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has repeatedly stated that arrest and conviction based on ByLock use in Turkey violated Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

    Following the abortive putsch, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency and carried out a massive purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight. More than 130,000 public servants were summarily removed from their jobs for alleged membership in or relationships with “terrorist organizations” by emergency decree-laws subject to neither judicial nor parliamentary scrutiny.

    A total of 319,587 people have been detained and 99,962 arrested in operations against supporters of the Gülen movement since the coup attempt, Turkey’s Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on November 22.

    In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown.

  • Turkish prosecutor seeks 15-year sentence for spouse of former police chief over Gülen links

    A Turkish prosecutor is seeking a 15-year sentence for Semra Köse, the wife of former police chief Ömer Köse, who has been imprisoned since 2014 due to his role in graft probes in December 2013 that implicated high-level government officials, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported.

    Semra Köse will be tried by an Istanbul High Criminal Court, which has approved the indictment, on charges of terrorist organization membership due to her alleged use of the ByLock smart phone application.

    Turkey considers ByLock, once widely available online, a secret tool of communication among supporters of the faith-based Gülen movement since a coup attempt on July 15, 2016 despite the lack of any evidence that ByLock messages were related to the abortive putsch, leading to the arrest of thousands who were using it.

    The Gülen movement is accused by the Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of masterminding the failed coup and is labeled a “terrorist organization,” although the movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.

    Her husband Ömer was one of the police officers who took part in a bribery and corruption investigation in connection with state-owned Halkbank that shook the country in December 2013. The probe implicated, among others, the family members of four cabinet ministers as well as the children of then-prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

    Despite the scandal resulting in the resignation of all the cabinet members, the investigation was dropped after prosecutors and police chiefs were removed from the case. Erdoğan, government officials and the pro-government media described the investigation as an attempt to overthrow the government.

    Some of the claims that were part of the corruption investigations were later substantiated in New York federal court, where Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla was sentenced to 32 months for conspiring to violate US sanctions on Iran and other offenses.

    The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in June in the case of a former police officer that use of the ByLock application is not an offense in itself and does not constitute sufficient evidence for arrest. The Strasbourg court’s ruling came as a source of hope for thousands of people who were arrested or sentenced on terrorism charges based mainly on a National Intelligence Organization (MİT) report that detailed users of ByLock.

    The UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention also stated in October 2018 that detention, arrest and conviction based on ByLock use in Turkey violated of Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

    According to a statement from the interior ministry in March 2019, 95,310 people were charged over alleged use of the ByLock application. In its technical report, which courts use as basis for their decisions, the Turkish intelligence agency stated that 60,473 defendants had at least one message posted using ByLock while 34,837 defendants had not posted any message using the application.

    Since the coup attempt, followers of the Gülen movement have been subjected to a massive crackdown, with the Turkish government and pro-government media outlets demonizing its members.

    In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown.

  • Abducted teacher says he does not have access to proper healthcare in prison

    Zabit Kişi, a former teacher who was abducted from Kazakhstan by Turkish intelligence agency MİT, said in a letter to Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu that he did not have access to proper healthcare in prison, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported.

    In the letter, which was made public on social media, Kişi said despite a lesion on his liver, he had not been taken to the hospital for months for a follow-up consultation. He claimed that the prison administration made him sign a petition saying it was his decision not to go the hospital.

    “I suffer from debilitating pain that does not go away even with the strongest painkillers,” he said.

    Lack of proper healthcare in prisons has been repeatedly criticized by human rights activists. Many have argued that health problems were often ignored until it was too late for inmates to be treated.

    Kişi, a teacher, moved his family to Kyrgyzstan with the hope of landing a job after he became unemployed in Turkey in December 2015. The private school he had been working for was closed after a government crackdown on schools run by businesspeople close to the Gülen movement.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

    Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. Erdoğan intensified the crackdown on the movement following a coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the abortive putsch or any terrorist activity.

    In his absence the authorities issued an arrest warrant for him, based on allegations that he was linked to alleged putschist admirals at the Gölcük Naval Command. It became obvious during cross-examination in court that the allegations were baseless and that neither of the admirals knew him nor did he know the admirals.

    Kişi’s ordeal started when he was detained in Kazakhstan for immigration irregularities when he traveled from Bishkek to Almaty. The Kazakh court ordered him to return to Kyrgyzstan, where had had a family and maintained a residence. On September 30, 2017, he went to the airport with his lawyer for deportation procedures in Almaty and started waiting for his flight to Bishkek. During the security check, his lawyer was told he could not accompany him.

    He was detained again at the airport and confined to a room. He overheard airport officials talking about a plane from Turkey that would be landing soon to pick him up. A MİT team forcibly removed him from the terminal and put him on a plane he described as painted with a camouflage pattern.

    A minivan picked him up after landing at the airport in Ankara, and he was driven to what he described as a freight container where he was subjected to torture and abuse for more than three months.

    Although Kişi requested an investigation into his allegations of torture, authorities rejected his appeals.