Category: World

Zülal and Zümra Bayram, aged 17 and 15, were among 38 people detained on May 7, including 14 minors, as part of a wider crackdown by Turkish authorities.

The girls described their harrowing experience in a live broadcast on Twitter with pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu. They said the police raided their home at dawn, took them to the juvenile unit at İstanbul’s Üsküdar police station, while keeping their mother and elder sister with other adult detainees.

“They insulted our mother and threatened us,” reports Zülal. “We were held for 16 hours without explanation.”

Both teenagers said they were denied access to legal representation and interrogated without a lawyer. They say their statements were distorted and that they were not allowed to communicate with their families. She described a particularly disturbing interaction with a female officer who told them, “You’ll see what it’s like inside, they’ll make you suffer.”

To make matters worse, the detained siblings were forced to go hungry and thirsty for hours as the authorities initially denied them the food and water their families had brought. Zülal pointed out the psychological pressure they were subjected to, including constant insults and intimidation from the officers.

“You are a coward, you seem stressed, you are afraid of me because you are a liar,” one officer told her.

The raids have been criticized for their arbitrary nature and for targeting young female students. The detainees, accused of having links to the Gülen movement, included middle school, high school and university students.

The siblings claimed that children younger than them were also mistreated while being detained at the police station. After their release, their mother, who suffers from cirrhosis of the liver as well as Parkinson’s disease, was arrested. Concerns over her health have added to the family’s distress. “My mother needs her medication and cannot be subjected to stress,” Zümra said.

The sisters say they are currently unable to contact or send clothes to their mother and elder sister, who are currently being held in Bakırköy Women’s Prison.

The ordeal has traumatized the sisters, who fear further police action and are worried about the welfare and future of their mother and sister. They asked human rights organizations for support and stressed the importance of protecting children’s rights.

Gergerlioğlu has called on Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya to address the reported abuses.

“There have been numerous violations of law against the children at the police station,” Gergerlioğlu stated. “Their statements were distorted, they were mistreated, shouted at, and subjected to psychological violence.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by 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 had issued detention warrants for the minors on allegations of “disseminating terrorist propaganda.”

Human rights advocates have condemned the operation, citing violations of both Turkish and international law.

Eren Keskin, co-chair of the Human Rights Association (İHD), said the treatment of the teenagers violated the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. “The children were frightened and left hungry for hours,” Keskin said. “This is a clear human rights violation.”

The treatment of minors in Turkish detention centers has been a longstanding issue. A report by Gülizar Biçer Karaca from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), titled “Children’s Prison,” highlighted significant concerns about the conditions in juvenile detention centers. According to the report, nearly half of the 30,000 minors convicted in 2022 were incarcerated, while 15,407 were released under judicial supervision. The report noted that 5,601 minors were still of school age and would continue their education in juvenile facilities.

Human rights advocates have repeatedly criticized the conditions in these centers, citing instances of ill-treatment, violence and torture. The report emphasized that juvenile detention centers are not equipped to meet the psychological and physical needs of youngsters. Between 2013 and 2017, 13 minors died in juvenile detention centers, with at least six of those deaths being suicides.

According to the Brussels-based human rights organization Solidarity with Others, the recent police operation violates several national and international laws, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The specific violations cited by Solidarity with Others, which drafted a report on the matter, include arbitrary detentions under false charges, which violate Article 19 of the Turkish Constitution and Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The lack of legal grounds for accusations contravenes the right to a fair trial as enshrined in Article 6 of the ECHR and Article 40(2)(a) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the organization points out.

Additionally, arbitrary surveillance and detention infringe upon the right to respect for private and family life, violating Articles 17 and 41 of the constitution and Article 8 of the ECHR.

The detention conditions, which might have caused physical and psychological harm to the detainees, contravene the prohibition of torture and inhumane treatment under Article 3 of the ECHR and Article 37 of the UNCRC, the Brussel-based rights group underlines.

Moreover, the disruption of children’s education breaches their right to education, protected by Article 42 of the constitution and Article 28 of the UNCRC.

Zümra and Zülal’s ordeal highlights a wider pattern of rights abuses in Turkey, where thousands, including journalists, academics and activists, have been imprisoned on terrorism charges. Human rights organizations continue to call for international attention to the situation and for reforms to protect basic freedoms in the country.

Eren Keskin, the co-chairperson of the Human Rights Association (İHD) and also a prominent lawyer, and Güllistan Yarkın, a member of an İHD commission fighting against racism and discrimination, faced charges under the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), which concerns insulting the Turkish nation, parliament, government or Turkishness.

Keskin and Yarkın faced the charges, which carry a prison sentence of between six months and three years, due to a commemoration ceremony held by the İHD in 2021 in memory of the victims of the mass deportation of Armenians under Ottoman rule during World War I. Both Keskin and Yarkın recognize the killings as genocide, while the Turkish government categorically rejects the claim.

Thursday’s hearing at an İstanbul court was observed by other human rights activists and representatives from civil society organizations who wanted to show solidarity with Keskin and Yarkın.

Plainclothes police officers were allowed to stay in the courtroom despite requests from the defendants for their removal. Keskin said she felt pressured by their presence.

Keskin said in her defense statement that she thinks what happened to Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire before the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923 is tantamount to genocide. She said the ordeal of the Armenians should be discussed in Turkey and that such a discussion will help the democratization of the country and the expansion of freedoms, while adding that no laws can prevent people from expressing their views on the issue.

“I think the 1915 [incidents] constituted a genocide. Turkey should confront with this and pay reparations for it. I do not accept the accusations against me,” said Keskin, adding that she wants to enjoy the same freedoms as those who claim the mass killings of the Armenians was not a genocide.

The court ruled for the acquittal of both defendants on the grounds that the elements of a crime were not established.

The Armenians — supported by historians and scholars — say 1.5 million of their people died in a genocide committed under the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

Ankara accepts that both Armenians and Turks died in huge numbers as Ottoman forces fought czarist Russia.

But Turkey vehemently denies a deliberate policy of genocide and notes that the term had not been legally defined at the time.

 

Bünyamin Tekin

Fifty-three asylum seekers, comprising Kurds and Turks fleeing a crackdown on non-loyalist citizens in Turkey, were attacked and forcibly returned to Turkey by unidentified, knife-wielding men along the Greek border at Evros on Thursday, relatives of the victims told Turkish Minute.On Thursday videos emerged on Twitter showing men, women and children claiming to be assaulted by the masked individuals.

 

 

The demonstration aimed to draw attention to the ongoing rights abuses in Turkey and urge the ECtHR to take swift action against them.

The top European human rights reviewing body is accused by the victims of human rights violations in Turkey that escalated after an abortive putsch in 2016, when the government launched a crackdown on non-loyalist citizens under the pretext of an anti-coup fight, of not expeditiously processing applications from the victims or of issuing rulings in favor of the Turkish government in some cases.

The Peaceful Actions Platform, an umbrella organization consisting of 24 civil society groups, organized the protest and broadcast it live on YouTube.

The protest echoes a similar demonstration held in June 2022 that saw the participation of hundreds of victims of Turkey’s post-coup crackdown, activists and EU parliamentarians.

Former NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom, who has been a vocal critic of human rights abuses worldwide, was among the protesters. Kanter is on the Turkish Interior Ministry’s “Terrorist Wanted List,” which offers a reward of up to TL 10 mln for info leading to the capture of the wanted person.

Melek Çetinkaya, who has been advocating for the release of military cadets, including her son Furkan, who she believes were unjustly imprisoned on false charges following the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, was also among the protestors.

The crowd marched toward the ECtHR building in Strasbourg, chanting slogans and carrying banners that said, “ECtHR, stop injustice in Turkey” and “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

The demonstration aimed to highlight the inaction of the ECtHR and the Council of Europe (CoE) regarding Turkey’s post-coup crackdown. The Peaceful Actions Platform submitted letters to the CoE and the European court, expressing frustration with the lack of progress in addressing the human rights situation in Turkey.

Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the UK’s Labour Party and current member of the British parliament, delivered a passionate speech during the demonstration. Corbyn denounced the unlawful dismissal and arrest of civil servants, teachers, police officers, journalists and lawyers by the Turkish government. He emphasized the importance of standing up for the rights of ethnic minority groups, such as the Kurds and Armenians, and called for international solidarity to promote human rights and democracy.

Andrej Konstantin Hunko, a member of Germany’s Left Party, the Bundestag and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), as well as Odd Anders With, a former Norwegian politician, journalist and advocate, delivered speeches in solidarity with the protestors.

The protest also featured video messages from prominent figures including Cuban journalist Abraham Jiménez Enoa, Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López, Belgian politicians Viviane Teitelbaum and Simone Susskind, Cypriot politician Costas Mavrides and Belgian Member of the European Parliament Marie Arena. These messages expressed solidarity with the protesters and highlighted the need for accountability and the protection of human rights in Turkey.

In addition to speeches in solidarity with the victims, there were mini concerts by Turkish singers, and a rap song dedicated to the crackdown victims was performed by Grifon.

There were also theatrical performances with props such as inflatable boats to highlight the plight of the refugees who had to flee persecution, prison bars and handcuffs to allude to those who were unjustly imprisoned.

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, including 4,156 judges and prosecutors, as well as 24,706 members of the armed forces 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.

According to a statement from then-interior minister Süleyman Soylu on July 5, 2022, a total of 332,884 had been detained, while around 101,000 others had been jailed due to alleged links to the Gülen movement, a faith-based group outlawed by Ankara, since the failed coup. The minister said there were 19,252 people in Turkey’s prisons at the time who were jailed on alleged links to the movement while 24,000 others were at large.

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

Some of these people had to take illegal and risky journeys in boats to Greece because their passports had been revoked by the government.

 

A similar protest was held in front of the rights court in June 2022 with the attendance of hundreds of victims of a purge carried out by the Turkish government in the aftermath of a failed coup in Turkey in 2016 as well as activists and EU parliamentarians.

The ECtHR is accused by victims of human rights violations in Turkey that increased after the coup attempt, when the government launched a crackdown on non-loyalist citizens under the pretext of an anti-coup fight, of not expeditiously processing applications from victims and in some cases of issuing rulings in favor of the Turkish government.

The protest is being organized by the Peaceful Actions Platform, an umbrella organization comprising 24 civil society groups. The protest will be aired live by MC EU TV and the platform’s YouTube channel.

In a press statement the Peaceful Actions Platform accused the ECtHR of remaining silent in the face of rights violations in Turkey for the past seven years.

During the demonstration the protestors will submit a letter to the court’s president, Síofra O’Leary, in which they will ask the court to help the victims of rights violations in Turkey by swiftly concluding their applications.

Mini concerts by Turkish singers and other activities will take place during the demonstration.

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, including 4,156 judges and prosecutors, as well as 29,444 members of the armed forces 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.

According to a statement from then-Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on July 5, 2022, a total of 332,884 have been detained, while around 101,000 others have been jailed due to alleged links to the Gülen movement since the failed coup. The minister said there were 19,252 people in Turkey’s prisons at the time who were jailed on alleged links to the movement while 24,000 others were at large.

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

Some of these people had to take illegal and risky journeys in boats to Greece because their passports had been revoked by the government.

Arat, who had spent two years in jail due to alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement following a coup attempt in Turkey in 2016, announced on Twitter on Monday that he was questioned by the police due to his remarks about the Gülen movement, journalist Bülent Keneş and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

 

The Gülen movement is accused of masterminding the coup attempt on July 15, 2016 and is labelled a terrorist organization by the Turkish government. The movement, inspired by the views of Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, strongly denies any involvement in the failed putsch or any terrorist activity.

Arat was asked about some of his earlier tweets during his interrogation at the Adana Police Department in southern Turkey in which he refused to recognize the Gülen movement and Keneş as terrorists.

Last year, Turkey’s pro-government Sabah daily and state-run TRT Haber news station targeted Keneş by publishing secretly taken photos of him and broadcasting footage of his home in Stockholm.

Keneş, an outspoken critic of the Turkish government, gained international attention after Turkey made his extradition a prerequisite for its approval of Sweden’s NATO membership.

He is among the scores of Turkish journalists who had to flee Turkey following the coup attempt in order to avoid the government crackdown on critical journalists.