HUMAN RIGHTS

Latest News

• Ill prisoner Mehmet Yamaç goes on hunger strike 

  Seriously ill prisoner Mehmet Yamaç announced through his guardian that he started an indefinite hunger strike in order to protest the arbitrary and inhumane attitude of the prison administration.
• MRAP condemns Turkish racist Zero Tolerance Policy on Kurds  

  The NGO MRAP (Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples) submitted a written statement to the Forty-fifth session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva titled “Turkey: the racist Zero Tolerance Policy toward Kurds”.
• IHD says health of ill prisoners Direkçi and Karagüzel worsening 

  The condition of prisoners Semire Direkçi and Muhlise Karagüzel are getting worse, as the IHD underlined in its weekly protests for ill prisoners.
• Torture and impunity are increasing in Van 

  The government's policy of impunity towards torturers bears as a consequence an increase in the cases of torture in Van in recent years. As a tragic irony, the tortured person is often sued instead of the torturer.
• 76-year-old ill prisoner Ali Boçnak dies in prison 

  Ali Boçnak, a 76-year-old ill prisoner who was in Patnos L Type Prison, has died.
• Prisoner Sinan Gencer laid to rest 

  Prisoner Sinan Gencer, who allegedly committed suicide in Van High Security Closed Prison, was buried today under heavy police presence.
• Constitutional Court rejects Güven's application 

  The Constitutional Court rejected HDP's Leyla Güven's application regarding the lawsuit that led to her being stripped of parliamentary immunity.
• Eyewitness says villagers forced into helicopter were healthy 

  Eyewitness Cengiz Şiban said that Osman Şiban and Servet Turgut were healthy when they were put on the helicopter.
• Countries at UN call for the ICC to try war crimes in Syria 

  Speakers said the Syrian regime and its allies continued to undercut a ceasefire, and were resorting to military action to gain time, perpetrating violations that amounted to crimes against humanity.
• All evidences point at villagers thrown from helicopter 

  Police tried to prevent the HDP delegation from talking to the press. Mersin MP Rıdvan Turan said hospital reports consistent with the statements saying that two villagers had been thrown by a helicopter.
• IHD reports 280 racist attacks in the last ten years 

  IHD report says that since 2010, 280 racist attacks have taken place, 15 people were killed in these attacks and 1,097 were wounded.
• IHD: Don't call isolation in prison a precaution against Covid 

  IHD executive Nuray Çevirmen said that the coronavirus pandemic reached serious levels in prisons, but no proper information was given about it. She added that it is not right to isolate prisoners and deprive them of their rights as a precaution.
• Ayotzinapa: Families demand justice for disappeared students  

  The parents of the 43 disappeared students from Ayotzinapa in September 2014 denounced corruption within the Mexican judicial authorities.
• Police forcibly take to army hospital man thrown from helicopter 

  Osman Şiban, who was thrown from a helicopter after he was detained in Van, was forcibly taken to the military hospital by the police who came to his house in the morning.
• Van political prisoners enter 9th day on hunger strike 

  The Van Branch of TUHAY-DER (Association of solidarity with prisoners’ families) made a statement regarding the hunger strike launched by the political prisoners in Van F Type High Security Closed Prison on 14 September.
• Women prisoners expose rights violations in Tarsus jail 

  Berfin Doğan, a prisoner in Tarsus Women's Closed Prison, announced that her health, nutrition and communication rights were denied.
• MSF calls for action for refugees on Greek islands 

  “On the ground, MSF teams only see more misery, more human suffering, a routine of humiliation, xenophobia and violence,” says the MSF head of mission in Greece.
• 75-year-old prisoner Özkahraman dies in prison 

  75-year-old Takiyettin Özkahraman, who was held hostage in Patnos L Type Prison, has died.
• Italian authorities allow rescue boat Open Arms to disembark 

  For weeks, the authorities of Malta and Italy did not offer any concrete solution to the humanitarian emergency that the boat was going through.
• Sweden wants to deport a 10-year old Kurdish girl to Turkey 

  Buket was abandoned by her mother when she was a baby. Her father went to Sweden and, after his asylum application was rejected, placed the child in the care of an aunt living in Stockholm. Since then he has disappeared.
• UN calls on Turkey to respect international law in Syria 

  Violations and abuses rife in areas under Turkish-affiliated armed groups in Syria.
• Hunger striker's mother: We won't give up our rights 

  Zübeyde Timur, mother of Botan Timur, one of the prisoners on hunger strike in Van, said: "We are not afraid and we will not give up our rights. I call on all mothers for support."
• Villagers in intensive care have been thrown from army helicopter 

  Osman Şiban is one of the two people who were detained and thrown from helicopters during a military operation in Van.
• Political prisoners in Amed mistreated during transfer 

  More than thirty political prisoners, among them Kurdish politicians Mehmet Aslan and Musa Farisoğulları, have been mistreated during their transfer to another prison in Amed.
• Political prisoners in Van go on hunger strike 

  The prisoners who started a hunger strike will continue their actions until all their demands are met.