HUMAN RIGHTS

Latest News

• Eighty-year-old suffers fainting spell in Van prison 

  The case of Makbule Özer is a tragic example of the enemy penal law practised in Turkey. The eighty-year-old Kurdish woman suffered a fainting spell in prison and broke her arm.
• Justice Vigil in Amed reaches day 233 

  The relatives of ill prisoners have reached the 233rd day of the Justice Vigil in Amed. They demand freedom for ill prisoners and those who have served their sentence in full.
• Village guards in Van search vehicle carrying refugees 

  It has been reported that at least 1 people was killed as the result of the village guards searching a vehicle carrying refugees in the village of Karahisar in the Saray district of Van.
• Court rejects 80-year-old prisoner’s request for house arrest 

  A heavy criminal court in Van province rejected the application of 80-year-old Makbule Özer, who was arrested, to stay under house arrest.
• Police kidnap Kurdish filmmaker Suphi Orhan and torture him for hours in Izmir 

  People who introduced themselves as intelligence officers kidnapped Kurdish filmmaker Suphi Orhan and tortured him for hours.
• Zarakolu: Nothing will change, decisions are taken by courts here, not by government 

  Writer and publisher Zarakolu, exiled in Sweden, has spoken to Bianet about the expectation that the country will “send back the people Turkey wants to have extradited” following the signing of a memorandum on the NATO bids of Sweden and Finland.
• 1000 Women for Aysel Tuğluk campaign group calls for release of the lawyer 

  The 1000 Women for Aysel Tuğluk campaign group reacted to the forced defense of Aysel Tuğluk with the words "It is a crime against humanity".
• Political prisoner Zülküf Kaya tortured and deported to another jail 

  Political prisoner Zülküf Kaya, who was sentenced to 15 years for his social media posts, was tortured in Patnos prison. Kaya, who was handcuffed and beaten, was eventually deported to Erzincan.
• Human Rights Association publishes "Monitoring Rights in Turkey's Prisons Report 2021" 

  The Human Rights Association (IHD) Central Commission for Prisons published its "Monitoring Rights in Turkey's Prisons Report 2021."
• Political prisoners in Sincan No. 2 High Security Prison go on hunger strike today 

  Political prisoners in Sincan No. 2 High Security Prison will go on an indefinite alternating hunger strike as of today.
• Istanbul Pride: "The state has opened war on LGBTIQ+" 

  In Istanbul, more than 370 people have had to spend a night in police custody after taking part in a banned Pride parade. About ten of those affected are refugees who are said to have been taken to deportation centres.
• Children in Kurdish provinces work as shepherds to support their families 

  Children between the ages of 7 and 13 in Kurdish provinces are forced to work as shepherds to provide financial support to their families.
• New 3-month ban on visits imposed on Abdullah Öcalan and other prisoners in Imrali  

  A new 3-month ban on visits has been imposed on Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan.
• TIHV and IHD call for an apology to Saturday Mothers 

  “This intervention and the detentions are nothing more than putting pressure on human rights defenders to make violations invisible, to obscure the truth, to prevent the quest for justice, in short, to deny the existence of human rights.”
• Police detain human rights defenders on Saturday Mothers’ 900th vigil 

  Co-chairs of the Human Rights Association (IHD) are among the many people detained by the police on the 900th vigil of the Saturday Mothers demanding justice for their relatives disappeared in state custody.
• HDP deputies: We will be the voice of sick prisoners 

  Deputies of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Musa Piroğlu and Dilşat Canbaz Kaya joined a demonstration in Istanbul to protest the violent detention of prisoners’ mothers. The lawmakers said that they would continue to be the voice of sick prisoners.
• Kurtulan: Prisoners are tortured  

  HDP MP and human rights expert Fatma Kurtulan warns that practices in Turkish prisons have reached the level of torture and lead to death.
• Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week events banned 

  Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week events were supposed to start on Monday, but all events were banned.
• Prisoner Ekrem Batmaz released after 30 years  

  Prisoner Ekrem Batmaz was released after 30 years of detention.
• Amnesty names Osman Kavala and Gezi Park defendants as prisoners of conscience 

  “The injustice that these seven have been subjected to is emblematic of that suffered by so many in Turkey’s draconian crackdown on human rights,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
• Disabled political prisoner dies after release 

  Bekir Güven, who was imprisoned for allegedly spreading "terror propaganda", 98 per cent disabled and seriously ill with Huntingdon, has died after his release.
• Prisoners in Afyon on hunger strike for 22 days 

  Political prisoners in Afyon T-Type prison have been on hunger strike for 22 days against abuses and arbitrary treatment.
• Lawyer Sarıca: We can’t receive news from Öcalan in any way 

  Rezan Sarıca, one of the lawyers of the Asrın Law Office representing Abdullah Öcalan, raised concern over the isolation of the Kurdish leader and said that they couldn’t receive news from him in any way.
• Memorial for Hacı Esvet and his sons Adil and Celal Şenyaşar 

  Hacı Esvet and his sons Adil and Celal Şenyaşar, who were murdered by the bodyguard and relatives of AKP Urfa MP İbrahim Halil Yıldız, were commemorated by people and institutions.
• Havahan Ataman looking for her daughter for 5 years 

  Havahan Ataman has not received the remains of her daughter who lost her life in Besta for 5 years.