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Judicial Independence & Access to Justice
Lucca Perilli F ebryary 2021

Since July 2016, the 96-year old Republic of Turkey, under the rule of its President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 1 , has gained the fame of a Country where fundamental rights and liberties are trampled: in the last five years, more than 300 journalists, party co-chairs and tens of elected mayors of HDP (the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party), thousands of judges, prosecutors and lawyers, the head of the dissolved association of judges (YARSAV) and President of Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) as well as more than 263,000, including academicians, writers and free minds, have been detained upon the allegation of terrorism-related charges. Read the full report

In remembrance of Turkey's killed judges and lawyers


HRFT Documentation Center Human Rights Report
1 - 11 March 2021 reports about torture and ill-treatment in Turkey.


(03/130) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Gendarmerie Station in Van
It is learned from the news coverage of March 10, 2021, a woman, Fethiye Çakmak who was in the bus from Hakkari to Batman that was stopped at the check point outside of Balaban Gendarmerie Station in Gevaş district of Van, was subjected to strip search at the gendarmerie station where she was taken after criminal record check.

Fethiye Çakmak stated the following: “They wanted to see my handbag after they made us got off the bus. I said ‘I cannot open my handbag; I have personal belongings in it’. And upon them insist, I threw everything in the bag out and said ‘now take and look in it’. They called a female village guard after checking my handbag. The village guard took me to a room, and strip searched me. I was subjected to it although I rejected. When I asked for any legal basis, they said ‘shut up’ to me.”

(03/131) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison
It is learned from the news coverage of March 10, 2021 that, Kemal Gömi, a prisoner in Istanbul Metris R Type Prison was subjected to physical attack of another prisoner in the outdoor area. It is reported that the Forensic Medicine Institution has given a report diagnosing Kemal Gömi with schizophrenia and stating that he could not be kept in prison. It is learned that after the attack, 2-hours of outdoor time for Kemal Gömi was reduced to 1 hour and he was not allowed to see his lawyer.

It is learned from the news coverage of March 10, 2021 that, Gökhan Gündüz, a prisoner in Kırıkkale F Type Prison was transferred to Izmir Kırıklar F Type Prison No 2 under coercion.

(03/088) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison
It is learned from the news coverage of March 4, 2021 that, prisoners in Maraş Türkoğlu Prison were subjected to physical violence of the correction officers; the prisoners who participated in the hunger strike to demand an end to isolation of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan were put in solitary cells and were not given water.

(03/066) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison
It is learned from the news coverage of March 4, 2021 that, 3 prisoners (Yılmaz Ay, İsmail Göçeri and Cengiz Akkaya) who rejected to stand up during roll-calls were subjected to verbal and physical violence of the correction officers in Isparta E Type Prison.

It is learned from the news coverage of March 4, 2021 that, 3 prisoners (Deniz Şah, Latif Mollaahmetoğlu, İlhan Kaya) were transferred from Bolu F Type Prison to Izmir Kırıklar F Type Prison No 1 under coercion on March 2, 2021.

It is learned from the news coverage of March 4, 2021 that, the heating was not working enough and the water given to prisoners was limited in Mersin Tarsus Women’s Prison.

(03/046) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison
It is learned from the news coverage of March 3, 2021 that, prisoners who react against the correction officers who scatter their personal belongings during ward searches in Batman High Security Prison were subjected to physical violence of the correction officers.

(03/005) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Prison
It is learned from the news coverage of February 28, 2021 that, 5 prisoners who were transferred from Kayseri Bünyan T Type Prison No 2 to Malatya Akçadağ T Type Prison under coercion on February 20, 2021, were subjected to physical violence of the correction officers for rejecting strip search at the entrance of prison.

January 2021

Source: https://en.tihv.org.tr/

 

Press freedom in January 2021:
Two journalists appeared before a judge per day

In Turkey, the developments concerning press freedom and journalists’ trials in January 2021 constituted a sort of “handbook for prosecuting journalists”. During the month, at least 43 journalists appeared before a judge in various trials across 10 cities. In other words, two journalists were tried every day. Read the full article

Enforced disappearances in Turkey: an old habit or a new trend?

Turkey has a long history of state-sponsored abductions and enforced disappearances, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s.
Between 2002 and 2015 only one case of enforced disappearance was transmitted to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (’the UN Working Group‘), compared to 214 registered cases in 1980-1990 (UN Working Group, 2020 Annual Report, p. 48).

However, this positive tendency seems to have been completely reversed since an attempted coup d’état to overthrow the Turkish government was reported to have taken place on 15 July 2016. Since then, a total of 14 new cases of state-sponsored abductions were transmitted to the UN Working Group (UN Working Group, 2020 Annual Report, p. 48). Read the full article

More about disappearances/abductions in Turkey


Torture and Ill-Treatment in Police Interventions to Protests in Istanbul and Izmir

Torture and Ill-Treatment in Police Interventions to Protests in Istanbul
It is learned that the people who were detained in police interventions against protests of police interventions against protests in Boğaziçi University in Istanbul on February 2, 2021, were subjected to physical and verbal violence of the police during interventions and under custody; and that at least 1 woman was subjected to sexual abuse. It is also learned that 1 journalist was injured at face by a rubber bullet fired by the police.

One of the detainees, K. Ç, stated the following on physical violence and sexual abuse: “There were 4 riot police officers behind me. Somebody squeezed my bottom while I was encircled. I turned back as I noticed, and I saw these 4 riot police officers behind me, and I reacted against them, telling to move away. (…) While they were putting me in the detention car, my right arm was twisted and I was dragged then I was pushed to the detention car, facing down on it. At that moment, the police officer who was holding my right arm, pushed his leg on my genitals and tried to handcuff me behind my back. A female friend by me reacted against him and told him to get his leg back. I was handcuffed behind my back and put in the detention car.”

Another detainee E. E., stated the following: “We were attacked on a busy street so many of us were in danger of being hit by the cars. While they were detaining us, at least 10 police officers were swooping down on per person. As a result, one of our friend has a fracture in foot, one has dislocated jaw and another one has head trauma because of being beaten.”

Şeyma Çopur stated the following: “We were waiting at the bus stop while we were faced with violence of the police. There were no warnings, the police chief ran to us, pushed one of our friend, saying ‘look down’. We were detained immediately. (…) They handcuffed all of us behind our backs. We were harassed both physically and verbally, they cursed at us a lot. They said, ‘We are the state, do you know what we can do here?’. They squeezed testicles of our male friends. We were still in handcuffs behind our backs under custody. One of our friend were suffering from serious bruises on the wrist but they did not loosen the handcuffs. The police officers dislocated one friend’s jaw. We were beaten in the detention car, I have crushes and bruises on my body.”

Batuhan Çotur stated the following: “The police verbally harassed and committed physical violence while they were detaining us. They punched us and dragged on the floor. They used handcuffs behind our backs and put us in the detention car. Verbal harassment and physical torture continued in the detention car as well.”

Rıdvan Gezer stated the following: “The police tried to handcuff us behind our backs while they were detaining us. Then they failed to handcuff us and tried to take off our face masks, pushed us and dragged to the detention car. Many of our friends were kicked and punched at these moments. I was put in the car without handcuffs so they dragged me out of the car, and tortured me to put handcuffs. Then I was taken to another car, a police officer came behind me and started to punch me. And he brought another friend of mine, and pushed him on my body, then he took a club from the car and started to hit both of us. I was in handcuffs behind my back so I could not cover my head, he hit my head at least twice with the club.”

Elif Üçerli stated the following: “We were detained around 16.30, and were kept in the detention car until 5 a.m. in the ne next morning. This was itself a form of torture. They continuously beat us; I still have pain in my shoulders. I suffered from high blood tension for a long time in there. They tried to seize our phones without any record.”

Tanya Kara stated the following: “They detained us with torture. We were walking on the street while they have detained us. They dragged our friends on the ground, they forced us to lay down on the ground and handcuffed us behind our backs. There were four or five police officers stepping onto us. Some of our friends are severely beaten at the head. They insulted us, and threatened us saying ‘Do not forget our faces’. They were especially rough on women. They pulled their hair, and kicked them on the ground while detaining. A friend of us who was detained in Bebek, was kicked at her vagina.”

Caner Delisu stated the following: “They brought a baton in the detention car and hit one of our friend with it, even at the head. They were threatening us, saying ‘We will finish you’. They kicked our head to the car when we rejected being handcuffed behind our backs. They did this in front of the hospital. When we reacted, they went in and started to insult us, they said ‘You are terrorists’. They kicked my leg just before I went into the doctor’s room”.

(02/039) Torture and Ill-Treatment in Police Interventions to Protests in Izmir
It is learned that the people who were detained in police interventions against press declarations to protest police interventions to protests in Boğaziçi University and to protests discrimination against LGBTIQs in Izmir on February 2, 2021, were subjected to torture and ill-treatment of the police during interventions and under custody.

One of the detainees, Berke Avcı, stated the following: “There were 7 or 8 police officers coming onto me and they started to pull me, one of them hit my head with the police wireless when they could not make me fall down, and the wireless broke into pieces. Then the number of police officers raised, and they forced me to lay down on the ground. I was resisting while they were pulling my hands towards my back to handcuff me. One of the police officers started to kick my stomach while the other was kicking my head. I was trying to lift my body and a police officer stepped on my head, and stayed on my head on one leg for a while. Then they pushed me back to the ground, a police officer stepped on my hand this time. Then I noticed that the police officers were pushing harder to handcuff me behind my back so that they were about to break my hand, I let them to take my hands towards my back. I was wearing a coat and a rucksack so they could not fasten the cable tie. This made them to force my hand further. (…) I saw that many of my friends in the detention car were in handcuffs behind their backs and they were being beaten by the police pulling their hair, sitting on them and kicking them.”

Zilan Tayboğa stated the following: “I was handcuffed behind my back while being detained. A male police officer pushed his knee on my back, another one pulled my hair and hit my head to the ground which split my lip open and bleed. (…) They continued to beat us in the detention car.”


Turkey’s press freedom violations in numbers
at the end of January 2021:

70 170 1406 76%
Journalists imprisoned
in Turkey
Media outlets forcibly
closed since 2016
Years of jail time handed
to journalists since 2016
Evidence direcctley
consisting of journalistic work
Souce: https://freeturkeyjournalists.ipi.media/

Advocates of silenced Turkey report 2020

When the Turkish President declared in an infamous speech that “old Turkey no longer exists. This Turkey is new Turkey”, the story of Turkish authoritarianism had once and for all taken on a new character. Since July of 2016, the Turkish government has improperly imprisoned 130,214 homemakers, teachers, NGO workers, academics, judges, prosecutors, and journalists. Read more.........

Human rights lawyers in Turkey face threats and detention

24 January marks the Day of the Endangered Lawyer, a moment to recognise the threats facing lawyers around the world who dare to stand up for human rights. In recent years Amnesty International has felt the impact of these threats close to home, through the government crackdown on our colleagues in Turkey. Read the article............

Council of Europe anti-torture Committee
publishes two reports on Turkey

Report to the Turkish Government on the visit to Turkey carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)

BİA Media Monitor 2020

In 2020, 23 journalists were sentenced to a total of 103 years and 3 days in prison. At least 48 journalists were detained in a year, 430 journalists were detained in five years. At least 18 journalists were assaulted in 2020, 139 journalists were assaulted in five years. In six years, 63 journalists were convicted of "insulting the president. Critical newspapers' public ads were suspended for 276 days. Read the full article

3,362 people killed, 3,534 mistreated or tortured in Turkey in 2020,
opposition MP says

An annual report on human rights violations in Turkey, drafted by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Sezgin Tanrıkulu, has revealed 3,362 deaths and 3,534 incidents of torture or maltreatment in 2020, with 1,855 of them taking place in prisons, the İleri Haber news website reported on Saturday. Read the full article

Reports about torture and ill-treatment in Turkey


Provided by HRFT Documentation Center Human Rights Report.
September 2020 - October 2020 - November 2020 - December 2020 - January 2021

Black Sites in Turkey

In a near-repeat of the CIA’s ‘extraordinary renditions’, the regime of Turkish president Erdoğan is kidnapping dozens of members of the Gülen movement from around the world. Victims are now raising a serious accusation: secret torture sites are part of the repression. A team of nine media organizations from eight countries, coordinated by CORRECTIV, investigates. Read the story

Torture and ill-treatment in Turkey

Every month, human rights organizations, the media and victims report cases of torture and ill-treatment in Turkish prisons and police stations. Here are some sources:

Operation Gladio B (II)

Operation Gladio B was a classified ongoing expansion of Operation Gladio. The original Gladio was established just after the end of World War II by a small number of senior officials withinOSS/CIA, MI6 and NATO. This was a top secret network of fascist "stay-behind" cells trained to carry out acts of terrorism in the event of a Soviet invasion.
This was exposed in the 1980's after they were used to carry out a string of false flag attacks , mostly in Italy, which were initially blamed on communist groups. As the cold war ended, this strategy of tension was diversified to include Gladio B, which substitutes Muslims for fascists and neo-nazis.
Read about Gladio B

The Imam's Army

The Imam's Army (Turkish: İmamın Ordusu) is a book by Turkish journalist Ahmet Şık on the life and work of Fethullah Gülen and his Gülen movement. Şık was detained in March 2011, before the book was published, and the draft book was seized by the government and banned, claiming it was an "illegal organizational document" of the secret organization Ergenekon.
Şık was detained pending trial, being eventually released pending trial in March 2012. In the interim, in an act of anti-censorship defiance, a version of the book was released in November 2011 under the name 000Kitap (000Book). Read more about "The Imam's Army"



Abductions in Turkey
and abroud


Abductions in Turkey

Turkey’s Changing
Media Landscape

Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing

Key human rights
violations in Turkey


Police, Watchmen Involved in Torture, Ill-Treatment
About Some sources Gladio B: Gulen & CIA.
Abduction/ missing persons Brain drain Torture