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July 2018:
ERDOGANS LONG ARMS ABROAD AND
RECOMMENDATIONS TO GOVERNMENTS
 Is Turkey Turning Into a Mafia State?
Introduction:
Even though actions of the Turkish government against dissidents including the Gulen Movement
are not appreciated by many countries around the world, there are some states who are in
cooperation with Turkey neglecting human rights and fundamental freedoms. This study will first
talk about abductions and deportations around the world that are considered as violating
international human rights law and customary international law. Then in the second section,
violent reactions perpetrated in foreign states by pro-government people will be mentioned. Third
section will be giving details about recent threats targeting the supporters of the Movement.
Lastly, to cope with such risks and threats, the Advocates of Silenced Turkey recommends to
foreign governments to take all the necessary steps for ensuring protection to these people. Read the full report
TURKEY 2017 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT
 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017
United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
b. Disappearance
There were some unconfirmed reports of disappearances during the year, some of which human rights groups alleged were politically motivated. Opposition politicians and respected human rights groups claimed at least 11 abductions or disappearances of individuals with alleged Gulen ties or who opposed the government occurred. For example, in June the 12-year-old son of agricultural engineer Cemil Kocak witnessed the disappearance of his father in Ankara after their vehicle was hit by another car. When Kocak exited the car to assess the damage, three persons forced him into another car and drove away. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), there were "credible grounds" to believe Kocak and at least three other men had been forcibly disappeared by government agents.
Some articles
about abduction
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Similarly in April Onder Asan disappeared in Ankara. Six weeks later, his family located him in an Ankara police station. Asan alleged that before being transferred to official custody, he was interrogated and tortured by security forces. Most of the victims identified by HRW had been dismissed from government jobs under the state of emergency. Government officials disputed HRW's claims but declined to provide information on its investigative efforts, if any.
Abductions: The PKK abducted both officials and civilians throughout the year. According to media reports, the PKK claimed it had abducted 20 persons, including two MIT employees. Read the full report
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | OCTOBER 2017:
 Human Rights Watch has examined several cases of abductions which likely amount to
enforced disappearances, the majority of them in Ankara. An enforced disappearance
occurs when a person is taken into custody, but authorities subsequently deny it or refuse
to provide information about the person's whereabouts. In August, Human Rights Watch
wrote an open letter to Turkey's Minister of Justice about five cases, but has not received a
response.55 In several cases documented in this report, families of victims have applied to
the European Court of Human Rights complaining of the lack of an effective investigation
into the disappeared persons.
The cases of abductions and likely enforced disappearances are particularly concerning in
view of Turkey's history of security forces conducting enforced disappearances in the 1990s.
The European Court of Human Rights issued repeated judgments that Turkey had violated
the rights to liberty and security, and often the right to life of victims who were mainly Kurds,
and subjected their families and loved ones to inhuman and degrading treatment.
Read the report
ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES TARGETING
THE GULEN MOVEMENT
June 2017:
 There has been a new campaign of enforced disappearance in Turkey since 2016 that
specifically targets members of the civic Gülen movement. SCF has documented at least 11
cases of enforced disappearance so far. From one specific case in which the abduction of a
victim resulted in an unofficial detention in a secret place for over a month by intelligence
elements before he was turned over to the police for formal detention, SCF has been able
to map out the modus operandi of this string of clandestine and unlawful kidnappings that
primarily took place in the Turkish capital. It was clear that members of the security forces,
especially elements linked to the intelligence agencies, were involved in these enforced
disappearances and that government officials including prosecutors have been unwilling to
investigate such incidents.
Lawmaker Sezgin Tanrıkulu from Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party
(CHP) said in Parliament on May 24, 2017 that he had raised seven recent cases of enforced
disappearance and talked to the wives of the missing.16 He said the relatives told him that
when they visited prosecutors' offices and the police to inquire about the fate of their loved
ones, they were told to not pursue these matters or otherwise they too could end up in the
same situation, leaving their children behind.
A Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) motion to set up a parliamentary investigation
commission to look into enforced disappearances was rejected on May 24, 2017 by the
votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its nationalist partners. Read the report |
