Turkey Purge

Socialist party leader sent to jail over terror charges

Cicek Otlu, the chairman of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) was arrested on accusations of membership to a terrorist organization on Tuesday. Otlu had been detained as part of a Tunceli-based investigation in Ankara on Monday. During her appearance before the court, Otlu said she sees the decision as a move to block her […]

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German FM says wife receiving threats from Erdogan supporters

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has said his wife has received threats in voicemail by people motivated by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “The way Erdogan does this [criticizes the minister] motivates some people to try to harass and bother my wife,” Gabriel was reported as saying by Welt newspaper. Relations between Turkey and Germany has detoriated

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7 social media users taken under custody over past week: ministry

The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Monday that at least 7 people were detained over the past week on charges of making propaganda on social media on behalf of the Gulen movement and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIL). The ministry said investigations were launched against 255

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Dismissed pro-Kurdish mayor, 1-year-old son arrested as mother battered during operation

Lice Municipality’s former co-mayorRezan Zuğurli was arrested along with her 1-year-old son while her mother Firuze Zuğurli was battered by police officers during the operation on Thursday. Zuğurli, the co-mayor of the Diyarbakir’s Lice Municipality until she was removed as part of the government’s post-coup crackdown against the Kurdish regions on Feb 10, was earlier sentenced

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Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk says so many innocent people in Turkish prisons

Nobel laureate novelist Orhan Pamuk said Turkey has imprisoned so many innocent people in arbitrary ways very recently, leading him to feel guilty even when working. In an interview with the US-based Slate magazine on Aug 18, Pamuk said: “As I tell my girlfriend, all the time one feels guilty when one is just happy

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Merkel says Turkey abusing arrest warrants through Interpol

Turkey has been misusing arrest warrants it issues in cooperation with Interpol, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday. “We must not misuse international organizations like Interpol for such purposes,” she said. Merkel’s statement came only a day after Doğan Akhanlı, a Turkish-born German author was detained by Spanish police at Turkey’s request. “(Akhanli’s) is

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Turkey jails another journalist due to social media posts

Pro-Kurdish Diha news agency reporter Mehmet Siddik Damar was put in pretrial detention over his social media posts on Friday. According to media, Damar visited the courthouse in Mardin’s Kiziltepe district to give his testimony over terror charges. The prosecutor overseeing his case sought Damar’s arrest by the court in charge which jailed him on

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International Press Institute says 171 journalists currently behind bars in Turkey

According to the International Press Institute (IPI) currently a total of 171 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey due to their journalistic activities. The international media watchdog called for the immediate release of jailed journalists in Turkey on its website while displaying the cases of all 171 reporters and charges against them on Friday. IPI runs

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