Turkey Purge

Pro-Kurdish HDP boycotts parliament after co-chairs, deputies arrested

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has decided to withdraw from parliamentary work following the arrest of nine of its deputies including the party’s co-chairs last Friday. “We have decided to halt our work in the legislature,” HDP spokesperson Ayhan Bilgen said at a news conference following a two-day-long party meeting in Diyarbakır on Sunday. […]

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Law societies, bar associations condemn Turkey’s efforts to reinstate death penalty

A total of 36 law societies and bar associations from European Union and other countries have released a written statement condemning Turkey’s efforts to reintroduce capital punishment in the aftermath of a July 15 coup attempt. Below is the full text of the statement released on Oct. 20. “The right to life is guaranteed by

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Turkey now blocking access to VPN services

With many popular social media websites already blocked in the country following the imprisonment of Kurdish politicians, Turkey now considers restricting use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) which have helped internet-savvy citizens to circumvent government-imposed barriers so far. According to T24 news platform, the Turkish telecommunications authority (BTK) moved to block access to VPN services

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Former Daimler chairman: Turkey’s purge reminds of me beginning of Nazi era

Edzard Reuter, the son of the first mayor of West Berlin Ernst Reuter and the former chairman of the German automaker Daimler-Benz, said Turkey’s post-coup purge recalls what happened during early years of Nazi regime at his home country. Reuter was forced to flee Germany to Turkey along with his family when Nazis consolidated power

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42 arrested, 192 others detained over coup charges on Friday

A huge cleansing of Turkey’s state and other institutions is continuing as people from all walks of life find themselves being hunted down and taken into custody over their alleged or real links to the Gülen movement, which the government accuses of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt. At least 42 people were arrested, while

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Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Sabuncu and 8 others from daily arrested

Nine journalists and executives from the Cumhuriyet daily, including its Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu are arrested by the İstanbul 9th Penal Court of Peace on Saturday. Kadri Gürsel, Musa Kart, Güray Öz, Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Turhan Günay, Bülent Utku, Önder Çelik  and Eser Sevinç are arrested columnists and executives from Cumhuriyet daily in addition to the paper’s

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Gov’t seizes administration of another municipality in southern Turkey

The Ministry of Interior Affairs appointed a trustee to Şırnak municipality on Saturday after the removal of the elected mayor on alleged terror charges. The mayor Serhan Kadırhan had been recently removed as a result of terror investigation and replaced by Şırnak’s deputy governor Turan Bedirhanoğlu. The appointment was made possible by one of the

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Officer purged from military after coup attempt found dead in prison

İrfan Kızılarslan, a former colonel who was dismissed from the military and arrested following a failed coup on July 15 due to alleged involvement in the attempt, was found dead on Saturday in a prison in Turkey’s Tokat province. More than 20 suspects in the ensuing coup investigation have been found dead in Turkish prisons.

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VIDEO: Turkish Police fire plastic bullets at Kurdish protestors in İstanbul

Newly emerged video footage shows the moment a Turkish police use real bullets to disperse people who have taken to the streets in Şişli district of İstanbul to protest the arrest of Kurdish politicians. The 18-second video, viewed hundreds of times on YouTube and Twitter, a group of police officers use excessive force against Kurdish demonstrators, trying

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Gülen movement now blamed for police violence during Gezi protests

In yet another example of scapegoating the Gülen movement for any wrongdoing in Turkey or in anywhere else in the world, the ruling Justice and Development’s (AK Party) vice chairman and Istanbul deputy Mustafa Ataş said FETÖ was responsible for harsh police reaction to protesters in Gezi demonstrations in 2013. “Do you remember how people

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