Turkey Purge

Turkey violates laws prohibiting arbitrary arrest, detention: US human rights report

The Turkish government has not always observed the requirements of law that prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention and provide for the right of any person to challenge the lawfulness of arrest or detention in court, said a report released by the US State Department. The State Department released its 64-page Turkey 2017 Human Rights Report on Friday, according to […]

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4,167 Gulenists in 110 countries under investigation in Turkey: report

At least 4,167 in 110 countries are being investigated in Turkey over their links to the Gulen movement, the state-run Anadolu news agency (AA) said Thursday. AA said that an arrest request issued by the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office for the three Turkish nationals, forcedly returned from Gabon to Turkey earlier this month, has revealed

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Canadian lawyers urge Erdogan to release jailed Turkish colleague with cancer

The Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC), a committee of Canadian lawyers who promote human rights and the rule of law by providing support internationally to human rights defenders in danger, on Tuesday sent a letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül demanding the immediate release of jailed lawyer Mustafa Aydın and the provision

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Columnist Alpay’s house subject to random searchings even at midnights: lawyer

The house belonging to veteran journalist Şahin Alpay, who was released pending trial on May 17 after spending 20 months in jail, has been subject to frequent and random searchings by police even at midnights, according to Alpay’s lawyer.  Alpay was jailed in the aftermath of a military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 over

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Families of jailed Boğaziçi students: Everything is a crime in Turkey

On March 19, a group of students protested other students who had set up a stand at İstanbul’s Boğaziçi University campus to distribute Turkish delight in memory of Turkish soldiers killed during the Turkish military’s operation in Afrin, Syria. Police identified 17 of the protestors and detained 15 of them. So far, 13 Boğaziçi student have

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Turkish academic gets 18 months in prison over ‘Gülen propaganda’

Koray Çalışkan, an associate professor who was put in house arrest on July 10 as part of an investigation into 20 university academics, has been sentenced to one year, six months and 22 days in prison for disseminating the propaganda of Gülen movement on social media. According to the pro-government Sabah daily, the ruling was made by

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Turkey arrests four more journalists from pro-Kurdish Etkin news agency: report

A Turkish court on Thursday ruled for the arrest of four journalists affiliated with the Etkin News Agency (ETHA). The arrestees — Semiha Şahin, Pınar Gayıp, Ferhat Harun Pehlivan, Gülsen İmre — are accused of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “spreading propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization.” Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in

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Turkey strips 2 more pro-Kurdish deputies of parliamentary status, bringing total to 11

The Turkish Parliament has stripped pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies Osman Baydemir and Selma Irmak of their parliamentary status, the Cumhuriyet daily reported.  The decision was made due to the approval by an appeals court of sentences the two depuies had previously received. A regional appeals court in Gaziantep in February approved a 10-year jail

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Pro-Kurdish HDP deputy gets 7 years in prison on terrorism charges

A Turkish court has sentenced pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Burcu Çelik Özkan to prison for alleged terrorism propaganda, according to a report by the pro-Kurdish Mesopotamia news agency. Özkan was sentenced to seven years, three months and 10 days on charges of disseminating propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). She had previously

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