Turkey Purge

Bülent Tezcan, deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is being investigated after he called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a “fascist dictator,” Turkish media reported. The Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday launched the investigation after Hüseyin Aydın, a lawyer for Erdoğan, filed a criminal complaint against the CHP’s Tezcan for the “crime of […]

Irfan Bayar, a municipal worker in Kastamonu and a former soldier who was wounded in a clash with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in 1997, committed suicide after an investigation was launched against him for sending his kid to a private school affiliated with the Gülen movement. According to media on Thursday, Republican Peoples’

An İstanbul court on Tuesday ruled that Cumhuriyet daily journalists who were arrested on Nov. 12, 2016 on terror charges will continue to remain in pretrial detention. According to the state-run Anadolu news agency the İstanbul 27th High Criminal Court decided that Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, reporter Ahmet Şık and CEO Akın Atalay will remain

Technology journalist M. Serdar Kuzuloğlu was detained over his alleged links to the Gülen movement, which the government accuses of masterminding the July 15 failed putsch, on Wednesday. According to Turkish media, Kuzuloğlu was detained for his alleged used of ByLock, an encrypted mobile app that Turkish prosecutors claim to be the top communication tool

Turkish police have detained four journalists from different media outlets over alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group, which the government accuses of masterminding a coup attempt last year. According to the Gazete Duvar news portal, Şule Çizmeci, a former reporter for now-closed Radikal daily, was detained in İzmir’s Datça district on Wednesday. It was reported that

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. At least 3158 people were detained, with 1127 of them put in pre-trial detention in operations targeting Turkey’s Kurdish minority, and the Gülen group, which the Turkish government accuses

Prominent pro-Kurdish NGO the Human Rights Association (İHD) has stated that in Turkey there are 1,025 prisoners in poor health, 357 of whom are seriously ill, subjected to deplorable conditions, the Cumhuriyet daily reported on Friday. Speaking at a press conference held by the İHD Diyarbakır branch and Diyarbakır Chamber of Medical Doctors, İHD Diyarbakır branch

Nazife Onay, one of the thousands of teachers who were removed from their jobs by decrees issued by the Turkish government in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, was arrested after spending 12 days under police custody. Onay, a teacher of 11 years, staged a sit-in in protest of her dismissal

Murat Baran, the owner of the Kırsehir-based Baran pharmacy store and the president of the Kırşehir Ahi Businessmen Association (KAHİAD) until it was shut down by the government, was sentenced to 42 years and 6 months in prison. The court also handed over TL130,000 [$35,000] fine to him. Under arrest since May, 2016, Baran was