International Reactions

Interpol has removed Turkey from its database after the Turkish government uploaded a list of at least 60,000 individuals sought over suspected links to the Gülen group, which Turkey accuses of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15, 2016. According to pro-gov’t Yeni Şafak daily, the decision to suspend Turkey’s access to Interpol database came […]

Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) is collecting intelligence on Turkish dissidents and the outlawed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Germany, according to the t24 news website. Turkey is among the countries that have increased spying activities in Germany, Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) announced. The BfV suggested in a

The families of abducted Gülen followers, whose abductions have been confirmed by eyewitnesses, have spoken to BBC Turkish service. Eleven people have been reported missing in Ankara since January. Turgut Çapan, abducted on March 31, Önder Asan, abducted on April 1 and Mustafa Özben, abducted on May 9, were working at Turgut Özal University, which

On the 111th day of a hunger strike launched by two academics, Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, who were fired from their jobs in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, 111 prominent figures in a newspaper ad on Tuesday called on the government to take action to save the academics

The United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has called on Turkish government to compensate a businessman who spent some 3 months in prison over his alleged links to the Gulen movement. WGAD works under UN Human Rights Council. Accused of financial support to the movement, the 57-year-old businessman Rebii Metin Görgeç was detained

Turkey has been ordered to pay 54,400 euros in damages by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to the Cem Foundation for violating its Alevi citizens’ freedom of faith and discriminating against cemevis, Alevi worship houses, the Diken news website reported on Thursday. According to the report, the Cem Foundation demanded payment for the

The number of research outputs by Turkey-based academics decreased by 28 percent year-on-year in 2017, according to a recent report. Freedom for Academia, a London-based online platform that aims to help academics victimized in Turkey’s post-coup crackdown, released, on June 1, a preliminary report on the country’s diminishing intellectual production, titled “The short-term effects of

Amnesty International has launched an “urgent action” campaign for Mustafa Çabuk, a Turkish secondary school teacher at imminent risk of extradition to Turkey, asking people to call on Georgian officials to avoid extradition. “Çabuk is at risk of extradition to Turkey where he is at risk of torture and other grave human rights violations. Turkey

The London-based human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) has launched a campaign for urgent action against the recent imprisonment of Taner Kılıç, a lawyer and the chairman of AI Turkey’s board. AI kicked off the campaign on Twitter on June 14 to support Kılıç, calling for his release, with the hashtag #FreeTanerKılıç. Since then, members

The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) has called on Turkish authorities to provide urgent medical care to Turkish journalist Tuncer Çetinkaya, who has been in pre-trial detention in Turkey for 11 months. “Tuncer Çetinkaya, a journalist and former regional representative of Zaman newspaper in Antalya, has been detained for 11 months in Turkey