International Reactions

European Union leaders should consider economic pressure against Turkey to end post-coup human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a written statement on May 23. “A meeting planned for May 25, 2017, between European Union leaders and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey should signal that discussion of upgraded economic cooperation is dependent on Ankara’s willingness to tackle […]

The New York-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF) on Tuesday published a full-page ad in The Washington Times for the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the US saying, “You are not welcome.” Underlining that although Turkey was once a democracy, it has entered a downward spiral into dictatorship, HRF said President Erdoğan is

The European Federations of Journalists (EFJ) and its global affiliate and International Federations of Journalists (IFJ) have called on Turkey to stop what they called judicial harassment against Turkish journalists. Ayşenur Parıldak, a former reporter from the now-closed Zaman daily, was released early on May, 2 but was re-arrested by the same court hours before

Media coverage of detainees with signs of beatings indicate that torture and ill-treatment are officially being condoned to silence and prevent dissent, a recent report by the UK-based Freedom from Torture said with regards to reports on torture allegations in Turkey. “This contributes to an environment in which torture is officially endorsed tacitly or overtly

Amnesty International has launched an “urgent action” for three Turkish nationals who were detained in Malaysia, asking people to call on Malaysian officials to avoid extradition. “Three Turkish nationals have been arrested and detained in Malaysia under anti-terrorism legislation. …There are also concerns that they could be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment, unfair

The UN Human Rights Office for South-East Asia has expressed serious concern about the recent arrests of three Turkish nationals in Malaysia, joining calls on the government to refrain from extradition. “There are concerns that these men may have been targeted over their suspected links to the Gülen movement which is accused of being behind

PEN Canada members have joined a solidarity campaign launched by Amnesty International on Twitter for release of imprisoned journalists in Turkey. Members of the organization sent a joint message of solidarity to Turkey’s imprisoned journalists by taking photos with #FreeTurkeyMedia signs and posting them on social media. AI launched the campaign on Twitter late in

Germany-based Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés (MEDEL) has nominated Murat Arslan, the last chairman of Turkey’s Judges and Prosecutors Association (YARSAV) for the 2017 Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize. Under arrest since Oct 26, 2016 over his alleged links to the Gulen movement, Arslan acted as the chair of YARSAV until it was shut down

Amnesty International projected the names of imprisoned Turkish journalists onto the facade of Turkish embassy building in The Hague. The protest came as a move to draw attention to the “deteriorating” situation of journalists in Turkey and to mark May 3 International Press Freedom Day, according to AI. Among the journalists whose names were projected