International Reactions

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the UN Human Rights Council has called on the Turkish government to immediately release Mesut Kaçmaz and Meral Kaçmaz, a couple that was abducted from their home after midnight in Lahore on September 27, 2017 and deported illegally by the Pakistani government to Turkey just two days before […]

The Sweden-based Anna Lindh’s Memorial Fund has awarded human rights lawyer Eren Keskin with the 2018 Anna Lindh Prize. “She has worked tirelessly to help violence-deprived girls and women, as well as LGTBQ people and Syrian needers in Turkey,” said Lena Hjelm-Wallén, chairman of the memorial fund’s board. “Even when her work led to captivating,

Turkey’s universities are experiencing a period of self-censorship and a lack of academic freedom as hundreds of academic staff members face prosecution and thousands more have lost their jobs, international nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Monday. “The Turkish government’s crackdown is targeting academics and damaging its universities,” said Hugh

“Protracted restrictions on the human rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association are incompatible with the conduct of a credible electoral process in Turkey,” Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High commissioner for human rights, said in a statement on Wednesday, stressing that these rights are particularly crucial in the context of elections. “On

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), National Journalists Union (SNJ) and CFDT-Journalists voiced concern for journalists jailed in Turkey and expressed solidarity with them in a program organized for World Press Freedom Day in Paris. Speaking at a gathering in front of Paris’ historic municipal building, Anthony Bellanger, secretary-general of the IFJ, described Turkey as

A fundraising campaign has been launched for the Turkish refugees who cross into Greece in order to escape an ongoing purge in Turkey. Thousands of people have fled Turkey due to a massive witch-hunt launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government against sympathizers of the Gülen group in the wake of a

“A chilling climate of fear is sweeping across Turkish society as the Turkish government continues to use the state of emergency to shrink the space for dissenting or alternative views,” Amnesty International said in its latest report on Turkey and urged the Turkish government to release Taner Kılıç and other human rights defenders and civil society

Turkey, which has jailed more than 250 journalists and media workers, is ranked 157th among 180 countries in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index released on Wednesday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). As the world’s biggest prison for professional journalists, Turkey has managed to fall another two places in the past year, which saw a succession of mass

A 25-year-old woman, identified as H.G., was granted asylum by Bosnian court which dismissed Turkey’s request for extradition, according to media. Reuters reported on Monday that H.G. an appeal court in Bosnia last month ruled against the extradition of H.G. on the grounds that she had requested asylum in Bosnia before Turkey had asked for

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