International Reactions

Turkey has been downgraded two places and ranked 101st among 113 countries in a justice index by a US advocacy group. The World Justice Project (WJP) released its biyearly Rule of Law Index along with a 191-page report based on 110,000 households and 3,000 experts in 113 countries, on Wednesday. “Turkey dropped two positions for […]

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s (PACE) has called for the release of Amnesty International’s (AI) Turkey chair Taner Kilic, under arrest for more than 7 months now. In a written statement issued a day before Kilic’s court appearance on Jan 31, PACE’s co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Turkey, Marianne Mikko (Estonia, SOC) and

Turkish government has pursued an aggressive policy to silence its perceived enemies in at least 46 countries across four continents, as part of its post-coup crackdown, a Foreign Affairs article noted Monday. Turkish government has been hunting its opponents abroad, particularly the supporters of the Gulen movement since before and after the failed putsch on

The Belgian police have found out that part of the threats targeting Turkish journalists in 2016 were made on computers at the Turkish embassy in Brussels. A recent police investigation has shown that at least one of the threatening social media messages received by Turkish journalists Mete Ozturk and Riza Dogan in July and September

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) has called on the government of Turkey to halt the persecution of human rights defenders and legal professionals amid growing evidence that they are being systematically persecuted, detained and prosecuted by Turkish authorities. In a statement published on the website of the Arrested Lawyers Initiative to mark

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its World Report 2018 on Thursday that Turkey’s State of Emergency (OHAL) Procedures Investigation Commissions are not independent of the government interference. “In January, the government ruled on the establishment of an ad hoc commission to review decisions made under the state of emergency. The commission lacks independence since

The US-based Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world, has classified Turkey as “not free” for the first time since the report series began in 1999. According to the new report on freedoms round the world, due to the Turkish government’s ongoing crackdown in the wake of

Turkey’s prize-winning author Aslı Erdoğan said during a live TV interview on France 24 TV channel that people in Turkey “are afraid of breathing, let along tweeting,” as thousands of university students in Turkey have been jailed over tweets across the country. “The oppression is very strong. As it goes stronger and stronger, the opposition gets

Fourteen journalists and writers in France penned letters for their Turkish colleagues, currently behind bars or recently-released, as part of a solidarity campaign with the media in Turkey. “14 French personalities, godmothers and sponsors of imprisoned journalists, take the pen or their pencil to support their godchildren and confreres who are fighting in Turkey for