International Reactions

Rebecca Harms, a member of the European Parliament, on Sunday called on the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) to look into the case of Uğur Toksoy, a Turkish teacher who was detained on Friday by Kosovo authorities over alleged links to the Gülen movement, immediately following a visit by Ankara Chief […]

Georges Dassis, president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), said on Thursday he was disappointed by the detention of human rights activist and prominent businessman Osman Kavala in Turkey and urged his immediate release. In a letter to Ambassador Faruk Kaymakçı, Turkey’s permanent representative to the European Union, Dassis said he regrets seeing Kavala

A comprehensive report, released last week by the Platform for Peace & Justice (PPJ) on prison conditions in Turkey under a state of emergency declared in the aftermath of a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, has exposed widespread human rights violations and inadequate facilities in 72 out of 80 prisons in the country. The recently released

Four senior members of US’s Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which is also known as the Helsinki Commission, has called on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to lift post-coup emergency rule, in force over a year. Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker, Co-Chairman Rep. Chris Smith, Ranking Commissioner Sen. Ben Cardin,  and Ranking Commissioner Rep. Alcee

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), an international umbrella organization for human rights, has called on Pakistani government not to deport 289 Turkish citizens to Turkey as they have been granted asylum certificates by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In a letter sent to the President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Shahid Khan Abbasi,

People detained after the last year’s failed putsch have been subject to torture in police custody while several others were abducted outside detention facilities, according to a recent report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW). The New York-based watchdog documented human rights abuses occurred between March and August 2017 in its 43-page report, “In Custody:

The Brave Journalism award has been bestowed on prominent Turkish journalist and Cumhuriyet daily reporter Ahmet Şık, who was arrested last December on charges of disseminating terrorist propaganda in Turkey, according to the Bianet news portal. Şık’s wife, Yonca Şık, is expected to receive the award at the International Frankfurt Book Fair that open this week

Amnesty International (AI) on Wednesday called on the Turkish government for the immediate andunconditional release of 11 prominent human rights defenders, including its Turkey director İdil Eser, who has been in pretrial detention for 100 days on terrorism charges. In a press release issued on Wednesday, John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Europe director, said: “One hundred

Murat Arslan, the last chairman of Turkey’s Judges and Prosecutors Association (YARSAV) was named as the winner of the 2017 Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Council of Europe (CoE) on Monday. Under arrest since Oct 26, 2016 over his alleged links to the Gulen movement, Arslan acted as the chair of YARSAV until it

The US suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all its diplomatic facilities in Turkey over what it called ‘recent events,’ on Sunday. “Recent events have forced the United States government to reassess the commitment of government of Turkey to the security of U.S. mission and personnel,” a statement by the US embassy in Ankara said.