Today In Crackdown

Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into Turkish singer Alpay after he at a concert commemorated a 13-year-old boy who was killed by the police during the Gezi Park protests of 2013, Gazete Duvar reported on Tuesday. The 84-year-old singer is now reportedly under investigation for “denigrating the state” and “praising members of terrorist groups.” […]

At least 550 high-ranking Turkish diplomats have been fired from their jobs by the Turkish government since a coup attempt on July 15, 2016. According to Bahadır Gülle, who claims to be one of the 550 purged-diplomats, among them are those with degrees from the world’s some of the best universities, such as Harvard, Oxford,

Ankara prosecutors have opened an investigation into German journalist of Turkish descent Süheyla Kaplan, over posts on her social media accounts, Deutsche Welle Turkish service reported on Friday. Three posts she shared on Facebook and Twitter are now subject to investigation for allegedly “insulting the president” and “spreading terrorist propaganda.” She posted about the Turkish

Turkey’s national carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) will no longer offer Armenian weekly newspaper Agos to its customers at the international terminal in İstanbul, the Artı Gerçek news website reported on Friday. Agos has been among the print media available free of charge for THY customers since 2013. THY unilaterally repealed its contract with Agos last

Beyza Demir, a Turkish woman who has been held in pre-trial detention over a year over alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group, was sent back to prison immediately after giving birth on March 28. Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a Turkish human rights activist, medical doctor and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy, said during a press

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Engin Altay on accusations of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in comments he made on a TV program, according to Turkish media reports on Wednesday. According to the prosecutor’s office Altay both insulted and threatened Erdoğan

Detention warrants were issued for 18 engineers previously working at the government-owner defence company, HAVELSAN on Friday. Anadolu news agency reported that the engineers are accused of membership to the Gulen movement. Eight of them were caught at the time of writing while police were searching the remaining ten. Turkish government accuses Gulenists of masterminding

Two young men were taken into custody in the eastern province of Tunceli on Thursday for refusing to shake hands with the trustee who replaced a democratically elected mayor in the province, the Arti Gerçek news website reported. Tunceli Governor Tuncay Sonel, who was also appointed as trustee, replacing the city’s mayor from the ranks

Ayşenur Arslan, a prominent journalist affiliated with the leftist Halk TV, has been detained in Eskişehir province as part of an investigation carried out by the Ankara 40th penal court of first instance. According to the halktv news portal, Arslan was detained after she failed to attend a trial scheduled in an Ankara court last

Turkish lawyer Selçuk Kozağaçlı, former president of the now-closed Progressive Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD) who has been behind bars since November 2017 on terrorism charges, was handed down a sentence of 11 years, three months on Wednesday. The İstanbul 37th High Criminal Court rendered the sentence for conviction of membership in a terrorist organization. Six other