Today In Crackdown

Woman whose hair ripped out by Turkish police jailed in İstanbul

Bergül Varan, a memner of lesftist band Grup Yorum and whose hair was ripped out from her scalp by Turkish police on June 7, was arrested on Saturday after she was detained on Friday. According to reports in Turkish media, Varan was detained again along with Akif Uzun an actor in İdil Public Theatre as she was […]

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40 percent of top military commanders purged in post-coup period: report

130 generals and admirals in Turkish military were either dismissed or suspended as part of a widespread purge following a failed coup attempt in July last year. According to a story in state-run Anadolu news agency on Sunday, NATO’s second largest standing military force has now 196 generals and admirals which had 326 in July 2016. The

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Turkey issues detention warrants for 4 previously released rights defenders

İstanbul’s Adalar Public Prosecutor’s Office has issued detention warrants for four human rights defenders who were released on judicial probation on Tuesday after they were detained along with six others on July 5 during a workshop on İstanbul’s Büyükada, the pro-government Sabah daily reported. According to the report, detention warrants were issued for Nalan Erkem,

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Police stifle Friday prayer, disperse Kurdish protesters with water cannon

Newly emerged video footage shows the moment Turkish police used water cannons to disperse scores of Kurdish protestors while performing a Friday prayer on June 21 in the Yüksekova district of Hakkari province. Amed Dicle, a pro-Kurdish journalist, posted the 1.50-min video on Twitter with a note that read: “Here is the Yüksekova district of Palestine

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Turkey detains two rights activists who were released only 4 days ago

Nalan Ekrem, a lawyer and a rights activist with the Citizens Assembly and İlknur Üstün of Women’s Coalition were detained only 4 days after she was released on judicial control, on Saturday. An Istanbul court, on Tuesday, put in pre-trial arrest six human rights activists including Amnesty International’s (AI) Turkey director Idil Eser while releasing

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Police detain man, couple for wearing ‘hero’ T-shirts

Ç.G. (22) and E.E. (22), a young couple from Akdeniz University, were detained on Saturday after Antalya police were informed that they were wearing hero T-shirts, CNN Türk reported. The police apprehended the two by tracking them on the city’s surveillance camera system. The students said they did not know wearing the T-shirt was prohibited.

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Judge suffering cancer jailed in Kocaeli, wife under detention in Tokat

Mustafa Babayiğit, a Turkish judge who reportedly suffers from thyroid cancer, has been sent to jail by a Kocaeli court, while his wife, Songül Babayiğit who is also a judge, has been held in custody in Tokat. The judge couple is accused of having links to Turkey’s Gülen group, which the Turkish government accuses of

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Pro-gov’t preacher holds prayer sessions for Gülen’s death

Ahmet Mahmut Ünlü, popularly known as “Cübbeli Ahmet Hoca” (Robed Ahmet Hoca), a staunch supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), on Saturday launched prayer sessions among his group in order to curse and demand the death of US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who is accused by

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Law student under custody after lecturer reported him for wearing ‘hero’ T-shirt

Turkish police detained a law student at Ankara University, identified with his first name Dogan, for wearing “hero” T-shirt during an exam on Friday. According to Ihlas News Agency, Dogan put on a T-Shirt bearing the word “hero” on him before taking an exam as part of his commercial law course on Friday. The exam

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