Turkey police detain 33 people in “terror” operations in İstanbul: report
Turkey’s anti-terrorism police have detained at least 33 people in simultaneous raids across İstanbul for alleged links to the Gülen group, which is accused of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15, 2016. According to the state-run TRT news, as part of an...
Turkish police assault workers protesting gov’t restrictions ahead of International Workers’ Day
Newly emerged video footage shows the moment Turkish police used excessive force against a group of protestors who were protesting the government restrictions ahead of the International Workers' Day, also known as May Day. In the 35-second video, viewed hundreds of...
Imprisoned Turkish brigadier general dies of Covid-19 in prison: report
Mehmet Şükrü Eken (53), a former Turkish brigadier general, died in prison on April 19th due to COVID-19, the Sözcü daily reported. Eken was arrested after a July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey and had been held in Bafra prison since then. In 2018, he was sentenced to...
Imprisoned Turkish academic hospitalized due to severe complications from COVID-19: report
Turkish political scientist Sedat Laçiner has recently been hospitalized due to severe complications from COVID-19, Turkish media reported. Laçiner has been held in prison since July 23, 2016, and was sentenced to 9 years and 4 months in prison in September 2018 due...
Turkish parliament expels pro-Kurdish MP Gergerlioğlu over “terror” charges
Turkish parliament voted on Wednesday to revoke the parliamentarian status of Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), due to the recent approval of a prison sentence he was handed down for a tweet he posted in 2016....
Purge-victim police chief found dead in a quarantine cell in Turkish prison
A deputy police chief, who had been held in prison for over four years, was found dead in a quarantine cell in Turkey's Gümüşhane E Type Closed Prison. The photos taken after his death revealed the poor conditions of the prison facility. According to the Bold Medya...
Turkish mob boss: Erdogan gov’t asked me to murder American pastor Andrew Brunson
A reputed mob boss said in an interview on July 22 that he was asked by the Turkish government to murder Andrew Brunson, an American Pastor who spent some two years in a Turkey prison over alleged terrorism and espionage-related charges "AK Party wanted to kill him...
Turkey jails mother of imprisoned military cadet
Melek Çetinkaya, the mother of one of the military cadets who were imprisoned in the aftermath of a failed military coup in July 2016, was sent to prison early on Friday. According to Çetinkaya's daughter, Rüveyda, she was jailed for "praising a crime and those who...
Turkish President calls on parliament to pass laws banning social media platforms
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the Turkish parliament to pass laws that ban social media platforms, including Twitter and Netflix, due to the "recent increase of immoral acts" on these platforms. The President's address came a day after at least 19...
Purge-victim Turkish professor dies of cancer at 54
Haluk Savaş, a psychiatry professor and a purge victim, died of cancer at the age of 54, his wife announced on Tuesday. "My angel's gone," she tweeted. https://twitter.com/DoktorEsenSavas/status/1277993445777444864 Savaş was a psychiatry professor at Gaziantep...
9 international human rights groups call on Turkish gov’t to release political prisoners in face of COVID-19 outbreak
9 international human rights groups have called on governments aroud the world, NGOs and the UN to push the Turkish government to release political prisoners and "condemn its use of the pandemic to further target human rights defenders." The right groups -- Raoul...
U.S. House Committee Chair calls on Turkish President Erdogan to release purge-victim prisoners in face of COVID-19 outbreak
Eliot L. Engel, Democrat of New York and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote a letter last week calling on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to release journalists, civil society activists, and members of the political opposition "who do...
Counter-terrorism units raid house of Adana family over “financial aid” to purge-victim families
Police teams armed with machine guns raided a house in Adana belonging to a family accused of “giving financial support” to the purge-victims who were either jailed or fired from their jobs over Gülen links. Among the detainees is a woman with a six-month old baby...
3 more opposition deputies stripped of parliamentary status in Turkey: report
Three lawmakers, Leyla Güven, Musa Farisoğulları from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Enis Berberoğlu from the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP), were stripped of their lawmaker status on Thursday, Reuters reported. Berberoğlu was convicted for...
Turkish woman says she was tortured with acid in police custody: report
Esra Yurt, a Turkish woman who was detained as part of an investigation into Turkey's Gulen group, said in an interview that she had her feet burned with acid in police custody at the notorious Ankara Anti-Terror Branch (TEM). Speaking to Turkish journalist Sevinç...
First inmate dies from COVID-19 complications at İstanbul’s Silivri Prison: report
An inmate has died from an apparent complication related to COVID-19 at Silivri Prison in istanbul, according to a statement by the İstanbul Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. According to the same statement, the number of coronavirus cases in the facility has...
Turkish gov’t dismisses 4 more elected Kurdish mayors, bringing total to 44
Turkey’s interior ministry announced on Friday that 4 mayors from the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were removed from their posts on "terror-related charges." The ousted HDP mayors are as follows: Siirt Mayor Berivan Helen Işık, Iğdır Mayor Yaşar Akkuş and...
Turkish journalist tests positive for COVID-19 in Ankara’s Sincan prison
Çetin Çiftçi, a Turkish journalist who has been sentenced to 6 years, 3 months in prison on charges of membership in a terrorist organization, has tested positive in Ankara's Sİncan prison. According to the Jailed Journos Twitter account, Çiftçi suffers from renal...