HRF publishes full page ad telling Erdoğan ‘You are not welcome’
The New York-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF) on Tuesday published a full-page ad in The Washington Times for the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the US saying, “You are not welcome.” Underlining that although Turkey was once a democracy, it has...
Media coverage of tortured detainees condoned to silence dissidents: report
Media coverage of detainees with signs of beatings indicate that torture and ill-treatment are officially being condoned to silence and prevent dissent, a recent report by the UK-based Freedom from Torture said with regards to reports on torture allegations in Turkey....
EFJ urges Turkey to stop ‘judicial harassment’ against journalists
The European Federations of Journalists (EFJ) and its global affiliate and International Federations of Journalists (IFJ) have called on Turkey to stop what they called judicial harassment against Turkish journalists. Ayşenur Parıldak, a former reporter from the...
Amnesty Int’l demands urgent action for Turks at risk of extradition from Malaysia
Amnesty International has launched an “urgent action” for three Turkish nationals who were detained in Malaysia, asking people to call on Malaysian officials to avoid extradition. “Three Turkish nationals have been arrested and detained in Malaysia under...
Reactions pour in over Turks’ controversial arrest in Malaysia as UN joins calls against extradition
The UN Human Rights Office for South-East Asia has expressed serious concern about the recent arrests of three Turkish nationals in Malaysia, joining calls on the government to refrain from extradition. "There are concerns that these men may have been targeted over...
Human Rights Watch urges immediate lawyer access for detained Turks in Malaysia
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Malaysian government to provide two Turkish nationals, controversially detained in Kuala Lumpur last week, with full access to legal counsel and contact with their families. Turgay Karaman, the principal of the Gülen...
Turkey’s DİTİB given Big Brother award for spying on Erdogan critics
The Cologne-based Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB) has been awarded the BigBrotherAward 2017 in the category of politics for its spying activities against the critics of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Gülen movement in particular. “The...
İHD report: 7,907 rights violations took place in Turkey’s SE in 3 months
A report released by the Diyarbakır branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD) has revealed that a total of 7,907 rights violations took place in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish Southeast in the first three months of 2017. İHD Diyarbakır branch President Raci Bilici...
PEN Canada joins campaign for release of Turkey’s jailed journalists
PEN Canada members have joined a solidarity campaign launched by Amnesty International on Twitter for release of imprisoned journalists in Turkey. Members of the organization sent a joint message of solidarity to Turkey’s imprisoned journalists by taking photos with...
Human Rights Watch: Turkish nationals to face torture if extradited by Malaysia
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, has called on the Malaysian government to ensure that “under no circumstance” should two Turkish men arrested in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday be extradited to Turkey, where they could face torture and an unfair trial....
Amnesty projects names of jailed journalists onto Turkish embassy
Amnesty International projected the names of imprisoned Turkish journalists onto the facade of Turkish embassy building in The Hague. The protest came as a move to draw attention to the “deteriorating” situation of journalists in Turkey and to mark May 3 International...
Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet joins campaign for release of Turkey’s jailed journalists
Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet has joined a solidarity campaign launched by Amnesty International on Twitter for release of imprisoned journalists in Turkey. 30 of staff members of Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet sent a joint message of solidarity to Turkey’s...
Arrested Turkish judge nominated for human rights prize by European colleagues
Germany-based Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés (MEDEL) has nominated Murat Arslan, the last chairman of Turkey’s Judges and Prosecutors Association (YARSAV) for the 2017 Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize. Under arrest since Oct 26, 2016 over his...
17,000 women, 515 babies in Turkish prisons: SCF report
Thousands of women in Turkey, many with small children, have been jailed in an unprecedented crackdown and subjected to torture and ill-treatment in detention centers and prisons as part of the government’s systematic campaign of intimidation and persecution of...
Turkey down 8 spots in 2017 press freedom ranking by Freedom House
Turkey has been ranked at 163rd place out of 199 countries, down 8 spots from its place in 2016, according to the US-based watchdog Freedom House. Turkey had been placed at 155th spot in 2016. Freedom House, dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world, has...
Surpassed by Congo, Mali and Ethiopia; Turkey ranks 155th in World Press Freedom Index
Turkey, which has around 200 journalists jailed in its prisons, is ranked 155th among 180 countries in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Wednesday. If Turkey falls four more ranks, it will make it to the list of the...
Council of Europe puts founding member Turkey on watchlist over post-coup abuses
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) placed Turkey on a monitoring watchlist for its bleak record of human rights violations and pressure on dissenting voices in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt, on Tuesday. Strasbourg-based PACE decided...
Rights groups urge EU action against post-coup abuses in Turkey
A letter written on Friday to Frederica Mogherini, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, and Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, by a group of human rights and journalist organizations expresses concern about yet another extension...