Kosovo grants asylum to Turkish educator who escaped Turkey’s abduction attempt
Ugur Toksoy, a Turkish national who is believed to be a member of Turkey's Gülen group, has been granted asylum in Kosovo, after escaping an attempted abduction by the Turkish intelligence service in Kosovo. Teksoy, a teacher at Gülen affiliated Hasan Nahi school in...
EU Commission on Kosovo abductions: Arbitrary arrest, exile against EU principles
The arrest and subsequent deportation of six Turkish nationals legally residing in Kosovo raise questions about the respect of the due process of law,” said Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for the European Commission told Kosovo-based Gazeta Express on Tuesday. “The...
1,250 academics in 37 countries campaign for Bogazici students’ release
A total of 1,250 academics from more than 100 organizations across 37 countries of the world have signed a petition asking for the release of 15 Boğaziçi University students in Turkey who were detained in March for holding a protest against an ongoing Turkish military...
Human Rights Watch: Arrest of Turkish nationals in Kosovo a callous disregard for Human Rights
US-based monitoring group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the arrest of Turkish nationals in Kosovo showed a callous disregard for human rights and rule of law. According to New York Times and Balkan Insight online newspaper on Friday, HRW said Kosovo showed disregard...
Local Amnesty office asks Kosovo to avoid extradition of Turkish teachers
Amnesty International’s (AI) local branch in UK’s Kirklees distict has called on Kosovar government to avoid extradition of Turkish teachers abducted on Thursday. “Turkey chair Taner Kilic’s unlawful arrest in Turkey has showed us the arbitrariness in Turkey’s...
Human Rights Foundation asks Kosovo PM to free 6 Gulenists
US-based Human Rights Foundation has asked, in an urgent letter, to free 6 Gulenists, arrested facing deportation to Turkey at the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's order. Kosovo police early arrested the Gülenists who used to work at a group of schools...
ECtHR: Turkey violates liberty, security, freedom of expression of Şahin Alpay, Mehmet Altan
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that Turkey has violated the liberty, security and freedom of expression of two journalists, Şahin Alpay and Mehmet Altan, who face terror charges. The ECtHR ruled on Tuesday that Turkey had acted illegally in...
Switzerland investigating allegations Turkey tried to kidnap businessman in Zurich
Federal prosecutors in Switzerland are investigating whether Turkish diplomats and intelligence officers planned to drug and kidnap a Swiss-Turkish businessman shortly after the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, local media said. A group of five including the diplomats...
3 charged with spying on Erdoğan critics in Denmark
Three people are facing trial on charges of spying on critics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Evrensel daily reported on Monday based on an article that appeared in the Danish Berlingske newspaper. Last year Mehmet Dönmez, the Turkish ambassador in...
RSF calls Turkish journalists’ convictions ‘an act of political despotism’
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday condemned the sentences ranging from two to seven years in prison that 25 Turkish journalists received on March 8 in a political mass trial in Istanbul targeting opposition journalists. The sentences were issued after the 25...
UN Rapporteur says Turkish detainees reportedly tortured with severe beatings, electrical shocks, icy water, sexual assault
The UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer said in a written statement on Feb 27 that he was alarmed by allegations that large numbers of individuals were exposed to brutal interrogation techniques in Turkish custodies. The allegations of torture and other...
Netherlands accepts 73 percent of asylum applications from Turkish citizens: report
The Netherlands has approved of 73 percent of asylum applications filed by Turkish citizens in the country in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016, according to Dutch public broadcaster NOS. NOS based its story on data from the Dutch Ministry...
Report shows number of rights violations increased during OHAL in Turkey
A report drafted by the Diyarbakır Bar Association has revealed that there has been a significant increase in the number of rights violations in Turkey’s prisons during emergency rule, which was declared in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt in July 2016 and is...
US ‘deeply concerned’ by conviction of NASA scientist Serkan Golge
US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said at a press briefing on Thursday that the United States is deeply concerned about the conviction earlier in the day of Serkan Gölge on charges of membership in a terrorist organization. Gölge, a dual US-Turkish...
European Parliament urges Turkey to end post-coup emergency rule
Members of the European Parliament have called on Turkey to lift an ongoing state of emergency declared after a failed coup in July 2016 that they say is now being used to silence dissent and opposition. “The state of emergency declared after the coup attempt of 16...
EP rapporteur: Thousands became victims of massive crackdown on all opposition voices
Kati Piri, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for Turkey, said on Tuesday during a speech in the European Parliament plenary that thousands of people have become victims of a "massive crackdown on all opposition voices" in Turkey, calling on the European Union to be...
Letter campaign launched for Turkey’s imprisoned women, mothers
An initiative called Set Them Free has launched a letter campaign to show solidarity with women in jail and mothers who are incarcerated with their children. In the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, more than 17,000 women from all walks of life...
Re-arrest of AI Turkey chair a travesty of justice, says EP members
Rebecca Harms, together with other members of the European Parliament and the EP-Turkey Forum, on Thursday criticized the re-arrest of Taner Kılıç, chairman of the board of Amnesty International Turkey, by a Turkish court, calling it “a travesty of justice.” The...