HUMAN RIGHTS

Latest News

• Peoples’ Tribunal on Turkey starts in Paris 

  A session of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Turkish war crimes against Kurdish people has started in Paris’ Bourse du Travail.
• A third of HDP members detained over last three years 

  About a third of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) members have been detained by Turkish police since July 2015, Mesopotamia News Agency reported.
• Prisoner with brain cancer put in solitary confinement in Turkey 

  A Kurdish prisoner, who is suffering from brain cancer, is kept under solitary confinement in Sincan F Type Prison in Turkey.
• Current situation in Turkish prisons: Torture and death 

  While disciplinary punishments are extended in the prison of Elazığ, Northern Kurdistan, messages about maltreatment come from the prison of Tarsus. In Adana, a prisoner died because he was denied his medication.
• HDP calls for action against torture and ill treatment in prisons 

  HDP called upon all democratic and human rights institutions and relevant international entities to urgently take action against alarming levels of torture and ill treatment in Turkish prisons.
• Amnesty: Turkey indiscriminately shelling civilians in Afrin 

  The Turkish army is shelling civilians indiscriminately in Afrin, Amnesty International said.
• 922 cases of war crimes documented in Turkish attacks on Afrin 

  A group of lawyers documented 922 cases of war crimes since the beginning of Turkey’s invasion attacks against Afrin on January 22.
• Political prisoners attacked: 40 injured 

  Prisoners who refused the stand-up roll call last Monday in the Rize Type L Prison were attacked. 40 prisoners are injured.
• Öcalan’s lawyers appeal for a meeting for the 731st time 

  Öcalan’s lawyers have appealed to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to meet with their client for the 731st time.
• Kurdish co-mayor arrested in Agri 

  A Turkish court ordered the arrest of Hazal Aras, co-mayor of Diyadin district of Agri.
• Nine activists detained over social media posts in Turkey 

  Nine people including Eğitim Sen, EMEP and ÖDP members and administrators have been detained for condemning the attacks against Afrin on social media.
• Human rights defender Öndül: “Turkey respects no laws” 

  Human rights defender Öndül stated that the Turkish government is denying both domestic and binding international law with their practices against pro-peace people.
• Russians protest Putin for Afrin 

  Russian citizens have protested President Vladimir Putin for approving the invasion of Afrin.
• HRW: Turkish border guards shoot, block fleeing Syrians 

  Guards at Turkey’s closed border with Syria are indiscriminately shooting at and summarily returning Syrian asylum seekers attempting to cross into Turkey, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.
• Justice index reveals global fall in basic justice 

  More than 70 of 113 countries surveyed for latest Rule of Law Index report their fundamental human rights are being eroded. The survey put Turkey among the worst top 12 in Rule of Law Index.
• Head of Amnesty International Turkey arrested again 

  Turkey arrested the head of rights group Amnesty International in Turkey, hours after an Istanbul court ordered his conditional release.
• Turkey is the top violator of human rights in Europe 

  Turkey is leading the countries on European Court of Human Rights’ top violators list according to the data provided by the court’s president Guido Raimondi.
• HRW: Presidential system a setback for human rights, rule of law 

  Human Rights Watch has published its World Report for the year of 2017.
• Freedom House changes Turkey’s status to ‘not free’ 

  Turkey’s status declined from Partly Free to Not Free in Freedom House’s 2017 report on civil and political freedoms in the country.
• Sick prisoner in Şakran cuffed to the bed 

  Sick prisoner in the Şakran Prison Hasip Gün has been cuffed to the bed.
• Children of Nusaybin speak of torture by Turkish soldiers 

  Children who were arrested by Turkish soldiers during Democratic Autonomy resistance in Nusaybin spoke of torture at the hand of Turkish soldiers in custody. 
• Prisoner with schizophrenia in solitary confinement for 5 months 

  Asiye Özlük, sister of schizophrenia patient Uğur Özlük who has been held in a solitary confinement cell for some 5 months in the Eskişehir Type H Closed Prison, stated that her brother was attacked by the guards and attempted suicide twice.
• 624 children in prison with their mothers in Turkey 

  The Turkish Ministry of Justice has announced that as of November 14, 2017, there are 624 children who are in prisons along with their mothers.
• Arrestee with amputated foot awaits surgery in solitary 

  A women prisoner with an amputated limb is waiting for surgery in solitary in Menemen Prison in Turkey.
• Peace mother Oruc: I was left breathless once again 

  Lütfiye Oruç fought for 20 years and managed to get a hold of the bodies of 2 of her children and 2 other relatives, who she buried in the Garzan Cemetery. Oruç said, “I was left breathless once again,” and asked why the bodies had been unearthed.