HUMAN RIGHTS

Latest News

• More than 20,000 migrants died in Mediterranean since 2013 

  Chiara Cardoletti, UNHCR representative for Italy, said that it was unacceptable that people, including women and children, lost their lives while trying to escape persecution simply because there aren’t enough means to save their lives available.
• Prisoner from Afrin dies in Turkey in suspicious circumstances 

  A civilian who was abducted from Afrin and imprisoned in Turkey on terror charges is alleged to have committed suicide in Elbistan prison. The 57-year-old was buried in a cemetery for the nameless in Istanbul.
• Eren Keskin: I do not see any other way out 

  "Regardless of their political opinion, all people who are sincere and have self-respect should side with the HDP. I see no other way out," Eren Keskin explains in view of the lack of rights in Turkey.
• Medical report on Servet Turgut published 

  Servet Turgut, who was thrown from a military helicopter with Osman Şiban after being detained in the Çatak district of Van and struggled to survive in the intensive care service for 20 days, lost his life on Wednesday.
• Prisoners in Silivri protest violations of their rights 

  Prisoners in Silivri talked about the rights violations they are subjected to in the phone calls they have with their families.
• Turgut's brother: We are the victims of a terrible persecution 

  Servet Turgut was killed by Turkish soldiers who threw him from a helicopter. His brother, Naif Turgut said: "They brutally martyred him. Let them burn as our hearts burned".
• HDP statement on “helicopter torture” of two Kurdish villagers 

  Feleknas Uca and Hisyar Ozsoy, Co-spokespersons of the HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) Foreign Affairs, released a statement on the brutal torture suffered by two Kurdish civilians in the countryside of the Van province.
• Bloody Sunday: Only one British soldier charged 

  Sinn Féin MLA Martina Anderson has expressed disappointment at the decision not to prosecute more British soldiers for their role in the Bloody Sunday massacre. 
• Ill prisoner Mehmet Yamaç goes on hunger strike 

  Seriously ill prisoner Mehmet Yamaç announced through his guardian that he started an indefinite hunger strike in order to protest the arbitrary and inhumane attitude of the prison administration.
• MRAP condemns Turkish racist Zero Tolerance Policy on Kurds  

  The NGO MRAP (Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples) submitted a written statement to the Forty-fifth session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva titled “Turkey: the racist Zero Tolerance Policy toward Kurds”.
• IHD says health of ill prisoners Direkçi and Karagüzel worsening 

  The condition of prisoners Semire Direkçi and Muhlise Karagüzel are getting worse, as the IHD underlined in its weekly protests for ill prisoners.
• Torture and impunity are increasing in Van 

  The government's policy of impunity towards torturers bears as a consequence an increase in the cases of torture in Van in recent years. As a tragic irony, the tortured person is often sued instead of the torturer.
• 76-year-old ill prisoner Ali Boçnak dies in prison 

  Ali Boçnak, a 76-year-old ill prisoner who was in Patnos L Type Prison, has died.
• Prisoner Sinan Gencer laid to rest 

  Prisoner Sinan Gencer, who allegedly committed suicide in Van High Security Closed Prison, was buried today under heavy police presence.
• Constitutional Court rejects Güven's application 

  The Constitutional Court rejected HDP's Leyla Güven's application regarding the lawsuit that led to her being stripped of parliamentary immunity.
• Eyewitness says villagers forced into helicopter were healthy 

  Eyewitness Cengiz Şiban said that Osman Şiban and Servet Turgut were healthy when they were put on the helicopter.
• Countries at UN call for the ICC to try war crimes in Syria 

  Speakers said the Syrian regime and its allies continued to undercut a ceasefire, and were resorting to military action to gain time, perpetrating violations that amounted to crimes against humanity.
• All evidences point at villagers thrown from helicopter 

  Police tried to prevent the HDP delegation from talking to the press. Mersin MP Rıdvan Turan said hospital reports consistent with the statements saying that two villagers had been thrown by a helicopter.
• IHD reports 280 racist attacks in the last ten years 

  IHD report says that since 2010, 280 racist attacks have taken place, 15 people were killed in these attacks and 1,097 were wounded.
• IHD: Don't call isolation in prison a precaution against Covid 

  IHD executive Nuray Çevirmen said that the coronavirus pandemic reached serious levels in prisons, but no proper information was given about it. She added that it is not right to isolate prisoners and deprive them of their rights as a precaution.
• Ayotzinapa: Families demand justice for disappeared students  

  The parents of the 43 disappeared students from Ayotzinapa in September 2014 denounced corruption within the Mexican judicial authorities.
• Police forcibly take to army hospital man thrown from helicopter 

  Osman Şiban, who was thrown from a helicopter after he was detained in Van, was forcibly taken to the military hospital by the police who came to his house in the morning.
• Van political prisoners enter 9th day on hunger strike 

  The Van Branch of TUHAY-DER (Association of solidarity with prisoners’ families) made a statement regarding the hunger strike launched by the political prisoners in Van F Type High Security Closed Prison on 14 September.
• Women prisoners expose rights violations in Tarsus jail 

  Berfin Doğan, a prisoner in Tarsus Women's Closed Prison, announced that her health, nutrition and communication rights were denied.
• MSF calls for action for refugees on Greek islands 

  “On the ground, MSF teams only see more misery, more human suffering, a routine of humiliation, xenophobia and violence,” says the MSF head of mission in Greece.