As Solidarity with the People of Turkey, we stand with Jeremy Corbyn and condemn his suspension from the Labour Party. Corbyn has a strong record of campaigning against racism in all its forms and repeated this week that one antisemite in the Labour party is one too many. He has actively stood up for the […]
Turkey’s coast (Izmir) and north of the Greek island of Samos were struck by a 7 magnitude earthquake yesterday, in which homes were destroyed and many have been killed and injured. Turkey claimed the magnitude was lower, at 6.6, but it is widely accepted that this is inaccurate. Prof Dr Övgün Ahmet Ercan from Istanbul Technical […]
Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magasine, caused a stir by publishing a cartoon, mocking Turkey’s President Erdogan. The front page caricature of the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo, depicts Erdogan in underpants and lifting up the skirt of a woman wearing a hijab to reveal her naked bottom and his speech bubble says “Ooh, the […]
Turkey’s Health Ministry issued a circular today announcing that “due to the coronavirus pandemic measures” resignations of the health workers would not be accepted. According to the document, healthcare workers will not be allowed to take their annual leaves and retirement procedures were also suspended with mandatory exceptions. Healthcare workers in Turkey were resigning to […]
The governor of Turkey’s eastern province of Van, has once again issued an order which bans all protest marches, open-air meetings and press statements within the boundaries of the city for 15 days as of October 21. The ban which supposed to be temporary under exceptional circumstances has been extended for multiple times since […]
Turkey’s president, Erdogan, has criticised the projection of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad onto buildings following the beheading of a teacher in France and targeted Macron. Erdogan said of Macron that he needs “mental health treatment”. French president Emmanuel Macron, recalled Herve Magro, his ambassador in Ankara to Paris to consult. In relation to Erdogan’s […]
Turkey’s parliament discussed the country’s 2021 budget which aims to allocate 24 billion Turkish lira (£ 2.4 billion) for expenditures of the Ministry of Justice. According to Turkish media the Ministry of Justice plans to spend significant portion of this amount for the construction of 39 new prisons. This means that Turkey’s already extremely high […]
Ali Fuat Atik, the governor of Denizli -southwestern province of Turkey- has stirred a debate on the social media about his attitude towards shopkeepers and workers. As seen on the videos uploaded to various Twitter accounts, Atik was visiting shops as part of Coronavirus inspections and a worker at a restaurant did not recognise him. […]
German authorities have raided the offices of FinFisher, a Munich software company, which makes surveillance tools and has been accused in the past of providing software to oppressive regimes. German prosecutors launched the investigation upon the criminal complaint of GFF (Society for Civil Rights), a Berlin based non-profit human rights organisation. According to “zdnet.com” – […]
Today a Turkish court refused to comply with a retrial order by the Constitutional Court, despite being legally required to do so. The retrial order states that Enis Berberoğlu’s (a former MP from the main opposition Republican People’s Party – CHP) right to be elected and engage in political activities and right to personal liberty […]
Four people from the northern Syrian city of Heseke have died in a border minefield at the Kızıltepe district of Turkey’s Mardin province. According to Mezopotamya News Agency (MA), the horrendous incident was revealed when the survivors of the refugee group were taken into custody and were brought to the public prosecutor’s office for deportation. […]
Mustafa Akıncı, Turkish Cypriot leader, who is running for a second term for presidency, said in a TV interview today that he has been threatened for being a candidate, by an authority who is affiliated with Turkey’s leadership. Akıncı said that they conveyed their message through his own executive assistant and told him that it […]
Turkish police have raided the office of Mezopotamya Agency (MA) and the homes of several journalists in Turkey’s eastern Van province on October 5. MA reporters Adnan Bilen and Cemil Uğur and Jin News reporters Şehriban Abi and Nazan Sala have been detained. Police forcibly deleted the other reporters’ camera shootings of Cemil Uğur’s detention. […]
Despite public outcry in July, the Turkish government has passed a controversial bill which changes the Turkish Bar Associations election procedures. The main purpose of this legislative amendment is to disempower bar associations in larger cities in the country. Bar associations are fierce critics of the government and their violations of human rights. The amendment […]
Utku Çakırözer, MP from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has published the Press Freedom Report in Turkey for September 2020. Çakırözer said that “September is the darkest month of this year with regard to freedom of press.” According to the report, during September more than 60 journalists were on trial and 14 journalists face […]
Ayhan Bilgen, ex-MP from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the co-mayor of Kars province in the east of Turkey, was detained on 25 September for participating in the October 2014 protests against the siege of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani by Islamic State, alongside of many other prominent members of the party. And […]
Turkey, the world’s worst jailer of journalists, continues its crackdown on dissident voices. Turkey has introduced new legal provisions, which controls and monitors use of social media platforms. Social media is currently the main channel for opponents and campaigners, and these new rules threaten the existence of social media platforms in the country both through costly […]