The deep socio-economic crisis under the AKP regime has led to working families and individuals facing poverty and desperation, with an increase in suicides particularly amongst young people.  Unal Cetinkaya, a 25 year old construction worker killed himself in what appears to be one of a series of five suicides in the last five days in Kocaeli, Turkey. “These are my final hours. I […]

Students at Bogazici University in Istanbul began their protests nearly a month ago against the appointment of a new rector by President Erdogan. As resistance grows, more than 220 people were detained over the solidarity protests in Istanbul and Ankara in the last two days. There are numerous posts on the social media displaying torture […]

Gokhan Gunes, a member of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) in Turkey has been missing since 20 January 2021. The disappearance of Gunes, a left wing activist, has brought to the fore the increase in disappearances in Turkey and there is now a widespread call for accountability as to the whereabouts of Gunes.   […]

President Erdogan has claimed that under his rule media has become “more vocal and more free” in Turkey. The reality is that Turkey remains the worst jailer of journalists globally and is 154th inin the 2020 World Press Freedom Index.  Speaking on the occasion of January 10 Working Journalists’ Day, Erdogan said “As Turkey, we […]

Workers at the Baldur Factory in Sekerpinar Organised Industrial Zone in Gebze, which manufactures suspension components and other parts for the automotive industry, were fired in 2016 for joining a branch of Birlesik Metal Is (United Metal Workers) Union, a progressive labour union.   At that time the workers were forced to become members of […]

  Omer Yeğit, a Turkish policeman crashed an armoured vehicle into a house in Silopi -a town in Şırnak province in the southeast of Turkey- killing siblings Muhammed (7) and Furkan Yıldırım (6) as they were sleeping inside their house on 3 May 2017. Shortly after, Ali İhsan Su, who was then the governor of […]

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 […]

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” – […]

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 […]

Halk TV in Turkey has been ordered to black out its screen for 5 days by the TV and Radio governing body (RTUK) for a program they broadcasted. The body accuses the channel of offending and underestimating the Turkish Armed Forces. It also accuses the channel of going against the rules set by the governing body which […]

In the early hours of 25 September in Turkey, 82 people, including former executives and prominent members of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), were arrested for participating in the October 2014 protests against the siege of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani by Islamic State. Back then huge protests took place in Turkey’s southeast in which protestors […]

Every day Turkey is becoming a more eco-destructive country and a highly controversial project is again on the country’s agenda. The Biogas plant project at Çapaklı, a village in Turkey’s western Manisa province, is another example of the Turkish government’s support of construction with no regard for the environmental impact. Residents of Çapaklı, a village […]

The resistance against the mining operations of Canada-based Alamos Gold Inc and its Turkish subcontractor Doğu Biga Mining at Mount Ida (Kazdağları) in Turkey’s north western Çanakkale province has been continuing for 425 days. Activists say that the mining project will harm the natural cycle irreversibly by contaminating soil and water sources to extract gold. […]

  Yusuf Karatas, columnist for Evrensel Newspaper has been sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison for participating in the Democratic Society Congress (known as the DTK) panel in 2011. Karatas spoke at the DTK as a member of the executive of the Labour Party of Turkey (Emek Partisi, or EMEP). Like Karatas, other executives […]

Servet Turgut and Osman Şiban were detained on September 11 by soldiers conducting an operation in the Çatak district of Van province in the east of Turkey. According to eyewitnesses the two men were subjected to torture in the village square and then detained in a military helicopter. Other villagers who defied the detention were […]

Turkish courts have ruled in favour of confiscating Can Dündar’s property. Can Dündar was imprisoned for espionage in Turkey after exposing the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation’s (known as MIT) complicity in the provision of arms to ISIS. Dündar had taken the decision to publish the story when he was the chief editor of Cumhuriyet. During […]

100 musicians commit suicide in Turkey It has been announced that 100 musicians and singers have committed suicide in Turkey since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has caused significant hardship for those employed in the music  industry.  Throughout the pandemic there has been no government support provided to artists and musicians, many […]

Like countries all over the world, coronavirus continues to threaten lives in Turkey. Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the racist MHP (nationalist movement party) has called for the shutting down of the Turkish Medical Association. The Turkish Medical Association had said previously  that the Government are withholding the truth from the public and that the […]

  Doğan Çetin, who was doing his compulsory military service in the western Turkey in Edirne was physically attacked by two soldiers for saying “wish we had been educated in Kurdish”. The attack took place on 15th August during which Çetin fractured his nose and forehead.  Çetin, who filed a complaint with the police, said […]

In Mardin, a city in the south east of Turkey, where the people’s democratic party (HDP) won the local mayoral election, the government has dismissed the elected representatives and appointed Mustafa Yaman as the new administrator and also appointed a male administrator to the Women’s Office within the council. The appointed Abdurrahman Sahin is also […]

The Bar Human Rights Committee (“BHRC”) has published the Turkish version of its trial observation report of the “Gezi Park” trial of sixteen leading civil society individuals in Turkey. The report was first published in English in May 2020. BHRC closely monitored the “Gezi Park” trial of sixteen leading civil society individuals in Turkey and […]

We stand in solidarity with the SF Trade workers who were sacked for their membership of Deriteks and are now facing a compensation claim for 200,000 TL SF Trade in Izmir Turkey, which produces luxury goods for international brands, has taken to court four leather workers who they previously unfairly dismissed for union membership. The women […]

    Following a decision by Ankara 4. Criminal Court Judges Journalist Muyesser Yildiz is to remain in prison. It was noticeable that the judges made a decision without waiting for Yildiz’ lawyer to attend the trial. Muyesser Yildaz was the Ankara News Director of OdaTV and has been in prison for the past three […]

The AKP government claims to “bring to life new projects” and is having bridges, hospitals, tunnels, airports, dams and roads built all over the country. Private companies are carrying out these works which are being presented as “government services” to the public.  But all of these companies have “customer guarantees”.  When the companies building these […]

  A mother and daughter were arrested yesterday in Munzur for protesting the police failure to find their daughter and sister Gulistan Doku, a student at Munzur university who has been missing since 5 January. Gulistan’s mother, Bedriye Doku and her sister, Aygul Doku began a peaceful sit-in protest against the failure of the authorities […]