This report has been prepared by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT) with the aim of making visible the repression, obstacles and challenges increasingly faced by human rights defenders in Turkey in recent years and of strengthening solidarity with human rights defenders.
With this report, it is aimed to document the repression and obstruction directed at human rights defenders and human rights organizations throughout 2025; beyond merely presenting a numerical breakdown, the report also seeks to reveal the patterns through which these forms of repression are produced.
The report is based on the data obtained by the Regional Solidarity and Cooperation Groups established in the Eastern Anatolia, Aegean, Southeastern Anatolia, Central Anatolia, Marmara regions, and in the Earthquake-Affected Region comprising provinces impacted by the 2023 earthquakes, with the purpose of identifying the pressure and challenges faced by human rights defenders and strengthening solidarity with them. The data on human rights violations against human rights defenders included in the report cover the period between 1 March 2025 and 1 December 2025.
It should be borne in mind that the human rights violations included in this report do not reflect the entirety of violations occurring nationwide, given the reality that Turkey is governed under a state of emergency regime that has been rendered permanent/continuous through numerous regulations, and under such a regime – one that reproduces itself through uncertainty, rulelessness and arbitrariness – the exercise of rights has become the exception while human rights violations have become the rule; moreover, there are cases that could not be documented or could not be conveyed.
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* HRFT is an independent human rights organization having its main office in Ankara and five representative offices in Istanbul, Izmir, Diyarbakir, and Van. Since 1990, HRFT has provided treatment and rehabilitation services to approximately 23,000 people who have been subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment. In addition to its pioneering role in the preparation of the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol), which was completed in 1999 and submitted to the relevant UN bodies, HRFT is also one of the four non-governmental organizations that contributed to the preparation of the 2022 edition of the Istanbul Protocol.
** This report was prepared within the scope of the project titled A Bottom-up Approach for Supporting and Protecting Human Rights Actors in Turkey, supported by the European Union (EU). This project, which began on January 1, 2025, is in many ways and in essence an enhanced continuation of the project titled A Bottom-Up Approach for Protecting and Supporting Civil Human Rights Actors in Post-Pandemic Turkey, which was implemented by HRFT between March 1, 2021, and August 31, 2024. This 42-month project is structured to address the need to strengthen the human rights movement in Turkey.