Human Rights Foundation of Turkey Documentation Center[1][2][3][4][5]
27-29 April 2024 Daily Human Rights Report
(04/210) Operations and Attacks…
It is learned from the news coverage of April 27, 2024, that 2 militants died in a clash between the Turkish Armed Forces units and HPG militants in the Qandil region of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in January 2024.
(04/211) Torture and Other Ill-Treatment in a Removal Center in Antalya Döşemealtı…
It is learned from the news coverage of April 27, 2024, that a refugee named Omid Eshaghi, an Iranian citizen, had a quarrel with private security guards over prevention of a child’s right to access health care while being kept in Antalya Döşemealtı Removal Center, and that Omid Eshaghi was subjected to verbal and physical violence by private security guards.
Omid Eshaghi stated the following to the press: “We had a minor Afghan patient with us, and we had an argument with the security guards because they wouldn’t treat him. When the security guards cursed us with swear words, I protested and 5 security guards took me to a room and beat me. I had marks on my abdomen but they went away. They threatened me: ‘We will put you in the white room, we will deport you’. Then, when my friends saw me in this state, we made a collective petition and after our protest, they sent us all to Van.”
(04/212) Torture and Other Ill-Treatment in a Removal Center in Çanakkale Ayvacık…
It is claimed in the news coverage of April 28, 2024, that some refugees held in Ayvacık Removal Center in Çanakkale allegedly sexually assaulted some other refugees, that the meals given to refugees were not sufficient, nutritious and hygienic, that the rooms where refugees stayed were not in compliance with hygiene standards, that male and female refugees were forced to stay in the same rooms, that refugees were not provided with enough blankets and drinking water, and that some refugees were subjected to racist and discriminatory remarks of the officers working in the Removal Center. It is also stated in the news report that one of the refugees who complained about the situation was threatened by the director of the Removal Center.
(04/213) Refugee Subjected to Torture and Other Ill-Treatment by the Police…
It is learned from the news coverage of April 28, 2024, that a female refugee was detained at Mecidiyeköy metro station in the Şişli district of Istanbul, after being stripped of some of her clothes and subjected to physical violence. It is not known the name of the person, the reason for detention, and where she was taken.
(04/214) Worker Subjected to Torture and Other Ill-Treatment in Mersin…
It is learned from the news coverage of April 27, 2024, that Üstat Tunç, a worker at Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Mersin, was subjected to physical violence by Russian private security guards when he refused to press his card at the turnstiles in the construction site and received a medical report from Aydıncık Public Hospital, documenting the physical violence.
In his statements to the press about the torture and other ill-treatment he experienced, Üstat Tunç said the following: “They took me to a container and physically assaulted me. Although I warned them not to hit me because I am an earthquake victim and my leg is broken, they hit me on my broken leg and I fell to the ground with the first blow. They pressed on my stomach, they pressed on my stomach with their elbows. They tried to unlock my phone by forcibly bending my arm and tried to delete the video I took, but I tried to resist. They deliberately hit my stomach so that there would be no scar. The video I took shows the perpetrators of violence”.
(04/215) Torture and Other Ill-Treatment in Prison…
It is learned from the news coverage of April 27, 2024, that journalist Esra Solin Dal, who was arrested and sent to prison on April 26, 2024, was subjected to a strip search in Istanbul Bakırköy Women’s Prison.
(04/216) Meeting Request with Abdullah Öcalan not Responded to…
It is learned that the appeal made on April 29, 2024, by lawyers in order to visit their clients PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş in İmralı Prison was not responded to by Bursa Public Prosecutor’s Office.
(04/217) University Student Threatened…
It is learned from the news coverage of April 29, 2024, that Fatmanur Güçlü, a member of the Free University Movement, was threatened by 5 people who introduced themselves as intelligence officers and waited in front of her house on April 17, 2024.
Fatmanur Güçlü stated the following to the press: “They started to tell me about my school, information about my family, where I was from, what I owed. Although I insisted that I did not want to communicate, they said things like ‘We are not like the police, we are not telling you not to go to protests, but being in an organization is a problem’. And they said, ‘You have a family, don’t let them worry. Your future is very bright, don’t let anything happen to you in the future. You have a brother, take care of your brother’…”.
(04/218) Attack on the Tent of Workers in Adıyaman…
It is learned from the news coverage of April 27, 2024, that the tent of Mega Polyethylene workers who started a resistance in front of the factory in the Besni district of Adıyaman, demanding reinstatement of their dismissed colleagues, payment of unpaid and handed over wages to their bank accounts and an end to uninsured and unregistered work, by using their right to avoid work, was burned down by unidentified people and a group of people attempted to attack the workers who came to the scene upon learning the situation.
One of the workers who participated in the resistance made the following statements about the attack: “We stepped back because we didn’t want to fight, but at that moment the boss shouted at the group, ‘Shoot whoever comes in front of you’. This was not the first attack on our resistance tent. A week ago they attacked our tent with stones, these are provocations. The employer thinks they can scare us in this way. When we asked the police why they did not intervene against those who attacked us, they said, ‘It is their private property’”.
(04/219) Journalist and Another Person Detained in Istanbul…
On April 28, 2024, Ekin Emeksiz, who reacted to the detention of a woman refugee at Mecidiyeköy metro station in the Şişli district of Istanbul on April 28, 2024, and journalist Ekim Veyisoğlu, who was filming the torture and ill-treatment of the police, were detained on the allegations of ‘resisting against duty’ and ‘violation of privacy’. Ekin Emeksiz was released the same day after the statement procedures.
(04/220) Journalists Detained in Istanbul, Ankara and Urfa…
Mehmet Aslan, Esra Solin Dal, and Erdoğan Alayumat, 9 journalists who were detained on April 23, 2024, in Istanbul, Ankara, and Urfa during house raids conducted through an investigation launched in 2022, were arrested by the Criminal Peace Judgeship on April 26, 2024, due to ‘being a member of an illegal organization’ and sent to prison. 6 journalists were released on the same date on judicial control conditions.
(04/221) Journalist Under Investigation…
It is learned from the news coverage of April 26, 2024, that Milas Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated an investigation against journalist Zeynep Kuray on the charge of ‘publicly disseminating misleading information’, on the grounds of her social media posts about gendarmerie’s intervention to the watch demonstration against the lignite mine in Akbelen Forest in the Milas district of Muğla in 2021, and decided on ‘no grounds for prosecution’.
(04/222) People Detained in Şırnak…
At least 19 people, including children, were detained in house raids on April 26, 2024, through an investigation by the Şırnak Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on the allegations of ‘making propaganda for an illegal organization’.
The names of those detained are Uğur Eksen, Yusuf Geren, Hasan Geren, Hayrettin Turan, Kadir Sarak, Nimet Sarak, Ayhan Şavur, Hasan Mungan, Ramazan Ulman, Yusuf Dal, Azat Bölüş.
(04/223) March 31st Elections…
It is learned from the news coverage of April 27, 2024, that through an investigation initiated by the Adana Public Prosecutor’s Office on April 4, 2024, Mehmet Karakış, former provincial co-chair of Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), was called to the police station for a statement on April 26, 2024.
Within the scope of the investigation, 3 people (Mehmet Bayna, Fırat Turgay, and 1 unidentified person) who participated in the solidarity statements for Van in Adana on April 2, 2024, were detained in house raids on April 4, 2024, and were released the same day after statement procedures. 3 people were called to the police to testify as part of the investigation.
(04/224) The Case of Tahir Elçi…
It is learned from the news coverage of April 29, 2024, that the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor’s Office demanded the acquittal of police officers S. T., F. T., dismissed police officer M. S. on April 25, 2024.
(04/225) People on Trial about the Bomb Attack in Istanbul…
On April 26, 2024, the final trial of the case against 36 people for the bomb attack on Istiklal Street in Beyoğlu district of Istanbul on November 13, 2022, in which 6 people lost their lives, was held at Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No 13. The court sentenced Syrian citizen Ahlam Albashır, who allegedly carried out the bomb attack, to heavy life imprisonment for ‘disrupting the unity and integrity of the state’, 6 times heavy life imprisonment for ‘intentional killing’, 99 times 18 years imprisonment for ‘attempted intentional killing’, 12 years imprisonment for ‘possession of dangerous substances’ and 22 thousand TL fine. The court decided to separate the cases of 10 defendants against whom there is an arrest warrant and sentenced 2 defendants to 1035 years each for ‘aiding in disrupting the unity and integrity of the state’, ‘aiding in intentional killing by bombing’, ‘aiding in intentional killing against a child’, ‘aiding in attempted intentional killing by bombing’ and ‘providing weapons’, 4 defendants were sentenced to 4 years imprisonment each for ‘favoring the guilty’, 5 defendants were sentenced to 6 years imprisonment each and 30 thousand TL fine for ‘migrant smuggling’, 1 defendant was sentenced to 9 years imprisonment each and 60 thousand TL fine for ‘migrant smuggling’, 2 defendants were sentenced to 17 years imprisonment each and 60 thousand TL fine for ‘migrant smuggling’, ‘favoring the guilty’, ‘destroying, concealing or altering criminal evidence’. The court acquitted 12 defendants. The court also released 4 of the arrested defendants.
(04/226) Documentary Directors on Trial…
On April 26, 2024, Gaziantep Regional Court of Appeals Penal Department No 4 examined the appeal of journalist Ertuğrul Mavioğlu and director Çayan Demirel against the sentence of 2 years and 1 month each for ‘making propaganda for an illegal organization’ given on December 14, 2023, at Batman Heavy Penal Court No 2 for the documentary Bakur (Kuzey), and rejected the appeal on merits. It is learned that the lawyers of the documentary filmmakers will appeal the verdict to the Court of Cassation.
(04/227) Discriminatory Statements by a Political Party Chair…
Fatih Erbakan, Chair of the Welfare Again Party (YRP), stated the following in his speech before his party’s Mayors’ Meeting on April 28, 2024: “The LGBT project, which threatens our generations, will be fought in the most effective way, and necessary work will be carried out to protect our youth and children from this disaster”.
(04/228) Academic Targeted…
It is learned from the news coverage of April 27, 2024, that Girayalp Karakuş, a faculty member at Amasya University Faculty of Arts and Sciences, was targeted in a news article published on Bengütürk news website with the title ‘Faculty member? Provocateur?” on Bengütürk news website. It is also stated in the news reports that Girayalp Karakuş was physically attacked by a group of people who were reported to be members of the nationalist organization.
[1]The reports on the human rights violations of the Documentation Center are claims unless they are certified. The claim of violation either is certified through thoroughly investigations of HRFT Documentation Center, including by judicial verdicts, and becomes a definite data or it is not included to the annual report.
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[5] Daily Human Rights Reports are prepared on the information gathered by the Documentation Center from its own network and the following dailies and internet portals: Vatan, Milliyet, Hürriyet, Habertürk, Evrensel, Birgün, Cumhuriyet, Fırat Haber Ajansı, Jinnews, ETHA, Mezopotamya Ajansı, Yurt, Yeni Yaşam, NTV, Yeni Asya, Bianet, Halkinsesi.tv, Cnnturk, Tr724, İleri Haber, Siyasi Haber, Alınteri, Kızılbayrak, Sendika.org, Yüksekova Haber, T24, Diken, Gazete Karınca, Gazete Duvar. Haber Sol, El Cezire, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Reuters, AFP.