Turkey Weekly 24 – 30 April 2023
Turkey Today – 30.04.2023
The HDP’s Central Executive Council released a statement defining the mass arrests in Turkey as a futile attempt to intimidate the AKP/MHP regime, which is facing defeat, and warning of security problems in the elections on 14 May.
During an operation targeting the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) members, many people, including ESP co-chair Şahin Tümüklü and candidates for the Green Left Party, were detained.
A court has opened a lawsuit against a 13-year-old child over the alleged charges of “insulting the President.” The prosecutor argued that the child “attacked the honor and dignity of the President.”
Etkin News Agency (ETHA) editor Nadiye Gürbüz has been taken into custody after an early morning police raid to her house in Istanbul as part of an Eskişehir based investigation.
An imam has stated that the ruling AKP members called and asked him to convince the members of the congregation of his mosque to attend President Erdoğan’s rally in İzmir province. Imam Kılıç said he refused the request.
Turkey Today – 29.04.2023
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu’s bodyguards took journalist Filiz Gazi’s ID card and phone and tried to delete the videos on it after she asked the minister about his remarks deeming the May 14 election the “West’s coup attempt.”
CHP members conducting election campaigns in Diyarbakır’s Hazro district faced police intervention on April 27. The police opened fire in the air and detained five members, including party’s head of the district youth branch.
Houses were raided in some cities based on an Ankara-based investigation. Many people, including Mesopotamia Agency’s editor Sedat Yılmaz and Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) Co-chairperson Dicle Müftüoğlu, were detained during the raids.
Saturday Mothers who gathered at Taksim Square to ask about the fate of their relatives who disappeared in custody have been attacked again by police. 25 people were detained.
MHP chair Devlet Bahçeli has argued that presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s Alevism “is not sincere.”
A footage showing a rescue team in Kars hanging election posters for President Erdoğan and the ruling AKP went viral on social media.
Green Left Party and HDP politicians as well as activists gathered in front of the Diyarbakır Courthouse and protested the government’s pre-election wave of arrests.
Turkey Today – 28.04.2023
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu referred to the upcoming elections as the “West’s political coup attempt,” while speaking during a visit to an Islamic foundation.
Labor and Freedom Alliance announced officially that they will support Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the Presidential elections.
Families of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş held in İmralı Prison applied to the Bursa prosecutor’s office and the prison directorate for a visit.
The court decided to continue the detention of HDP MP Semra Güzel.
Justice Minister Bozdağ divided the society into two fractions — those who will either celebrate the May 14 election results by “popping up champagne” or by praying to God with “their clean forehead.”
Turkey Today – 27.04.2023
Journalists Abdurrahman Gök, Beritan Canözer, Mehmet Şah Oruç and Remzi Akkaya, who were detained during the Diyarbakır-based operation, were arrested.
20 people were detained in house raids in two villages of Şırnak.
Six suspects have been remanded in custody in connection with an attack on an election campaign office of the CHP in İstanbul.
President Erdoğan spoke with Russian President Putin over the phone ahead of the opening ceremony for a nuclear plant built by Russia’s Rosatom in Mersin. The two leaders discussed Turkey-Russia relations, regional issues, the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, and recent developments in Syria.
AKP Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair Bülent Turan has argued that radical Islamist HÜDA-PAR is not a part of the ruling People’s Alliance. They “decided to support Erdoğan,” Turan noted, despite the AKP nominated four deputy candidates from HÜDA-PAR.
The government opened Ankara-Sivas High-Speed Train service, which will be free for one month. The United Transport Workers Union (BTS) stated that the project was put into operation before completing signalling system on the Ankara-Kırıkkale line.
Turkey Today – 26.04.2023
Packages prepared by AFAD for earthquake victims are distributed in the election vehicle of Derya Yanık, Minister of Family and Social Services, who is AKP Osmaniye MP candidate.
There has been fighter jet activity in Diyarbakır since early in the morning. While the mobility of the warplanes that took off from the 8th Air Jet Base Command in a row continues, more than 30 takeoffs have been made so far.
Presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın has denied the reports that a government delegation had held meetings with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on İmralı Island during the election campaign process.
Green Left Party Kocaeli MP candidate Ayten Dönmez has been detained.
Turkey and its affiliated groups attacked a village west of the city of Kobanê in Northern Syria.
At the appointment ceremony for 3,500 disabled teachers, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said to a disabled teacher, “But you don’t look like a disabled person. Are you disabled?”
A court has acquitted CHP Istanbul chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu in the case launched after she called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “dictator.”
Four people were taken into custody in raids conducted in Tekirdağ on charges of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.”
Turkey Today – 25.04.2023
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has called U.S. President Joe Biden “charlatan” over his April 24 statement marking the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. Çavuşoğlu deemed Biden’s remark as an “attempt by political charlatans to distort history.”
Ankara Governor’s Office banned a panel organized by the Ankara provincial assembly of the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK) on the anniversary of the Armenian genocide under the title “Don’t Forget, Face: 1915.”
As part of the Diyarbakir-based investigation, the City Theater, Dicle Culture and Art Association and Mesopotamia Culture and Art Association were raided, many artists were detained. Among the detained in the wave of arrest were also 10 journalists.
Today the defence ministers of Turkey, Iran, Syria and Russia met in Moscow. The Minister talked about Turkey-Syria relations.
3 children were killed and 2 injured in the attack of Turkey on the Elebid village of Til Temir with howitzers.
Ministry of Family and Social Services announced that out of 1914 unattended children rescued in February 6 earthquakes, 1808 have been handed over to their families. The identities of 16 rescued children are still unknown.
Nazan Özcan, the ex-chief editor of bianet, standing trial for a report about another law case against two journalists, and facing “insult” and “libel” charges, was acquitted at the court in today’s hearing.
Turkey Today – 24.04.2023
Nation Alliance’s presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has announced the vice presidency roles of CHP mayors Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş should they assume power in the election.
The Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, run by the ruling AKP, has instructed the personnel to attend Erdoğan’s rally in the province scheduled for today.
The first hearing of the trial in which Izmir Bar Association’s former president Özkan Yücel and 10 Board Members face “openly degrading the religious values adopted by a section of the public” was held in Izmir. Reasoning that the elements of the offense the lawyers were charged with did not occur, the court acquitted all the lawyers.
The second hearing of the trial in which imprisoned Mesopotamia News Agency reporter Ceylan Şahinli faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge was held in Ankara. The court adjourned the trial until 12 June 2023 to review the case file as part of which Şahinli is in pre-trial detention.
Turkey Weekly 17 – 23 April 2023
Turkey Today – 23.04.2023
A warplane of the Turkish Armed Forces bombed a village of Amediye in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
President Erdoğan has argued that the opposition parties are against “the sacred family structure” for not being against to the LGBTI+ community.
The Justice Watch carried out by the Şenyaşar family has reached day 761. The sit-in was launched in 2021 by Emine Şenyaşar, who lost her husband and two sons as a result of the attack carried out by AKP MP İbrahim Halil Yıldız’s bodyguards and relatives in Urfa in 2018.
A bus belonging to the company Özlem Batman, which was traveling from Alanya, in the province of Antalya, to Batman, was stopped by a group on the highway and attacked. Three were injured.
Turkey Today – 22.04.2023
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, who has been nominated by the ruling party as a candidate for a parliamentary seat, supported slogans calling for violence shouted by the audience at a party meeting and replied, “Wait, the time will come”.
The car convoy of presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was physically attacked by AKP supporters in Adıyaman’s Kahta district. After this attack, Kılıçdaroğlu cancelled his program in the district and decided to go back to Ankara.
Despite the Constitutional Court’s judgment, the Saturday Mothers’ vigil was once again prevented by the police and 17 members of the initiative were taken into custody. Eren Keskin, co-chair of the Human Rights Association, is among the detained.
The Human Rights Association stated that 13 prisoners, 3 of them with firearms and 6 of them suspects, lost their lives in the prisons in Central Anatolia in the first three months of the year, and that 52 detainees were tortured and 32 detainees were prevented from being released.
Turkey Today – 21.04.2023
İstanbul’s ban on commemorating the Armenian Genocide continues this year, as the governor’s office has once again prohibited an event planned to be held in the Kadıköy district.
International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) Deputy Chairperson Reyhan Yalçındağ said that if Turkey resists the decisions of the ECtHR, the issue will be brought to the Council of Europe and the process of expulsion from the council may be initiated.
CHP leader and Nation Alliance’s presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on April 21 paid a visit to a cemetery in quake-torn Adıyaman. At the cemetery, a citizen verbally attacked Kılıçdaroğlu over his Alevi identity and said he does not know Islamic prayers.
Turkey Today – 20.04.2023
Journalist Serdar Akinan has been taken into custody yesterday. The prosecutor decided to release journalist Serdar Akinan after taking his statement. Lawyer Günel confirmed that the allegations against his client is in connection with his interview with Muhammet Yakut who has been leveling corruption allegations against current and former government officials as well as some businesspeople.
The prisoners, who stated that they were exposed to rights violations in Edirne Type F Prison, said that ill prisoners were tried to be treated by handcuffing them to stretchers.
Warplanes of Turkish Armed Forces bombed villages in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s Amediye district. Turkey also continues its attacks on Northern Syria.
Asrın Law Office’s lawyers and families applied to meet Abdullah Öcalan and other prisoners Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş on the occasion of Ramadan Feast.
The 15 July Association has filed a criminal complaint against Green Left Party deputy candidate and journalist Cengiz Çandar over his remark that the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey was organized “within the knowledge of the regime.”
Turkey Today – 19.04.2023
Gunshots were fired at the CHP’s campaign office in the Örnek neighborhood in Ataşehir, İstanbul, according to a Twitter post by the İstanbul provincial chair, Canan Kaftancıoğlu.
The High Election Board (YSK) has ruled that ministers running for parliament do not have to resign from their positions.
Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice upheld the 22 years and 6 months prison sentence given to TJA Spokesperson Ayşe Gökkan.
Quake-torn Hatay province’s Mayor Lütfü Savaş has stated that at least 500,000 voters might not be able to come back to vote because the airport will stay closed until May 17, three days after the elections.
In the indictment of detained journalist Zeynel Abidin Bulut, it was claimed that Bulut “acted with the target and ideology of the organization” because of the phrase “guerrilla” in the confiscated notebook.
According to the Hawar News Agency (ANHA), the Dibis village of Ayn Isa in the North and East Syrian city and the vicinity of the M4 highway were bombed by Turkey.
Turkey Today – 18.04.2023
In the investigation carried out regarding the beating of Nurullah S, who was detained in Mardin’s Nusaybin district, the prosecutor gave a decision of non-prosecution on the allegation that the police and the plate of the armored vehicle could not be detected.
Journalist Mehmet Güleş, who was tried again after the Supreme Court reversed the sentence given to him for “propagandizing for a terrorist organization”, was sentenced to 1 year, 9 months and 25 days.
Journalist İsmail Çoban, the former Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Azadiya Welat, which was closed down with the Statutory Decree (KHK), was sentenced to 1 year, 6 months and 22 days in prison.
The lawyer of the family of the 17-year-old Gabonese university student Jennah Danys Dinabongho Ibouanga, whose death has not yet been clarified, has said that prosecutors have restricted access to the investigation file.
Presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for labeling Kurds as terrorists in order to secure more nationalist votes ahead of the May 14 elections.
An appeals court has overturned the sentence of a social media user who was charged with insulting the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahçeli, by calling him a “dotard” on Facebook.
Turkey Today – 17.04.2023
YSK Chairperson Ahmet Yener announced that the number of voters who will vote on May 14 is 60 million 697 thousand 843.
Sırrı Süreyya Önder, a Green Left Party MP candidate who is working to return to parliament in the elections, is facing an arrest warrant. An arrest warrant was issued last week. Önder is one of 108 HDP politicians who are on trial for the Kobanî protests in 2014.
The release of Yaşar Aslan, who was convicted at the State Security Court (DGM) of the time, and who has spent 30 years in prison, was postponed for the second time last week because he did not “show regret.”
68 political women prisoners in Sincan Women’s Closed Prison in Ankara sent a letter to the CPT, raising concern over the suspicious deaths in prisons and the increase in the number of prisoners sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment.
Diyarbakir 4th High Criminal Court, which accepted the indictment of 18 journalists, 15 of whom were imprisoned in Amed(Diyarbakır), decided to continue the arrest of journalists in its file analysis.
Turkey Weekly 10 – 16 April 2023
Turkey Today – 16.04.2023
Five people were detained during police raids in Şırnak’s İdil district.
The family of Lokman Görgün, the father of 8 children who was executed in Mardin and accused of being a “PKK member” by the Turkish authorities, applied to the Human Rights Association (IHD).
Malatya’s Battalgazi District Municipality has evicted earthquake victims from collective tents to accommodate police officers. Survivors were transferred to a tent set up by philanthropists but were denied entry upon arrival.
The Justice Watch carried out by the Şenyaşar family has reached 755. The sit-in was launched in March 2021 by Emine Şenyaşar, who lost her husband and two sons as a result of the attack carried out by AKP MP İbrahim Halil Yıldız’s bodyguards and relatives in the Suruç province of Urfa in June 2018.
Media watchdog RTÜK has blocked the broadcast of the famous series “Cranberry Sherbet” for five weeks. On April 14, the media watchdog mandated the TV channel to air a documentary about Islamophobia instead of the series that is about the conflicts between a secular and conservative family.
Turkey Today – 15.04.2023
Human Rights Association Co-Chair Eren Keskin has been detained at Sabiha Gökçen airport due to social media posts.
This week, police again attacked the Saturday Mothers who gathered at Galatasaray Square and detained at least 12 people.
Stating that they still did not receive a response to the application made to the Ministry and YSK on March 21 regarding the situation of women in shelters, Purple Roof Women’s Shelter Foundation volunteer Zeynep Ekin Aklar said: “The regulation of the YSK remained technical.”
The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) has demanded that the Istanbul Medical Chamber launch an investigation into Turkish Red Crescent head Kerem Kınık, a doctor by profession, over his actions that do not comply with the principles of medical ethics.
The Ministry of Interior refused to share information and documents, arguing that “they are not the hostile party” in the lawsuit filed for the disclosure of Sheikh Said’s burial place.
Turkey Today – 14.04.2023
Lawyer Turgut Kazan, the former chairperson of the İstanbul Bar, brought the decision of the Supreme Election Council (YSK) that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan can run once again for the presidency, to the European Court of Human Rights.
It has been learned that the secret witness “CV23TY45UP78”, who was included in the indictment of 18 journalists, 15 of whom were imprisoned in Diyarbakır, was heard before the HDP’s decision to block the treasury aid and was shown as evidence in the file.
Mesopotamia News Agency reporter Dilan Akyol has been taken into custody and reportedly taken to the counter-terrorism bureau of the Antalya Directorate of Security. She has been released after providing her statement.
The Constitutional Court ruled that Yunis Karataş who started the fire that caused the Sivas Massacre in 1993 has “committed a terror crime” but cannot be evaluated as a “terror verdict” since the latter requires the presence of a definite terrorist organization.
Turkey Today – 13.04.2023
In Urfa’s Halfeti district the AKP mayor began to distribute the aid boxes that he did not distribute to the people during the earthquake, with the start of the election.
In Antalya 4 people were detained on the grounds that they were “propagandizing for a terrorist organization” by participating in Newroz.
Release of Hamit Babat, a prisoner of 30 years in Bolu prison, was delayed for the second time on the grounds of “not using water sparingly” and “not participating in spiritual activities”.
In the indictment of imprisoned DFG Co-Chair Serdar Altan, the commemoration of the murdered journalist Musa Anter was considered an “organizational statement”, and the statements he made for his arrested and murdered colleagues were considered “evidence” for the crime.
The second hearing of the trial in which columnist Levent Gültekin faces “insulting the president” charge was held in Istanbul. Reasoning that the elements of the offense Gültekin was charged with did not occur, the judge ruled to acquit Gültekin.
The first hearing of the trial in which journalist Rabia Çetin faces “identifying officials on anti-terror duties as targets” and “insulting a public official” charges was held in Istanbul. Trial adjourned until September.
Turkey Today – 12.04.2023
Green Left Party election offices in Ankara and İzmir were attacked by an unidentified person or persons.
Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ have held their first meetings with the AKP’s provincial organizations and deputy candidates at the ministry buildings in Ankara. The opposition criticized current ministers for running for deputyship without resigning from their posts, despite being appointed as public officials.
The Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) announced the representations and dates for the voting process abroad, which will start on April 27.
The indictment prepared by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office against 22 people, 20 of whom are journalists, has been accepted by the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court.
3 family members of Süleyman Cabir, who was killed by the bullet of the gendarmerie in Çanakkale, were arrested.
Serhat Kayan, who was released from Kayseri No. 2 High Security Closed Prison, stated that there is a serious torture system in prisons.
Without explicitly giving Prof. Naci Görür’s name, President Erdoğan has targeted the veteran seismologist and belittled him with the remarks of “professor-waste.” Görür has been warning the government against rapid mega construction projects.
Turkey Today – 11.04.2023
At the request of the MHP, the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) decided that the HDP should not be represented on the electoral board. The MHP will now take its place.
Heavy penal courts have released 58 Hizbullah convicts from jail who applied for retrial since 2019. The Court of Cassation had upheld all of the members’ aggravated life sentences so their punishment had been finalized.
After the petition of the party not to plead verbally today at the supreme court, the case file was sent to the rapporteur for the opinion as to the accusations to be prepared.
The Tukish Medical Association’s appeal against the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention was rejected.
Osman Şiban, who was seriously injured after being thrown from a helicopter in Van, was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison in the case of “being a member of a terrorist organization”.
Amnesty International warned the Constitutional Court to consider the decisions of the ECtHR, warning that the HDP case’s conclusion with a decision to close it would lead to “violation of rights”.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has stated that Hollywood “played an important role in the formation of” Islamophobia. Ersoy said the Western media has developed a racist discourse against Muslims.
The second hearing of the trial in which journalists İzel Sezer and Batuhan Batan face “insult” and “libel” charges upon complaint by President Erdoğan’s former lawyer Mustafa Doğan İnal was held in İstanbul. Giving additional time for journalist İzel Sezer to present her arguments, the judge adjourned the trial until October.
The first hearing of the trial in which the Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural Association’s former chair Gani Kaplan faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge was held in Ankara. Reasoning that the conduct Kaplan was charged with has not been defined as a crime in the law, the court ruled to acquit Gani Kaplan.
Two people were detained during police raids in Şırnak’s Cizre district.
Turkey Today – 10.04.2023
26 political parties will compete in Turkey’s upcoming general election.
Describing the PKK’s decision of inaction as a moral and political stance, the imprisoned Co-Mayor of Amed Metropolitan Municipality, Selçuk Mızraklı, said: “By observing an environment where such great pain and distress is experienced and the mobilization of the society, it has been the right step to prevent blurring.”
A prison sentence was demanded for journalist Cengiz Çandar, the Green Left Party Diyarbakır MP candidate, for allegedly praising the “crime and the criminal” in his post 6 years ago. The post referred to Ayşe Deniz Karacagil, known as the “Girl in the Red Scarf” and who lost her life fighting against ISIS in Raqqa in 2017.
Ruling AKP’s Samsun Mayor Mustafa Demir has filed a criminal complaint against a 15-year-old child, demanding that they be prosecuted on charges of “insulting” over a tweet.
Turkey Weekly 3 – 9 April 2023
Turkey Today – 09.04.2023
Today, the parties submitted the lists of candidates to the Supreme Election Board.
A prosecutor has issued a decision of non-prosecution in the investigation regarding the assassination plot against HDP’s Armenian MP Garo Paylan.
One of the two men killed in Mardin’s Ömeryan district is Lokman Görgün, father of 8 children. The Interior Minister had tweeted that two PKK fighters had been killed.
IHD Co-chair Eren Keskin said of the military inaction declared by the PKK, “This is valuable. As far as the silence of the weapons is concerned, our position is clear. However, it is a big problem that this is not talked about in public.”
Turkey Today – 08.04.2023
Turkey’s main opposition bloc Nation Alliance will enter elections under CHP and İYİ Party. Accordingly, other four parties will nominate deputy candidates from the CHP list.
Ahmet Mayuk, who attacked the HDP Çukurova district building in April 2022 with a stone, was prosecuted for “damaging property”.
After the ruling of the Constitutional Court Saturday Mothers gathered in Istanbul’s Galatasaray Square. Police attacked the gathering and detained at least 15 people, including IHD Co-Chair Eren Keskin.
While the sit-in of the people of the region against the cement factory under construction in Muğla’s Deştin and Bayır neighborhoods continued on its 6th day, the gendarmerie attacked the villagers and detained seven.
It has come to light that Turkish Family Minister Derya Yanık hosted an Ankara businessman at her office during a trial process against him on charges of sexually abusing a child.
Turkey Today – 07.04.2023
Turkey carried out 41 attacks against HPG in two days in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
8 people, including 5 children, of the 15 people who were detained in Van on April 4, were released after deposition, while 7 people are being held in custody.
İbrahim Çiftçi, who killed Turkish prosecutor Doğan Öz while he was trying to investigate the counter-guerrilla organizations before the 1980 military coup, became the MHP’s deputy candidate from Ankara.
The Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has signed a new protocol with the Education Ministry and Youth and Sports Ministry, giving it authority to conduct workshops on “morals and values” for students.
Mahir Akkoyun, who designed stickers that read “Did this product seem expensive to you? Thanks to Erdoğan” was detained on charges of “insulting the president”.
Yaşar Aslan, a 30-year prisoner held in Tekirdağ No. 2 Type F Prison, is not released even though he has completed his execution because he did not accept the “Repentance” imposition of the Prison Administration and Observation Board.
An investigation was launched against journalist Cengiz Özbasar, who reported on the work of DEDAŞ workers, on the allegation of “inciting the people to hatred and hostility or insulting them”.
Turkey Today – 05.04.2023
CHP Istanbul Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu announced that an armed attack was made on the party’s İstanbul office early in the morning.
The election office of the Green Left Party opened in Bahçelievler was attacked.
HDP made public the petition the party has submitted to the Constitutional Court indicating that the party will not be pleading in the closure case on April 11.
7 people were detained in Antalya on the grounds that they participated in Newroz and shouted slogans.
İbrahim Aşkan, who was transferred from Şakran to Tekirdağ Prison, stated that he was subjected to a stripped search and that even a bed sheet was not provided in the cell he was put in.
Cameraman Nihat Findikli working for the pro-government A Haber TV channel has announced that he was fired three days after saying he would not support Erdoğan in the presidential elections.
Turkey Today – 05.04.2023
Despite the military inaction decision declared by the KCK after the earthquake and extended until the elections, Turkey continues its attacks against the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
HDP former MP İdris Baluken has been released from prison after completing his execution.
The Green Left Party Diyarbakır Provincial Organization opened the first women’s election office in Kayapınar district.
Taylan Sapan, headman of Musolar District of Pazarcık, where the debris removal work has not started, stated that they are worried about being left alone and asked when the structures will be built in their villages.
The hearing of the lawsuit in which the prosecutor requests the closure of the We Will Stop Femicide Platform for allegedly “acting against the law and morality” was held in İstanbul.
Turkey’s media watchdog has imposed a 3 percent revenue fine against opposition broadcasters Fox TV, Halk TV, and Tele 1 over journalists’ remarks in criticism of the government.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the airspace of Turkey has been closed to aircraft that will use Sulaymaniyah International Airport. Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Tanju Bilgiç, cited the “intensification of PKK activities” as the reason for the decision.
Turkey Today – 04.04.2023
The Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) has released a justified decision regarding its rejection of objections against the nominations of the presidential candidates. Presidential term limits don’t apply to Erdoğan, top election body concludes.
At least 3 people were detained in house raids in Mardin early in the morning.
20 people, 7 of them children, were detained in police raids in Van.
The objection to the fact that Adnan Bilen, who was on the visitor list of DFG Co-chair Serdar Altan, was not allowed to meet because he was found “inconvenient”, was rejected by the Court of Execution on the same grounds.
The first hearing of the trial in which journalist Sezgin Kartal faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charge was held in Istanbul. The court decided to continue Kartal’s detention. Trial adjourned until June.
Mehmet Paksoy, who is imprisoned in Eskişehir Prison, is not released on the grounds that he speaks “organizational language” despite his sentence being completed.
The management of Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) has dismissed the Urban and Regional Planning Department’s head from duty after the department’s academics released a declaration in criticism of a presidential decree opening the earthquake zone to rapid construction.
Turkey Today – 03.04.2023
Soldiers who attacked the election office opening event of the Green Left Party in Urfa’s Halfeti district detained 7 people.
In Istanbul, many people, including HDP Youth Council members and journalist Sema Korkmaz were detained during police raids.
The Kurdish Freedom and Democracy Alliance called on all Kurds to unite around the Green Left Party in the May 14 elections.
Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality trustee sold 97 decares of land for 600 million TL before the election.
The lawyer of the citizens who were detained and tortured for protesting against the construction of the GES in Viranşehir, İbrahim Ekti, said: “The gendarmerie covered their faces with masks and applied systematic violence and torture to 2 citizens for a long time.”
Turkey Weekly 2 April
Turkey Today – 02.04.2023
The Green Left Party Women’s Council announced the Declaration of Women regarding the elections. The women of the Green Left Party started the election campaign with the slogan “Again Women, Again Life” and “We are here, we will replace it with women”.
A court has banned the news reports of journalists İsmail Saymaz and Fatih Altaylı regarding the Hizbullah upon the request of the radical Islamist Free Cause Party (HÜDAPAR). The party has recently thrown its support behind the ruling AKP.
Court reporter Seyhan Avşar of Halk TV reported that an unnamed member of the Constitutional Court told her that President Erdoğan had called some members who voted to lift the ban on HDP and expressed his disappointment.
Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) rectorate has blocked access to the Urban and Regional Planning Department’s website after its academics criticized the presidential decree on rapid construction after the earthquake.
Journalist Ziya Ataman, who is held in Dumlu High Security Prison No. 2, reported that they are under heavy isolation.