Turkey Weekly – 24 – 31 May 2021
Turkey Today – 31 May 2021
Put on trial for “being a member of a terrorist organization” and acquitted in January 2020, Assoc. Prof. Tuna Altınel, a lecturer at Lyon-1 University and an Academic for Peace, has received his passport.
İstanbul 10th Administrative Court scheduled a hearing to hear MLSA’s demand for the suspension of the execution of the decision to ban Teatra Jiyana Nu’s Kurdish play.
A series of rallies will be held in Turkey’s three Kurdish-majority eastern provinces with the slogans “Make Kurdish language the official and education language in Turkey”.
The court has rejected the request for recusal of the family of Metin Lokumcu, a retired teacher who was affected by pepper gas and had a heart attack during the police intervention into a protest before Erdoğan’s rally in Hopa.
The ban on demonstrations in İkizdere where villagers were fighting against a stone pit was extended by the governor’s office of Rize for another two weeks.
Covid-19: The figures have not yet been published.
Turkey Today – 30 May 2021
Turkish mafia leader Sedat Peker claims Erdoğan’s ‘parallel army’ sent weapons to al-Nusra in Syria.
Soldiers started a fire at the entrance of the village of Oğul in Hakkari. The flames spread to the forest area due to the wind.
Hunger strike in Turkish prisons against solitary confinement of Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan enters day 185.
A member of the Turkish Health Ministry’s Social Sciences Board has said that the government might ease the mask mandate for outdoors and allow restaurants and cafes to reopen in June as part of a planned normalization process.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 6,933 new infections and 134 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 29 May 2021
According to HDP parliamentary group vice president Saruhan Oluç, the acquittal of the dismissed mayor of Ergani, Ahmet Kaya, was overturned after the intervention of the governor’s office.
HDP party council member Fırat Keser has been arrested in Van. He is accused of “membership in a terrorist organization” in connection with a 2010 investigation in Aydın.Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was indicted yet again, this time for allegedly insulting members of Turkey’s election board during a speech in November 2019.
Şenyaşar Family’s search for justice continues on day 82. The family lost three members as a result of the attacks of AKP Deputy İbrahim Halil Yıldız and his relatives.
Despite widespread criticism over its environmental impact and financial cost President Erdoğan said that the government will lay the foundation of the Kanal Istanbul project at the end of June.
Covid-19: 7,656 new infections and 137 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 28 May 2021
Selahattin Demirtaş has been sentenced to 2 years, 6 months in prison for “turning a counterterrorism official into a target” due to his remarks about former Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Kocaman.
President Erdoğan has filed a lawsuit against CHP Istanbul chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu over the latter’s description of him as “the person who is occupying at the Presidential post.”
The head of the state-run Turkey Human Rights and Equality Institution (TİHEK) Süleyman Arslan has defended child marriages, saying 15-year-old children should be legally allowed to get married.
Melih Bulu, the appointed rector of Boğaziçi University, has become a civil servant 6 months after his appointment as he has been ‘chosen up’ for a professor position opened at another public university.
Villagers whom the gendermerie opened fired against yesterday because they were protesting the marble quarry to be built in the Yurtbaşı neighborhood told that the gendermerie told them “We will remove you from this village. You can not live here.”
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 7,773 new infections and 164 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 27 May 2021
Iğdır HDP Co-Mayor Yaşar Akkuş who was replaced by an Ankara appointed trustee sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison.
Trial where Kurdish newspaper Xwebun columnist and Kurdish linguist Mehmet Şahin faces “founding and managing a terrorist organization” charges for his activities within Democratic Society Congress was held in Diyarbakır. Şahin and his lawyer didn’t attend the hearing. The court ruled to wait for the Forensic Medicine report to confirm that Şahin’s voice is indeed heard in audio surveillance and phone tape recordings that are presented as evidence. Trial adjourned until October.
2nd hearing of the trial where journalist Dindar Karataş faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charges for his phone convos with colleagues & news sources was held in Erzurum. The court decided to have witness Mazhar Yalçın present for the next hearing in order for him to testify and refused to lift journalist Karataş’s international travel ban. Trial adjourned until September.
The trial where Jin News Kurdish editor and Kurdish PEN member Roza Metina faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charges began in Diyarbakır The journalist was briefly detained as part of a DTK investigation on Nov 20, 2020. Trial adjourned until September.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 8,426 new infections and 183 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 26 May 2021
MA reporter who was detained yesterday and released in the evening said he was forced into a white vehicle that did not have a licence plate number and the people who said they were MİT (National Intelligence Agency) officers asked him about a few names and offered him to ‘work with them’.
First hearing of the trial where MA reporter Mehmet Aslan faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charges was held in İstanbul. Court ruled to release the journalist, who has been in pre-trial detention for the past 5 months. The second hearing of the trial will be held on October.
Police battered 55 year-old Kevser Demir in the Bağlar district of Diyarbakır, broke her arm and knocked her teeth out. The governorate claimed that the police were subjected to violence.
Sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment and behind bars for 37 years, Köse’s treatment for cancer is being delayed, say his attorneys, raising concerns that his applications are also left unanswered.
Covid-19: 8,738 new infections and 166 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 25 May 2021
The co-chair, members and former administrators of Turkey’s Social Services and Health Workers’ Union (SES) were detained in morning home raids.
Mesopotamya News Agency reporter Lezgin Tekay was detained at the police checkpoint at the entrance to Ankara. Tekay was travelling to Ankara to visit his family. The reason why he was detained remains unknown.
Trial where 23 defendants including Etkin Haber editor İsminaz Temel and reporter Havva Cuştan face “membership in a terrorist organization” and “terrorist propaganda” charges resumed in İstanbul. Lifting the house arrest of Özlem Gümüştaş, the court ruled to impose an international travel ban, in addition to obligating her to provide her signature regularly. Hearing was adjourned until October.
President Erdoğan will open a large mosque flanking Taksim square in Istanbul on Friday to coincide with the anniversary of the Gezi Park protests.
Covid-19: 9,375 new infections and 175 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 24 May 2021
At least 49 people including HDP and BDP executives were detained during police raids on their homes in Adana, Dersim and Şırnak.
A penal judgeship of peace has imposed yet another access block on the website of JinNews, the only women’s news agency in Turkey.
İzmir Bar Association files criminal complaint against Peker, Soylu and Ağar.
Mafia leader Sedat Peker’s brother has been detained after his allegations about the assassination of a journalist in Cyprus in 1996.
Law suit filed against musicians Fuat Ege and Rohat Aram for singing Kurdish songs.
Demanding justice with a sit in in front of the Urfa Courthouse, Şenyaşar family said: “The killers are known but there is no prosecutor in sight to do what is necessary.”
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 7,523 new infections and 178 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Weekly 17 – 23 May 2021
Turkey Today – 23 May 2021
A Turkish appeals court has reversed a ruling in a lawsuit, which saw the acquittal of all suspects, including former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar, on murder charges in the executions of over a dozen people in the mid 1990s.
Ten people were taken into custody following house raids in Mersin.
Hunger strike in Turkish prisons against solitary confinement of Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan enters day 178.
According to the SES union, only 70,000 out of 608,000 residents in the Kurdish majority province of Batman have been vaccinated.
Covid-19: 7,839 new infections and 197 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 22 May 2021
The Saturday Mothers came together in week 843 to ask those responsible for the death of Cemil Kırbayır who disappeared in Kars after detention by the police on 13 September 1980.
PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s family and lawyers made an application to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, demanding an urgent meeting.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made changes to a 2018 press card regulation, the execution of some articles of which was recently suspended by Turkey’s highest administrative court, in a second attempt to make card cancellations easier.
The 70-year-old political prisoner Mehmet Ali Çelebi suffers from renal insufficiency. Now he had a stomach haemorrhage. Previous attempts to secure his release have failed.
In Mardin prison, more than 200 prisoners are now infected with the corona virus.
In the women’s prison in Diyarbakır, 7 women were infected with the coronavirus. Emine Erol, who was affected, stated that she had not been transferred to hospital despite her reduced level of consciousness.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 8,697 new infections and 231 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 21 May 2021
Following PKK’s drone attack on a Turkish military base in Diyarbakir, two more drone attacks reported last night in each of Şırnak and Batman in Southeast Turkey.
The attorneys of Presidency’s Communications Director Altun requested a warrant against CHP İstanbul Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu. As the request has been accepted, she will now be brought to court ‘by force’.
First hearing of the Gezi Trial was held at Istanbul’s Caglayan courthouse. 16 defendants, including Osman Kavala who’s been behind bars for 1298 days, will be re-tried as their acquittals were overturned by an appeals court earlier this year. Court rules for the continuation of Osman Kavala’s detention with a majority of votes. Presiding judge is the one who voted opposite. Trial adjourned until August.
Second hearing of the trial where journalist Melis Alphan faces “terror propaganda” charges for an image she posted on her personal Instagram account on March 21, 2015 to celebrate Newroz was held in İstanbul. Journalist She is acquitted of all charges.
Covid-19: 9,528 new infections and 214 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 20 May 2021
The third hearing of the “Kobanî trial” was held at the Ankara 22nd Heavy Penal Court in Sincan Campus today.
HDP and HDK Women’s Council members in İzmir protested the Kobané Case under police blockade.
Staging a sit in in front of the Urfa Court House, Emine Şenyaşar and Ferit Şenyaşar was battered and detained right before the visit of HDP Co-Chair Pervin Buldan.
In Hakkari province, soldiers opened fire on two young people without “warning” while they were trying to cross the border.
Trial where VICE reporters PhilipPendlebury & Jake Hanrahan face terror-related charges, including propaganda and financing, resumed at Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Court today. The court had sent a letter rogatory to the Ministry of Justice in order for Pendlebury and Hanrahan’s defenses to be received from England. However, the Ministry hasn’t replied to the letter yet. The court decided to wait for the reply, adjourned the trial until Nov 23, 2021.
The Ankara 6th Administrative Court has annulled the Ministry’s decision allowing construction in Atatürk Forest Farm.
In a letter addressed to the Health Ministry, the Council of Higher Education has requested that the academic and administrative personnel as well as students be vaccinated against COVID19 by this September.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 9,385 new infections and 207 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 19 May 2021
Police raided the Association for Solidarity with Families Who Lost Their Relatives in the Cradle of Civilizations (MEBYA-DER) office early this morning in Van, along with the house of Gülistan Önver, the Co-Chair of the association, into custody.
Turkish police detained at least 7 people in house raids against Partizan members in Istanbul.
According to the claims, the air stike left a large hole in the runway in Diyarbakır 8th Main Jet Base Command, where an air strike was carried out. Fighter jets which lift off from the runway everyday at 11.00 did not take off from the jet base command.
Applying to the ECtHR, Armeni̇a has filed an inter-state case against #Turkey, complaining that “it provided assistance to the Azerbaijani armed forces during the conflict” in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.
ECtHR Judgement: Turkey will pay damages to Amedspor football club and its former player Deniz Naki for violating their rights.
Taken into custody on January 14, 2021 as part of an investigation launched by the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office against the Socialist Party of the Oppressed, Pınar Gayıp, a reporter for the Etkin News Agency, has been released from house arrest.
Covid-19: 11,553 new infections and 233 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 18 May 2021
4 people including former HDP Savur Co-mayor Mehmet Aydın Alökmen, former HDP Provincial Executive Bedii Yılmaz and HDP Provincial Executive Ayşe Bozan were taken into custody during raids on their homes in Diyarbakır and Mardin.
HDP İstanbul MP Züleyha Gülüm has submitted a Parliamentary inquiry about the enforced disappearances in Turkey on the occasion of the International Week of the Enforced Disappeared.
AKP Deputy Chairperson Leyla Şahin Usta who made a statement in front of the courthouse before the Kobané Case targeted HDP in her speech and wished judges of the case success.
During the second hearing of the Kobane trial on May 18, former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş said that the court board has not yet put the official translation of the ECHR’s 2020 decision on him in the case file, but instead manipulated certain sentences and only referred to them in the file.
Turkey was found in violation of two journalists’ rights to liberty and security, as well as their freedom of expression, in the case of the Redhack papers. The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Turkey to pay compensation to journalists Tunca Öğreten and Mahir Kanaat.
The questions sent to imprisoned PhD student and LGBTI+ activist Cihan Erdal for an interview for bianet have been found ‘objectionable’ by the Ankara Sincan Prison administration and not given to Erdal.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 11,937 new infections and 203 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 17 May 2021
The Governor’s Office of Rize has banned meetings and demonstrations in İkizdere where Cengiz Holding wants to open a stone pit. A large number of military personnel and water cannons were deployed to İkizdere.
The European Court of Human Rights has rejected the application about Berkin Elvan’s death, citing the ongoing trial.
CHP Ankara MP Gamze Taşcıer has addressed a Parliamentary question to Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu regarding the recently escalating violence of neighborhood guards.
Turkey’s Interior Ministry has launched a preliminary investigation into İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on accusations that the state suffered financial loss due to the municipality’s purchase of disinfectant as part of measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Covid-19: 10,174 new infections and 223 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Weekly – 10 – 16 May 2021
Turkey Today – 16 May 2021
The offensive of Turkish army in the Matina region in northern Iraq continues. Turkish military is attempting to advance from the mountains to the villages in Kesta area where Turkish interior ministry recently said they will build a new military base.
Hunger strike in Turkish prisons against solitary confinement of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan enters day 171.
Hakkari governorship in Turkey’s Southeast extended the ban (day 1,814) on concerts, festivals and the distribution of leaflets in the city for an additional fifteen days.
Five people in Eskişehir were detained in police raids for posts they shared on social media.
Covid-19: The current figures have not yet been published.
Turkey Today – 15 May 2021
In İstanbul, police raided HDP Esenyurt building and detained board member Fatih Ergün due to a poster drawing attention to the hunger strikes in prisons.
CHP MP Necati Tığlı was denied access to İkizdere where villagers fight against stone pit.
On the occasion of Kurdish Language Day HDP demands constitutional guarantees for Kurdish language.
Şenyaşar Family’s search for justice continues on day 68. Due to pandemic curfews, the family continues the protest at home. The family lost three members as a result of the attacks of AKP Deputy İbrahim Halil Yıldız and his relatives.
The Saturday Mothers came together in the 842nd week to ask those responsible for the death of Edip Aksoy and Orhan Cingöz. Both disappeared in Diyarbakır after detention by the police 26 years ago.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 11,472 new infections and 236 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 14 May 2021
Three people attacked the HDP headquarters in the capital city of Ankara last night.
In Diyarbakir, all the signs with the street names were renewed and a Turkish flag was added.
Muştaq Mahmud Kerim and his family, who came to the Mersin city in southern Turkey from Hewlêr (Erbil), were attacked by three people in Gözsüzce Sirtlan area of Bozyazı district.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday that the country will gradually ease lockdown restrictions after the Eid holiday.
Covid-19: 11,394 new infections and 242 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 13 May 2021
Blood collection tubes were discovered buried in the cemetery of the nameless section of Yeniköy Cemetery located in the Bağlar district of Diyarbakır.
4 of the 7 bodies of HPG fighters killed in airstrikes by Turkish forces on 8 May are unidentifiable.
Arrested for some time on the grounds that he allegedly founded the platform named “Movement of the Nameless” on social media, Taylan Kulaçoğlu has been arrested again.
After an explosive device detonated at a police special forces base in Silvan/Diyarbakır last night, 6 people were arrested in a raid today.
Turkey’s Ministry of National Education has announced that education will continue online on May 17, the last day of the ‘full lockdown’ and the first weekday after the Eid al-Fitr to be marked on May 13-15.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 11,534 new infections and 238 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 12 May 2021
A Turkish court decided to not prosecute law enforcement officers who injured IMC TV journalist RefikTekin in 2016, granted him a compensation of $464; the journalist will appeal this decision.
Although 33 days have passed, the family has not been informed about the whereabouts of HPG member Fırat Şişman who was captured in the rural areas of Şırnak.
Given an aggravated life sentence and behind bars for 37 years, 65-year-old prisoner Köse, a cancer patient, is awaiting a response from the Constitutional Court to his request for release for treatment.
Some 31 European ministers from 16 countries have urged the Turkish government to reverse its controversial withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, saying that they are “deeply alarmed” by the unprecedented attacks on women’s rights.
Covid-19: 13,029 new infections and 232 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 11 May 2021
Female deputies of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) marched on Taksim Istiklal Avenue on the anniversary of the introduction of the Istanbul Convention.
Following the Kobanê Case, Van Bar Association Vice President Lawyer Hamza Çiftçi said that there was not even a basis of fair trial in the Kobané Case.
Lawyers of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan applied to Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to meet with his clients.
The operation launched by the Turkish Armed Forces on the Metîna, Avaşîn and Zap regions on the border of the Federated Kurdistan Region on 23 April continues on day 19. approximately 50 guards from many villages were summoned to the Andaç Border Police Station.
Calling on to non governmental organizations and bar associations, Şenyaşar Family said: “Let’s not remain silent against this persecution done to us using law as a tool.”
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 14,497 new infections and 278 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 10 May 2021
The attorneys of the people burned to death in the Vartinis Massacre in 1993 have applied to the Constitutional Court and demanded that three recently acquitted soldiers be put on trial again and the commander who gave the order be arrested.
The Court of Cassation has closed the file of Cemil Kırbayır, who was disappeared in custody after the 1980 military coup, due to the expiry of statutory limitations. The then PM Erdoğan promised his mother that the case would be “investigated.”
The autopsy report for 21-year-old Kazakh national Yeldana Kaharman who died suspiciously casts doubts on AKP MP.
Covid-19: İstanbul has seen a “significant drop” in the number of cases, inpatients and ICU patients, says the Provincial Health Director. 13,604 new infections and 282 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Weekly – 3 – 9 May 2021
Turkey Today – 9 May 2021
A letter sent by the HDP to the imprisoned Omer Faruk Gergerlioğlu who was stripped of his mandate as a member of parliament was not handed over to him in prison as prison authorities found it risky.
Work machines have entered Newala Qesaba / Siirt. About 300 PKK fighters are buried in mass graves there.
Hunger strike in Turkish prisons against solitary confinement of Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan enters day 164.
Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has targeted two newspapers over a report on his remarks about a probe launched into Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, saying that they have a “sick mentality.” “They see no problem in publishing and spreading lies,” Soylu said.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 15,191 and 283 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 8 May 2021
The Saturday Mothers came together in the 841st week to ask those responsible for the death of Kasım Alpsoy and Halil Alpsoy. Both disappeared after detention by the police 26 years ago.
Şenyaşar Family’s search for justice continues on day 61. Due to pandemic curfews, the family continues the protest at home. The family lost three members as a result of the attacks of AKP Deputy İbrahim Halil Yıldız and his relatives.
A Mardin-Midyat based military operation was launched by Turkish Military Forces.
The Turkish Statistical Institute filed a criminal complaint against the Independent Inflation Research Group, Minister of Treasury and Finance Lütfi Elvan said Thursday. The group usually announces significantly higher inflation rates than official figures.
Covid-19: Turkey eliminates hydroxychloroquine from official COVID-19 treatment plan. The drug was dismissed by the WHO in June 2020. 18,052 new infections and 281 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 7 May 2021
Turkey’s Constitutional Court has ordered the state to pay 40,500 liras to a protestor who was exposed to police violence during a March 2014 demonstration held for Berkin Elvan, the 15-year-old boy who died in the Gezi Park protests.
MİT handed over the body of former PKK member Atilla Karaoğlan, who fell from the building he works at its construction in Hewlér and died to his family in return for his 8 month pregnant wife. D.D who was persuaded to surrender in return for the body has been taken to Mardin.
Turkish pro-government daily Yeni Akit has launched a campaign calling for the arrest of Prof. Mehmet Ceyhan, head of Turkey’s Infectious Diseases Association.
In the women’s prison in Diyarbakır, 8 women fell ill with corona in a cell. 2 were hospitalised at short notice.
Covid-19: 20,107 new infections and 278 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 6 May 2021
After Habertürk TV channel was targeted by the top MHP politicians over a broadcast regarding the party’s draft constitution, Editor-in-Chief Oğuz and Ankara Representative Aydemir have resigned.
President Erdoğan has filed a lawsuit against CHP MP Aykut Erdoğdu who said, “Erdoğan is the number one of criminal organization.” and demanded 250 thousand lira in damages.
HDP MP Kemal Bülbül and CHP MP Özcan Purçu take suspicious death of Turkish Roma soldier Caner Sarmaşık to parliament’s agenda. Although the military ruled Sarmaşık’s soldier as suicide, a Roma association said that he had been “murdered.”
Former Amnesty Turkish chair Taner Kılıç risks reimprisonment if sentence upheld by top appeals court.
It has been 49 years since Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan, the leading figures of the 68 Generation, were executed. Police have intervened against the commemoration in the capital city of Ankara.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 22,388 new infections and 304 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 5 May 2021
Three university students who were detained on May Day for celebrating the day at Taksim Square told that they were battered in a in a room free of CCTVs.
The cross-border operation launched by the Turkish Armed Forces against the Metîna, Avaşîn and Zap areas in the Federal Kurdistan Region of Iraq on April 23 continues.
HPG member Fırat Şişman whom the pro-government media announced to be killed in an operation, turned up at the hospital. Şişman has been in the Intensive Care Unit for the last 25 days without informing the family.
Violence against Women | April 2021
▶️ 17 women killed
▶️ 8 women harassed
▶️ 68 women subjected to violence
▶️ 9 women raped
Government ally MHP has proposed a draft constitution preserving the presidential system and the “irrevocable” articles of the current constitution.
The ECtHR has concluded that the broadcasting and publication ban imposed on the December 17-25 news regarding the Parliamentary investigation launched against four ministers for “corruption” violated freedom of expression.
Prosecutors seek up to three years in jail for ex-army chief Başbuğ over 1960 coup remarks who said that the 1960 military intervention could have been avoided if then-Prime Minister Adnan Menderes had decided to hold early elections.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 26,476 new infections and 356 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 4 May 2021
Aliboğazı region in the rural areas of Dersim is being bombed for the last three days. Due to the bombardment a fire broke out.
Tarsus 8th Criminal Court of Peace sentenced Azadiya Welat Newspaper’s former Editor-in-Chief İsmail Çoban to 2 years in prison, for the newspaper clippings he had collected in prison.
In the Kobanî trial, the court has ignored the defendants’ petitions demanding recusal and has sent the appeals to the upper court.
İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu is revealed to be under investigation over his visits to the tomb of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror with hands folded behind back and dismissed mayors from HDP.
Parliamentary immunity withdrawn from elected member of National Assembly Filiz Kerestecioğlu by constitutional amendment of 20 May 2016 constitutes a violation of freedom of expression, ruled the ECtHR.
Attorneys of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan applied to Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to meet with their clients. Since 2011, only 5 applications have received a positive decision.
Covid-19: 29,997 new infections and 336 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 3 May 2021
The indictment of MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, who was stripped of of his mandate, has not yet been handed over to his lawyers.
The Ankara Bar Association has appealed to the Council of State and requested the annulment of the circular of the Directorate General of Security that bans recording voices and images during public incidents.
The military operation launched in the Zengesor and Mızak Neighborhoods of Lice / Diyarbakır continues since April 28.
Statement by Coalition for Women in Journalism regarding rights violations against women journalists
▶️ Turkey is the country where women journalists are subjected to violence the most
▶️ Afghanistan is the country with the highest risk of life for women journalists https://t.co/PCcU7aqDFS
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 24,733 new infections and 347 deaths in the last 24 hours.
3 May – 2 May 2021
Turkey Today – 2 May 2021
The Governor’s Office of Van has announced that the ban on events and demonstrations, which has been in effect in Turkey’s eastern province for 1,623 days, will remain in force for another 15 days.
246 of the 255 people arrested in İstanbul during the May Day demonstrations were released.
Hunger strike in Turkish prisons against solitary confinement of Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan enters day 157.
CHP MPs Mehmet Bekaroğlu and Mahmut Tanal visited the villagers fighting against the stone pit in İkizdere were detained.
President Erdoğan and members of his ruling AKP have attended a funeral despite the country being in full lockdown, which stipulates that a maximum of 10 people can attend a funeral.
Covid-19: 25,980 new infections and 340 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey Today – 1 May 2021
All roads leading to Taksim Square and İstiklal Avenue were closed due to the May 1 Labor Day. Wanting to celebrate the May 1 International Worker’s Day, Worker’s Representatives Council and members of Forces of Labour, were taken into custody marching towards Taksim Square. At least 220 people were detained marching to Taksim Square to celebrate May Day.
20 people taking to streets in Artvin’s Borçka and Hopa districts for May Day celebrations were detained in front of their houses, 12 in Trabzon.
Workers and labourers taken to streets in Ankara despite the lock down due to the pandemic, marched for May Day. Intervening in the marches, the police detained many people.
Şenyaşar Family’s search for justice continues on day 54. The family lost three members as a result of the attacks of AKP Deputy İbrahim Halil Yıldız and his relatives.
5 of the villagers fighting against the stone pit in İkizdere were detained.
The Saturday Mothers came together in the 840th week to ask those responsible for the death of students Soner Gül ve Hüsamettin Yaman. Both disappeared in İstanbul after detention by the police 29 years ago.
In a presidential decree, Erdoğan has unveiled the details of the implementation process of his government’s ‘human rights action plan’, arguing that the plan will be executed within the upcoming two years.
Covid-19: Health Ministry reported 28,817 new infections and 373 deaths in the last 24 hours.