At least 2,410 people in Turkey were subjected to police violence during interventions in peaceful demonstrations in 2025, with cases continuing to rise in 2026, along with alleged torture and ill-treatment in custody and in prisons, human rights groups have said.
In a joint statement marking June 26, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) and Human Rights Association (İHD) said a deep-seated culture of impunity allows the abuses to persist without accountability.
In the first five months of 2026 alone, at least 2,019 people were allegedly subjected to mistreatment during police intervention in peaceful demonstrations, approaching the full year total recorded in 2025, according to the groups.
Beyond the cases documented during protests, nearly three in four people who applied to TİHV in 2025 reported being directly subjected to torture or ill-treatment. The groups also said at least three people died under suspicious circumstances in police custody that year.
The two groups said perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment in Turkey rarely face justice, as higher civil authorities must approve the opening of investigations. They added that courts routinely classify torture as lesser offenses, such as simple injury or misuse of power, while retaliatory prosecutions for resisting a public official effectively silence those who report abuse.
The groups pointed to disparities in the justice system, as 26,388 people were prosecuted for resisting a public official in 2024, compared with 837 cases opened for torture and torment.
The Turkish Human Rights and Equality Institution (TİHEK), which the groups said lacks independence from the executive, further undermines accountability by frequently issuing no-violation rulings, they added.
The TİHV and the İHD also raised concerns over enforced disappearances, saying 245 cases were submitted to the government by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, of which only 94 have been clarified.
The groups decried deteriorating prison conditions, saying there were at least 1,412 sick prisoners in 2025, including 335 in serious condition who cannot maintain their lives independently. At least 19 prisoners died in 2025 due to illness, suicide, violence or neglect, while at least nine more deaths were recorded in the first five months of 2026.
They also said prisons are severely overcrowded, with prison population having increased from 55,870 in 2005 to 421,583 as of June 1, 2026, with prisons now operating at 27.8 percent over capacity, or 117,193 inmates above official limits.
Between 2021 and the end of 2024, at least 549 prisoners had their conditional release postponed by Administration and Observation Boards, they added.
The boards, established in Turkish prisons in January 2021, have long faced criticism from opposition parties and human rights groups, who say they arbitrarily reject or delay the parole or probation of political prisoners and exceed their authority by acting like courts.
The groups called for the abolition of the requirement that higher authorities approve investigations into security personnel and for the amendment of counterterrorism laws in line with international human rights standards. They also urged Turkey to implement rulings from the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights and to reform TİHEK to ensure its full independence from the executive.
Torture and ill-treatment in police custody and prisons in Turkey have remained a persistent concern since the aftermath of coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
The widespread and systematic torture in Turkish detention centers was evidenced by the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment in a report based on his mission to Turkey in November 2016.
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture also reported that allegations of police ill-treatment remained at a worrying level following visits in 2017 and 2019, although Turkey has blocked publication of the committee’s report on its 2016 post-coup visit.
According to the Global Torture Index 2025, released by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Turkey is in the second-highest risk tier among 26 countries assessed, citing widespread allegations of torture, unchecked police violence and legal and institutional barriers that block accountability.
