Betül Alpay, a Turkish lawyer, is facing a defamation trial after publicly claiming she was subjected to an unlawful strip-search in a prison, the Kronos news website reported on Thursday.
Alpay shared a video in 2020 in which she described how she was strip-searched by female guards upon entering Muğla Prison. Her account had come in response to remarks by ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) MP Özlem Zengin, who denied the carrying out of strip searches in Turkey, calling such claims “unbelievable.”
In the 24-page indictment filed in July 2024, prison guards who conducted the search denied Alpay’s allegations, claiming a “detailed search” was conducted without direct contact or requiring her to undress completely. The guards said Alpay’s social media posts, which led to an investigation into their conduct, were defamatory. Alpay maintains that her claims are true and says she was not informed of the case until it had already been filed.
“I did not give a false account of what happened to me,” Alpay said. “I was not even asked to give my testimony before the indictment was issued, which is a violation of my right to a fair trial.”
Alpay was sentenced to four years in prison for alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement in 2017. In 2020 she relocated to Germany.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement since the corruption investigations of 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch in 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
The trial, set to begin in absentia on September 24, has reignited debates around strip-searches in Turkish prisons, an issue that gained national attention in 2020 after similar allegations were made by detained university students. Despite repeated denials from the government, women from various political backgrounds have come forward, describing similar experiences.
Alpay’s legal battle comes amid heightened tensions in Turkey over the treatment of detainees, particularly women. Zengin’s earlier comments that “honorable women wouldn’t wait a year to report such an incident” were met with a backlash, as multiple women released videos online recounting their own strip-search experiences.
According to Turkish legal and preventative search regulations, strip searches can only be conducted in exceptional cases, such as when there are credible indications that the person has contraband materials on them. In such cases, the search must be conducted in a manner so as not to humiliate the person and as quickly as possible. When there is a credible suspicion that something is hidden in the person’s body, officers are required to ask the person to remove it themselves and inform them that if they disobey, the removal will be done by the prison doctor.
However, the testimony of an increasing number of women detained on terrorism charges shows that Turkish security forces use strip searches unlawfully and systematically to humiliate them.
