Human Rights Watch

EU should make human rights core in agenda with Turkey: HRW

Philippe Dam, advocacy director for Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia division, has called on EU officials to send a clear message to...

PACE refers to jailed pro-Kurdish party MPs as ‘political prisoners’

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), of which Turkey is a member, has passed a resolution referring the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic...

Turkey’s far-right leader calls HDP employee killed in attack a ‘terrorist’

Leader of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party Devlet Bahçeli has said a young woman who was killed in an attack on the pro-Kurdish Peoples’...

Refugees in Turkey left out of COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Many refugees in Turkey have not been able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because of language barriers and a lack of knowledge about their...

CCTV recordings at police station reveal brutal treatment of detainee

Newly emerged CCTV recordings of a man who died in police custody on June 5 in İstanbul show several policemen detaining him and one...

German gov’t contacted Kyrgyzstan about missing educator: report

An official from the German Foreign Ministry has revealed that the federal government contacted Kyrgyz authorities earlier this month regarding the situation of a...

Top court rules no rights violation in case of police chief found dead in...

Turkey’s Constitutional Court has ruled there was no rights violation concerning the imprisonment of a former police intelligence chief who was found dead in...

Turkish authorities detain man critical of gov’t policies on charges of insulting President Erdoğan

Turkish authorities on Thursday detained a man who had criticized the economic policies of the government in a street interview, on charges of insulting...

Residents of İstanbul’s Tozkoparan district evicted from homes by police

Residents of İstanbul's Tozkoparan district, where a gentrification project is underway, were evicted from their homes on Friday by the police, the Evrensel daily...

Activists protest in Sweden for missing educator

Dozens of human rights activists gathered on Sunday in the southern Swedish city of Malmö to protest Ankara’s apparent sanctioning of enforced disappearances and...

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Latest Reports

Women’s rights in Turkey: 2025 in Review

The state of women’s rights in Turkey showed no meaningful improvement in 2025, as longstanding problems persisted and new challenges emerged. Femicides, institutional failures...

Weaponized Diplomacy: How Erdoğan Uses Turkish Missions for Transnational Repression

Download PDF This report reveals how the Turkish government has transformed its embassies and consulates into instruments of repression over the past decade. Once seen...

The Forgotten Victims: Children of Turkey’s Post-Coup Purge

Download PDF This report examines how children from families targeted in Turkey’s unprecedented post-coup purge have endured the devastating consequences of persecution, social exclusion and...

Human Rights in Turkey: 2024 in Review

Download PDF This report highlights the most important developments in the area of human rights in Turkey during the year 2024. Throughout the year Turkey continued...

Dehumanizing a Legacy: How Fethullah Gülen’s Death Triggered a Campaign of Hate Speech in...

Download PDF This report examines the surge of hate speech following the death of Fethullah Gülen, a US-based cleric whose followers have been systematically persecuted...

Family Punishment in Turkey: How Erdoğan Uses the Nazi Practice of Sippenhaft

Download PDF This report focuses on how the Turkish government, under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has used family punishment against his opponents. Sippenhaft, also known as...

Human Rights in Turkey: 2023 in Review

Download PDF This report highlights the most important developments in the area of human rights in Turkey during the year 2023. The May 2023 re-election of...

Hate speech and hate crimes against Syrian refugees in Turkey

Download PDF This report focuses on the inflammatory rhetoric and illegal acts motivated by prejudice faced by refugees who fled the civil war in Syria...