Government-appointed trustee dissolves Van City Council
Mehmet Emin Bilmez, appointed by Turkey’s Interior Ministry as a trustee in place of the mayor of Van, who was removed by the government...
Turkish courts sentence ousted opposition mayors to 257 years in prison
Turkish courts have sentenced 41 opposition mayors to a combined 257 years in prison on charges of terrorism, Turkey’s Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday.
Ninety-four...
Turkey arrests yet another journalist on terrorism charges
Journalist Aziz Oruç, who was detained by police in the eastern province of Ağrı on Dec. 11, has been arrested on terrorism charges, according...
AKP-appointed mayor denies Kurdish author a hearse, leaves coffin on roadside
The body of Zeynel Abidin Han, a Kurdish author, poet and translator who died in Berlin on Feb. 26 and was to be buried...
Members of EP call on European Court of Human Rights to save lives in...
Members of the European Parliament called a bill approved by the Turkish legislature that excludes political prisoners from an amnesty provision “a great disappointment”...
Nordic Monitor reveals content of censored Council of Europe torture report on Turkey
Documents detailing torture and abuse in Turkish prisons and detention centers obtained by Nordic Monitor explain why Turkey has for four years blocked the...
Suspected remains of unsolved murder victims found in SE Turkey: report
Human remains that might belong to dozens of victims of unsolved murders in Turkey’s Southeast in the 1990s have been found in a cave...
Members of Congress ask Pompeo to urge Turkish gov’t to release political prisoners
Three Democratic members of the US House of Representatives have recently sent letters to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting that he urge the...
Yet another Kurdish mayor removed from office in Turkey’s East
Bekir Polat, mayor of the Sarıcan sub-district of the eastern Anatolian province of Elazığ, was removed from office by the Interior Ministry on June...
Turkish gov’t aims to diminish bar associations’ role as human rights watchdogs: HRW
The Turkish government’s plan to allow for multiple bar associations appears calculated to divide the legal profession along political lines and diminish the biggest...
Latest Reports
Human Rights in Turkey: 2025 in Review
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This report highlights the most important developments in the area of human rights in Turkey in 2025, a year marked by continued democratic...
Weaponized Diplomacy: How Erdoğan Uses Turkish Missions for Transnational Repression
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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
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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
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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...
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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
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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
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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
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This report focuses on the inflammatory rhetoric and illegal acts motivated by prejudice faced by refugees who fled the civil war in Syria...