Turkey

ISTANBUL | 19-01-2014 |It is reported that 6 people were arrested yesterday evening after a demonstration in the Alsancak area of Izmir against internet censorship. The ‘Hands off my internet’ march was called in protest at a draft bill introduced by the government to censor the internet. Hundreds of people responded to calls made on social media, gathering in Kıbrıs ...

ISTANBUL | 17-01-2014 | The HDP (Peoples Democracy Party) has announced its list of candidates to fight the local elections scheduled for 30 March. At a meeting in Ankara to introduce the candidates HDP Co-chair Sebahat Tuncel said: ” We will promote freedom for women and unity and togetherness.” After Tuncel’s speech the candidates were introduced. The HDP’s Istanbul candidates ...

SİİRT | 12-01-2014 | 13-year-old Kader Erten, who was married off at 11 and gave birth at 12, has been found shot dead at her home in Pervari district of Siirt province. Her second child, who had been born prematurely, died recently. It is reported that Kader, originally from the Çatak district of Van province, was given in marriage (without ...

TRABZON| 08-01-2014 | Law enforcement officers captured Zeynel Abidin Yavuz and Osman Hayal who have been top suspects within the retrial of 18 defendants in the case of murdered Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Gendarmerie forces detained Yavuz as he was walking on the street in Pelitli neighborhood in the Ortahisar district of Trabzon province onTuesday. Osman Hayal was also captured ...

AMED | 07-01-2014 | The military prosecutor of the chief of General Staff has issued a verdict of non-prosecution in the investigation into the massacre of 34 people who were killed as the result of a bombardment by Turkish warplanes near the village of Roboski in the Şırnak’s Uludere district on 28 December 2011. Victims of the massacre were mostly ...

TURKEY | 06-01-2014 | The İzmir branches of the Human Rights Association (IHD) Contemporary Jurists Association (ÇHD) and TAYD-DER have issued a joint press release to highlight the torture suffered by four children transferred to Şakran prison after being tortured in Sincan prison. According to the children, they were beaten with truncheons and pipes when their sick friends failed to ...

HALUK GERGER| 05-01-2014 | Prof. Dr. Haluk Gerger says the Rojava Kurds face being under siege before the Geneva II conference, adding: “The Kurds will participate with their own identity and are behaving sensibly. However, there is intrigue against them. In the event that the Kurds sit down at the conference with an autonomous administration they will have strategically gained ...

ANKARA | 04-01-2014 |Twelve child inmates in Ankara’s Sincan prison were battered by prison officers this week. After the assault the children were subject to, eight among them were transferred to other jails on Friday; four to the Şakran prison in the western province of İzmir and four others to the Maltepe prison in Istanbul. The transfers have reportedly been ...

AMED| 03-01-2014 |Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court has unanimously ruled the release of BDP’s (Peace and Democracy Paty) two jailed deputies Gülser Yıldırım and İbrahim Ayhan. The court ruling for the release of two deputies came after the Constitutional Court accepted the application made by detained Yıldırım and Ayhan, who are in custody in the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) trial, ...

ISTANBUL | 03-01-2014 | Media Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation on “Başlangıç”, a documentary on Gezi Resistance produced by 49/51 Film and directed by Serkan Koç, for “insulting public workers” and “igniting public towards vengeance and hostility”. “In my statement today, I refused all charges on the case. The person who ignites public to vengeance and hostility is PM Recep ...