AST in Press
Turkish diplomat describes physical and sexual abuse in detainment, Ankara dismisses as “baseless”
June 11, 2019“On May 20, four plain-clothed police officers came to my home in order to detain me. No one at the police station mentioned what the accusation was against me, I was just told it was about FETO,” one Turkish diplomat, who requested not to be named for fear of retaliation against family members, tol...
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Former Professor of Fatih University Sentenced to 9 Years In Prison – Still in Jail
January 1, 2020"Ahmet Metin Sekizkardes, a former journalist and professor of Fatih University was arrested in July 2016 on charges of being a member of an armed terrorist organization. He was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison and is still confined. The charges appear to be unsubstantiated. Fatih was...
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Jailed Turkish journalist wrote prison memoir smuggled out on bits of paper
June 18, 2020'I hold out my hands and they handcuffed me. I will never see the world again,' writes Turkish journalist Ahmet Altan in his memoir. He wrote from his shared cell in Silivri Prison on bits of paper that his lawyer smuggled out....
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As Turks flee oppression, Ottawa urged to speak out on human rights issues
August 16, 2019"It's long past time for the federal government to publicly condemn human rights violations that have been going on in Turkey for years, an Ottawa-based human rights activist says. More than 3,000 Turkish families have landed in Canada seeking asylum during the last three years, said Vaner Kapla...
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A Chat with Vonya Womack, a Human Rights Activist and Expert on Turkey and Its Refugees
December 16, 2019"Following a recent coup attempt, more than 100,000 people were arrested and dismissed from their jobs in the Republic of Turkey. Turkey is also the world's largest jailer of journalists; 300+ are now behind bars. Our guest is an expert on these and related matters: Vonya Womack teaches at Cabrini U...
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Today is another Human Rights Day, but atrocities persist | Opinion
December 10, 2019But,I would like to share the stories of the many phantomized victims who are afraid to breathe and who pray to die before perdition finds them. Some of these victims are allegedly Erdogan opponents, some are just friends or relatives of a member of the Hizmet Movement. Some are little children who ...
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Labeled terrorists in their homeland, hundreds of Turks seek asylum in New Jersey
October 17, 2019Atik is one of thousands of Turks who fled a government crackdown targeting followers of Hizmet, a social movement inspired by Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen. Many have come to northern New Jersey, home to a large Turkish American community that is less than 100 miles from where Gulen has lived in s...
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Dozens take to Parliament Hill to protest Turkish human rights violations
November 04, 2017"Dozens of protesters packed the steps of Parliament Hill Saturday to draw attention to human rights violations against women and children in Turkey, in the wake of last summer's failed coup."It's a witch hunt," said Feuiza Celik, co-organizer of the protest.While she came over to Canada in 2001 whe...
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The World Must Address all Human Rights Violations
June 20, 2022The rejection of Russia’s aggression by NATO countries is important. If more countries would join in the condemnation of Russia and support Western sanctions, the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops and end the attacks on the people of Ukraine would intensify.Crimes a...
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Times Square billboard reading “STOP ERDOGAN” draws ruling AKP’s ire
March 4, 2021A billboard in New York City’s Times Square that reads “STOP ERDOGAN,” referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose rule has seen the imprisonment of tens of thousands on politically motivated charges, has drawn the ire of officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).P...
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A call for the world to stand together against state repression and abuse of human rights in Turkey | Opinion
December 20, 2022“Human rights” refers to all the rights an individual has just by virtue of being human;regardless of their identities. International human rights rules urge states to guarantee that their citizens have access to human rights and to protect them from any abuses of those rights. However, the current ...
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The Fethullah Gülen movement (Hizmet movement), including activities and regions of operation; treatment by society and authorities; state protection
July 13, 2018Asialyst, a francophone digital news source dedicated to Asia, indicates that the [Fethullah] Gülen movement [translation] "is very present in the educational sector of Central Asia and the Caucasus. In Kazakhstan, 29 Kazakh-Turkish high schools have been operating since the 1990s" (Asialyst 22 Oct....
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