Stockholm Center for Freedom Reports

Abuse of the Interpol System by Turkey

Abuse of the Interpol System by Turkey

September 2017 / (41 Pages)

The Turkish government’s blatant abuse of the criminal justice system to persecute, harass and intimidate its opponents and critics has recently escalated to include manipulation of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). The dubious and false charges filed en masse with Interpol to hunt down political enemies of Turkey’s strongman President Erdoğan sparked an international crisis when Turkish nationals and foreign nationals of Turkish origin were caught in a quagmire. Cases of abuse by Turkey of Interpol for political purposes, including the persecution of civil society members, social groups, human rights activists, political opponents, and journalists, were documented by the Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) on its tracking website Read More

 


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Turkey’s Contempt for the Rule of Law

Turkey’s Contempt for the Rule of Law

September 2017 / (43 Pages)

The Turkish government appears to enjoy governing the country with interim decree-laws that effectively sideline Parliament and have dismantled the independent judiciary under emergency rule, which has been repeatedly extended for over a year since a controversial July 15, 2016 coup bid. The government has implemented measures that have gone beyond addressing urgent security needs. Many violations have been reported about the infringement of basic principles of law and fundamental rights enshrined in the international conventions with which Turkey is under obligation to comply. Arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and suspicious deaths under detention and in prisons have increased Read More

 


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Hate Speech Against Christians In Erdoğan’s Turkey

Hate Speech Against Christians In Erdoğan’s Turkey

August 2017 / (63 Pages)

Turkey has seen an unprecedented rise in xenophobic, intolerant and hateful speech by the nation’s political rulers, driven primarily by the outspoken president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who uses incessant and vile speech inciting hostility, deepening divisions and expanding polarization in the 80-million-strong nation for short-term political gains. SCF has been documenting cases of hate speech and hate crime that represent a threat to diversity and pluralism in Turkey. As a case study in this report, SCF picked Erdoğan and his associates’ hate speech patterns demonizing Christians in Turkey and abroad. The alarming situation in Turkey amounts to violation of freedom of thought, conscience and religion and thereby puts Turkey in breach of its commitments under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Read More

 


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More Turks Report Anxiety, Stress and Depression Under Erdogan’s Rule

More Turks Report Anxiety, Stress and Depression Under Erdogan’s Rule

August 2017 / (14 Pages)

The escalating clampdown on fundamental rights and freedoms in an increasingly repressive regime of Turkey under the autocratic leadership of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan might have very well contributed to the spike in the prevalence of stress, depression and anxiety in Turkish society, a recent poll done by Stockholm Center for Freedom has revealed. Among the polled, 86.3 percent of respondents said they experience high level of depression, followed by 78.8 percent stating they struggle with stress and 72.1 percent reporting they tackle with anxiety. The present findings suggested that a significant proportion of Turks in the sample group has suffered from depression, stress and anxiety leading to a low-level of happiness. Instead of addressing the root causes of this growing problem in Turkey, president Erdogan, the government officials and the pro-government media continue to fuel hysteria and paranoia in Turkish society Read More

 


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Tortured to Death: The case of the torture and death of history teacher

Tortured to Death: The case of the torture and death of history teacher

November 2017/ (62 Pages)

Investigators from the Stockholm Center for Freedom have laid bare the appalling facts behind the death of Gökhan Açıkkollu, a 42-year-old history teacher who died after enduring 13 days of torture and abuse. None of the people responsible for his death have yet been punished, and no effective or thorough investigation has been conducted into the circumstances that led to his death. Contradictory testimonies and discrepancies in official records have not yet been fully investigated by the public prosecutor, who dropped the probe even before receiving the autopsy results and without talking to key witnesses Read More

 


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July 15: Erdogan’s Coup

July 15: Erdogan’s Coup

July 2017 / (185 Pages)

The July 15th failed coup attempt in Turkey was a false flag operation orchestrated by Erdoğan in partnership with a cadre of military and intelligence officials to consolidate his power. The attempt, doomed to fail from the start, was hailed by Erdoğan as a “gift from God” and should be considered a successful bid from his perspective, judging by the results. More than 150,000 government employees have been dismissed from their positions on the basis of their critical views without any effective judicial or administrative probes. SCF strongly believes there is an urgent need to put in place measures and policy actions to put an end to the autocratic Erdoğan regime’s anti-democratic policies Read More

 


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Enforced Disappearances in Turkey

Enforced Disappearances in Turkey

June 2017/ (32 Pages)

The Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) has so far documented 11 individual cases of disappearance since 2016 that show a systematic and deliberate campaign of kidnappings by elements within the Turkish security and intelligence services as part of the persecution launched by Turkish President Erdoğan and his government, primarily against participants of a civic group known as the Gülen movement. According to the Human Rights Association (İHD), there have been 940 cases of enforced disappearance in Turkey. In addition to that, the İHD believes 3,248 people who were murdered in extrajudicial killings are buried in 253 separate burial places Read More

 


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Mass Torture and Ill-Treatment in Turkey

Mass Torture and Ill-Treatment in Turkey

June 2017 / (58 Pages)

Torture, abuse and ill treatment of detainees and prisoners in Turkey has become the norm rather than the exception under the repressive regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has publicly vowed to show no mercy to his critics, opponents and dissidents amid a mass persecution that has landed over 50,000 people in jail on trumped-up charges in the last ten months alone. The dozens of cases cited in this report are just the tip of the iceberg in what SCF believes to be monumental problems of ongoing torture in Turkey Read More

 


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Erdogan’s Vile Campaign of Hate Speech Case Study: Targeting of the Gulen Movement

Erdogan’s Vile Campaign of Hate Speech Case Study: Targeting of the Gulen Movement

May 2017 / (52 Pages)

Turkey has seen an unprecedented rise in xenophobic, intolerant and hateful speech by the nation’s political rulers, driven primarily by the outspoken president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who uses incessant and vile speech inciting hostility, deepening divisions and expanding polarization in the 80-million-strong nation for short-term political gains. As a case study in this report, SCF picked Erdoğan’s hate speech pattern demonizing members of the Gülen movement, which has borne the brunt of incessant vicious attacks by Erdoğan and his associates in the government that resulted in a mass persecution and witch-hunt, unparalleled to anything in modern Turkish history Read More

 


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Erdogan’s Long Arms: The Case of Malaysia

Erdogan’s Long Arms: The Case of Malaysia

May 2017 / (32 Pages)

In this report, which takes Malaya as a case study, SCF reveals a new and highly controversial method employed by the Turkish government – snatching Turkish nationals from a foreign country in a blatant breach of well established principles of international law. Several participants in the Gülen Movement have been kidnapped by Turkish government operatives from Malaysian soil, and the remaining ones were subjected to threats of abductions, forcible removals and detention on false charges. The pattern suggests the use of abduction is systematic. Coupled with some dozen cases of enforced disappearance of persons in Turkey in the last two months, abductions of Turkish nationals from overseas require scrutiny and investigation Read More

 


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