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- Advocates of Silenced TURKEY 271 US 46, #F 203 Fairfield, NJ, 07004
Since the so-called coup attempt of July 15, 2016—widely regarded as orchestrated by the Erdoğan regime—critics of President Erdoğan have faced relentless persecution, discrimination, and human rights abuses. Regardless of age or gender, they have been socially, economically, and politically targeted, with their most basic right to life repeatedly violated.
According to open sources such as social media and news outlets, a total of 1,307 lives have been lost during this process that has reshaped Turkey under Erdoğan’s rule. Among the victims are babies, children, pregnant women, fathers, and mothers. They lost their lives on escape routes, in workplace and traffic accidents, due to illnesses worsened by harsh prison conditions, and through suicide.
On the night of the coup attempt itself, after President Erdoğan called people into the streets, 252 more lives were lost. According to court records, autopsies revealed that the weapons used to kill 71 of these people did not belong to the military. Autopsies for 180 others were never conducted. The parliamentary commission established to investigate the coup attempt, prepared a report without hearing the testimonies of the Chief of General Staff and the head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) at the time. Despite this, the findings of the parliamentary report were never published, and the results were not shared with the public.
Through Emergency Decrees, thousands of people were dismissed from their jobs overnight and stripped of their right to live safely in their own country. Many were forced onto dangerous migration routes in search of security. Tens of thousands who could not leave Turkey were pushed into insecure, exhausting jobs in unfamiliar places just to provide for their families.
Some, unable to bear the pressure, exclusion, and injustice, were driven to suicide. Others lost their lives to severe illnesses such as cancer, brought on by overwhelming stress, trauma, and grief.
We remember with compassion those who silently passed away during this painful process. Each name is not only a “victim” but a human being—with a family, loved ones, and dreams. Their stories remain silent witnesses to the injustice they endured.
The names listed on our database have been compiled from social media and open sources. However, there are other victims whose names we could not obtain and who are therefore not included in this list.
Since 2016, more than 3,900 institutions across Turkey have been closed or seized by the Erdoğan regime under emergency decrees and administrative decisions. These institutions—spanning education, media, civil society, and health—were targeted through measures that contradict democratic principles. The closures raise serious concerns about fundamental freedoms and have left deep and lasting marks on Turkey’s political and social life
The wave of crackdowns began with the corruption investigations of 2013 and intensified after the so-called coup attempt of July 15, 2016, during Turkey’s State of Emergency (OHAL). Thousands of institutions and organizations allegedly linked to the Hizmet (Gülen) Movement were shut down or had their assets confiscated. Emergency Decrees (KHKs) and administrative decisions provided the legal basis for a sweeping purge that violated fundamental democratic values.
The first decree, KHK No. 667, ordered the closure of hundreds of private schools, tutoring centers, study halls, student dormitories, health facilities, and foundation universities. Their administrators were arrested, and their assets seized. Soon after, KHK No. 668 shut down numerous television channels, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, and news agencies. Trustees were appointed to their management, and many were later transferred to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) for sale. According to TMSF data, 177 media outlets were closed. The Human Rights Joint Platform reported 174 media and publishing institutions shut down, alongside 1,064 private education institutions, 360 tutoring centers, 847 dormitories, and 47 private health facilities.
The Turkey Rights Monitor database records that during and after the State of Emergency, a total of 3,942 institutions and organizations were either closed or confiscated. These included 1,561 civil society organizations (associations, foundations, unions, federations, and confederations), 2,185 educational institutions (private schools, dormitories, tutoring centers, and foundation universities), 149 media outlets (newspapers, TV channels, radio stations, magazines, publishing houses, and news agencies), and 47 health facilities.
This purge severely violated not only property rights but also fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression and press, the right to education, and freedom of association. Hundreds of journalists and media workers lost their jobs, tens of thousands of students were left without schools or dormitories, access to healthcare was disrupted, and civil society space was drastically restricted. Many of the closed institutions’ buildings were reassigned to state bodies or sold to generate government revenue. These developments drew strong criticism both nationally and internationally as clear violations of the rule of law and property rights in Turkey.
Between 2016 and 2025, Turkey witnessed a systematic and sustained crackdown on political opposition and local governance, with disproportionate measures aimed primarily at the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and elected local administrators. By 2025, this repressive trend had also expanded to include the Republican People’s Party (CHP), with opposition mayors and parliamentary members facing growing judicial and political pressure. The data shows a clear pattern of repression that began with mass arrests and evolved into targeted judicial harassment of high-profile figures across multiple opposition parties.
The peak of state repression occurred in 2016–2017, following the failed coup attempt. During this period, leading HDP parliamentarians, including Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were imprisoned. Simultaneously, more than 70 mayors were detained, and trustees (kayyum) were appointed to at least 86 municipalities. These moves represented an unprecedented intervention in local democratic governance, effectively silencing opposition voices at both the national and municipal levels.
Although the number of imprisoned local officials declined after 2018, the pressure never ceased. Instead, the government shifted strategies, relying on dismissals, forced replacements, and selective prosecutions. In 2021, a new wave of repression unfolded, marked by the detention of 562 HDP members and the imprisonment of 73 others in a single year—an indication that mass detentions remained a tool of political control.
The later years of 2024–2025 highlight another dimension of state repression: judicial targeting of high-profile politicians and metropolitan mayors. Cases against figures such as Can Atalay and Ekrem İmamoğlu underscored how legal mechanisms were weaponized to undermine electoral legitimacy and weaken opposition leadership.
Overall, the dataset reveals the evolution of authoritarian practices in Turkey: from sweeping arrests and mass trustee appointments in the immediate post-coup environment to more calculated, high-profile prosecutions in later years. This enduring pattern reflects the erosion of political pluralism and the weakening of local democratic governance, raising serious concerns about the future of representative politics in Turkey.
The capacity of Turkish prisons has been severely exceeded over the years. On December 31, 2015, there were 358 prisons in the country with a total capacity of 177,636 people, holding 177,262 inmates (85% convicted, 15% pretrial detainees). Just one year later, by the end of 2016, the number of prisons had risen to 382, capacity had reached 202,675, and the prison population had grown to 200,727. During this period, the proportion of pretrial detainees jumped from 15% to 36%—a staggering 140% increase in a single year.
Following the so-called coup attempt of July 15, 2016, widespread and systematic arrests caused prison overcrowding to spiral further out of control. Although pretrial release should have been the rule, mass arrests became a de facto punishment. Over the past decade, the prison population has increased by approximately 128%, while prison capacity has grown by only about 100,000, reaching roughly 300,000. As a result, the overall occupancy rate has climbed to 134%.
These figures clearly contradict Turkey’s obligations under both domestic law and international treaties. The United Nations’ Mandela Rules (Articles 12–14) mandate adequate living space for every individual. International standards require at least 6 m² per person in single cells and 4 m² in shared dormitories. Yet, as of 2025, the available closed space per prisoner in many Turkish facilities has dropped below 3 m². The European Court of Human Rights, in landmark cases such as Mamedova v. Turkey (2023), has ruled that such conditions cross the threshold into “degrading treatment.”
This situation in Turkish prisons is not merely a statistical problem; it is a grave violation of human rights. Structural inadequacies have turned into a form of punishment, undermining both the rule of law and human dignity.
Since 2014, policies restricting press freedom in Turkey have manifested through the prosecution, imprisonment, and physical assault of journalists, as well as the revocation of press cards, appointment of government trustees to media outlets, raids on media organizations, and the blocking of websites. Reports from independent monitoring organizations reveal that hundreds of journalists faced prison sentences during this period; tens of thousands of news reports and websites were censored; and the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) imposed millions of lira in fines on broadcasters.
The BİA Media Monitoring Report states that in 2014, two posters and one book were banned, seven broadcast bans were issued, and 72 journalists were detained and later released. That year, at least 23 journalists and 14 publishers were in prison; Freedom House categorized Turkey as a “not free” country. According to EngelliWeb, 23,558 websites were blocked. RTÜK issued 78 warnings and 254 fines to TV channels. The Turkish Journalists’ Union (TGS) announced that more than 100 lawsuits were filed against over 60 journalists.
The Human Rights Association (İHD) reported in 2015 that one book, one magazine, and three banners were banned; government trustees were appointed to two newspapers and two TV channels; eight TV channels and six radios were removed from satellite broadcasting; 26 raids were carried out on media organizations; and 26,851 websites were blocked. A total of 93 people were prosecuted for “insulting the President,” with 96 trials resulting in sentences totaling 404 years and 3 months in prison. In the last quarter of the year, 31 journalists and 8 distributors were arrested, while 15 journalists and two media groups were attacked.
Following the July 15 coup attempt, emergency decrees (OHAL KHKs) closed down a total of 131 media outlets, including 16 TV channels, 23 radios, 45 newspapers, 15 magazines, and 29 publishing houses; around 778 press cards were revoked. That year, at least 56 journalists were attacked and 118 threatened; 179 media organizations were shut down, and about 201 journalists were detained. Reports indicate that 70 journalists were arrested on allegations of ties to the Hizmet Movement, and 8 from Kurdish media outlets. Eighteen websites were blocked, and seven broadcast bans were issued.
The BİA 2017 report recorded censorship of 10 websites, 6 newspapers, 97 online news articles, 8 books, and 6 magazines; six broadcast suspension penalties; and the closure of three media outlets. Eighty-five journalists were detained, 122 were imprisoned by year’s end, and 20 were attacked. A total of 520 journalists were prosecuted, with 22 receiving prison sentences amounting to 111 years.
In 2018, criminal judgeships of peace blocked access to at least 2,950 online news reports. According to BİA, 47 journalists were detained and 123 remained in prison; at least 19 journalists and one media outlet were attacked, and 125 media workers were convicted of various charges. The report also highlighted that hundreds of journalists were left unemployed.
According to the BİA Media Monitoring Report, in 2019, 39 media representatives received a combined 222 years and 1 month in prison, and 33 journalists were sentenced to 63 years and 11 months. At least 49 journalists were detained, and 26 attacked. The Press Advertising Authority’s ad bans and revocation of press cards further weakened critical media.
In the pandemic year 2020, BİA reported that 27 press cards were revoked and 150 not renewed; 1,358 news reports and 24 news sites were blocked; RTÜK imposed 297 fines and 70 broadcast suspensions, totaling 19,063,835 TL in penalties. At least 48 journalists were detained, 18 attacked, and 23 sentenced to a combined 103 years in prison. According to CPJ, 18 journalists remained imprisoned at the end of the year.
The BİA annual report stated that 35 journalists were sentenced to a total of 92 years, 6 months, and 24 days; at least 41 journalists were detained; and RTÜK issued fines amounting to 31.63 million TL. The TGS report highlighted that 559 press cards were revoked, 54 websites and 1,355 news articles were blocked, and 57 journalists suffered physical attacks.
The BİA 2022 fourth-quarter report recorded that 171 journalists stood trial in various cases; 257 news reports were blocked; 14 journalists received a total of 21 years, 3 months, and 22 days in prison; and at least 11 journalists were detained. Nine Kurdish media workers were arrested. The “disinformation law” came into effect, creating new threats for journalists.
A report by the Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) stated that Turkey ranked 165th in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index. According to the report, 280 journalists attended at least 821 hearings, 72 journalists were detained, and 27 of them were arrested. RTÜK imposed 570 sanctions on broadcasters. BİA data shows that 240,857 domain names were blocked in 2023, bringing the total number of blocked sites in Turkey to more than 953,415. That year, at least 25 journalists and five media outlets were attacked.
The SCF 2024 report described the year as a “lost year” for press freedom: 89 journalists and media workers were prosecuted, nine of them sentenced to more than 50 years in prison; 25 journalists and five media outlets were attacked; and 82 journalists were threatened. RTÜK imposed 72.1 million TL in fines. According to EngelliWeb, the number of blocked websites in Turkey surpassed 1 million. Although the country’s rank improved to 158 in the RSF index, pressures on freedom of expression continued.
The decade from 2014 to 2024 demonstrates the steady decline of press freedom in Turkey. In the early years, hundreds of journalists were detained while internet censorship and broadcast bans intensified. During the state of emergency, many media outlets were shut down and press card revocations reached record levels. After 2020, censorship shifted primarily to the digital sphere, while RTÜK targeted TV broadcasting with heavy fines and program suspensions. By 2024, the number of blocked websites surpassed one million, and continued physical attacks on journalists highlighted that freedom of expression remains a severe problem.