WORDS FROM THE ADVOCATES
When the Turkish President declared in an infamous speech that “old Turkey no longer exists. This Turkey is new Turkey”, the story of Turkish authoritarianism had once and for all taken on a new character. Since July of 2016, the Turkish government has improperly imprisoned 130,214 homemakers, teachers, NGO workers, academics, judges, prosecutors, and journalists.
Following the coup attempt of July 15, 2016, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency paving the way for a crackdown on political opponents which has ultimately led to gross violations of civil rights and liberties of Turkish citizens.
The Turkish government has revoked passports and aggressively petitioned for the arrest and deportation of dissenters overseas including individuals under UN protection. Abductions, forced disappearances, and renditions of dissenters are among the long list of atrocious crimes committed by the Turkish government. The Turkish state has even conducted cross-border operations by brazenly abducting its citizens from other countries. This is not only an offense against the national sovereignty of countries where these covert operations are conducted but also an egregious insult to international human rights laws. There is also ample evidence to suggest that once dissenters are abducted, they undergo extensive torture and suffer physical and emotional trauma at the hands of their unidentified abductors. They are not informed of the charges brought against them as they are apprehended and are deprived of their due process rights. Some of these abducted individuals face trial after be- ing subjected to months of torture if they are lucky enough to survive the horrifying ordeal. The Turkish government has rarely repudiated claims of such horrific acts and illegalities committed against dissenters. On the contrary, these inhumane practices are lauded amongst national intelligence agencies and government officials. Stories of dissenters being viciously abducted in front of their families are boasted of by sycophant media out-lets who cheer for and commend the brutal acts of the government.
On December 29, 2020 a new allegation of enforced disappearance in Turkey about Hüseyin Galip Küçüközyiğit, a former civil servant dismissed from his job by an emergency decree, was reported. His daughter, Nursena Küçüközyiğit, has been trying to file a criminal complaint saying that her father was abducted, however, authorities in the northwestern city of Kocaeli, notably the public prosecutor’s office and the police department, refused to receive the complaint.
Küçüközyiğit last spoke with his daughter Nursena on the phone on December 29 at around 3:30 p.m. His coworkers were the last people to have seen him. About 4 p.m. he left his office to visit a friend in Ankara’s Gölbaşı district, by a Mazda 323 with license plate 34 FNF 28. His cell phone stopped receiving signals at 4:23 pm.
Nursena Küçüközyiğit says her father was unemployed for a long time after being expelled from public service and was held in detention for six months for his alleged links with Gülen Movement. After he was released, he set up a business to offer legal advice to other purged public sector workers, which, Nursena believes might have been the reason her father to be abducted.
Similarities with Other Abduction Incidents
Kucukozyigit was a civil servant like many other victims of the recent abduction cases. Almost all abductions occurred at public places while the abductee was about to leave from an acquainted location. After months of their disappearances, victims resurfaced under police detention and were arrested immediately. Also almost in all cases, police officers and public prosecutors have been hesitant to open a case in spite of the clear and concrete evidence of a crime.
Growing Number of Cases of Abductions with Black Transporters
In many of the disappearances, a black transport vehicle is used, according to the eyewitnesses and CCTV footages. A group of masked men, believed to be the members of the Turkish intelligence agency, are grabbing the victims and pulling them into a black transporter van and disappear swiftly.
Almost all of the victims of these enforced disappearances resurfaced months after they went missing in bruises and traumatized. Some have spoken out in court, recounting the systematic and severe torture they were subjected to during their secret interrogation by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), The victims also have reported that they were kept until their wounds got healed to be handed over to the police.
According to the testimonies of former MİT directors Erhan Pekçetin and Aydın Günel, who was captured by Syrian Kurdish militants in 2017 while they were in a covert operation in northern Syria, all abducted people that have affiliations with the Hizmet movement were tortured and interrogated in a building in the capital city of Turkey, Ankara(1)
Nursena thinks her father is yet another victim of the enforced disappearances and she is worried that he might be subject to torture. She says has reached CCTV footages displaying that Galip Kucukozyigit was followed by three suspicious men on the day he disappeared but she was not able to convince a prosecutor to open an investigation.
According to Kucukozyigit’s daughter Nursena, Turkish police are not willing to search for evidence against her father’s kidnapping. The only answer she could get from the police is: “We are unable to provide any information.” Families of other victims were also faced with the same attitude by the police, who were reluctant to investigate and collect evidence. The United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances in its reports emphasized that the Turkish authorities were not pursuing the necessary investigative tracks. Detailed information about and a full list of enforced disappearances of Turkish nationals can be found in AST’s report, Erdogan’s Long Arms: Abductions In Turkey And Abroad2.
Forced disappearances and abductions are an assault on human rights as established by the Convention on the Forced Disappearance of Persons. According to Advocates for Silenced Turkey (AST)’s report3, there have been 135 abductions and forced disappearances to date; this report consists of an alarming number of ac- counts of abductions and torture provided by abductees. AST calls on international human rights organizations to urge Turkish authorities to abide by domestic and international laws of human rights and cease their illegal and inhumane practices of abductions, forced disappearance, and renditions immediately.
1 “MIT Officials Confess Turkey’s Relations with ISIS and Al Nusra.” ANF News, 23 Jan.2018, anfenglish.com/news/mit-officials-confess-turkey-s-relations-with-isis- and-al-nusra-24382.
2 https://silencedturkey.org/erdogans-long-arms-abductions-in-turkey-and-abroad
3 https://silencedturkey.org/erdogans-long-arms-abductions-in-turkey-and-abroad
Petitions Team
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: + 41 22 917 9022 (particularly for urgent matters)
E-mail: [email protected]
Committee Against Torture
Petitions and Inquiries Section
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
E-mail:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
OHCHR-UNOG CH
1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland
Phone: (41-22) 917 90 00
Fax: (+41-22) 917 90 06
E-mail: [email protected]
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission House Committee on Foreign Affairs 5100 O’Neill House Office Building 200 C Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: +1 (202) 225-3599
Fax: +1 (202) 226-6584
Email: [email protected]
US Helsinki Commission
234 Ford House Office Building 3rd and D Streets SW
Washington, DC 20515
Email: [email protected]
The Honorable Abdülhamit Gül
Minister of Justice
06659 Kizilay
Ankara, Republic of Turkey
Email: [email protected]
Donate Now
The intent of this report is to declare the victims of the ‘New Turkey,’ especially women with children who have been under persecution since the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. Although the Turkish government does not promote transparent data on the number of children imprisoned with their mothers, there are 864 children in the prison according to the Justice Department Prison and Penitentiaries Management. The ages of these children vary between newborns to 6 years, as of May 24, 2019.
Turkey Freedom Forum is a unique convention for human rights activists, intellectuals and policy makers focused on human rights violations in Turkey organized by AST. Participants and experts will not only learn the ongoing violations and persecutions in Turkey but also be able to develop strategies and recommendations to Turkish government and international bodies to end those grave violations through the panel discussions.
In pursuance of justice and peace, this forum aims to bring hundreds of human rights defenders and activists together and also to foster the dynamics to mobilize.
December 9-10th,
If you have any questions concerning these terms and condition please contact us at [email protected]
Donate Now
Photography is the art that takes an instant, an item, or an experience out of time and tells a whole reality and impact that has on life in the background. One frame can make masses feel the tragedy, the emotions, or sometimes the humor surrounding that frame. It can encapsulate the struggle, hope, despair, uncertainty, and anticipation in a single click.
In memory of Ahmet Burhan Atac, who was widely known by his nickname ‘KARA EFE’, a 7-year-old who passed away due to passport seizure and obstruction of travel by the Turkish government for treatment abroad, we are organizing this photo contest to raise awareness and consciousness on human rights issues in Turkey and express solidarity with the victims of oppression everywhere. We invite submissions of original photographs that tell captivating stories in the backgrounds. Whether a moment of struggle, an object of sentiment, or memory of love and emotion. We would like to unveil the state of human rights in Turkey and let people know about the aspects of the struggle.
Apply by March 1, 2021
You can click here for the Turkish Application
If you have any questions concerning these terms and condition please contact us at [email protected]
Donate Now
Urging Authorities To Take All Necessary Steps For The Protection of Innocent People in Prisons of Turkey
As it is known the Turkish government has been taking strict measures to silence dissidents from various ideologies recently. Gulen Movement has been the main target of the government, which is a faith-based group of people engaging in different voluntary activities such as education, business, and health. Alleged supporters of the Movement in Turkey have been dealing with arrest, imprisonment, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and blocking them to reach their treatments for the health issues.
The last example of these human tragedies in Turkey was the suspicious death of police officer Mustafa Kabakçıoğlu in the Turkish prison.
Mustafa Kabakçıoğlu, a police officer expelled from his job by a statutory decree, died in solitary confinement cell in Gümüşhane Prison on August 29. The guards allegedly found him sitting alone on a chair with his head dropped to the back when they opened the cell door at 5.45 AM.
Mustafa Kabakçıoğlu was put in a confinement cell because he started coughing 9 days ago. Official announcements claim that he suffered from Covid-19 and the reason for his death was virus related. However, he tested negative on the day he died. Besides, his letter to the prison infirmary written 2 days ago from his death indicates that he was clearly suffering from symptoms that are not common for Covid-19.
Erdogan government released more than 90 thousand convicts and prisoners but deliberately kept politically persecuted victims in prisons. Mustafa Kabakçıoğlu was one of these political prisoners as an honorable police officer who was arrested four years ago without any concrete evidence of a crime.
Kabakçıoğlu was suffering from diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure. Over the course of four years of imprisonment, he complained many times because of insufficient health conditions. Thus, his death happens to be a suspicious case under these circumstances.
In the photographs taken after his death, Kabakçıoğlu is seen sitting on a chair his head down and his nails bruised. His black shirt is dusty. The prison doctor reports him to have died between 2 AM and 3 AM, yet no one knows how it happened.
Kabakçıoğlu filed petitions many times and demanded to go to the hospital regarding his asthma, and diabetic issues that he got in prison since 2017. He fell in the cell twice and lost consciousness. Kabakçıoğlu’s autopsy report on the cause of death is expected to be released within two months. His family filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor’s office and demanding the people who are responsible for his death to be brought to justice.
Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST) in its efforts to defend human rights call the Turkish authorities to investigate the case urgently, bring responsible prison personnel to justice, and sanction them adequately. AST also condemns all inhuman treatment and unjust imprisonments in the strongest terms and ask for justice for those under relentless oppression for years.
We call every one of you to raise your voice for the death of Mustafa Kabakçıoğlu for preventing the new cases happen in Turkey.
1- You can send email to the Ministry of Justice of Turkey to urge investigation
[email protected]
2- You can use your social media accounts with this mention list
@adalet_bakanlik
@UNHumanRights
@StateDept
@HelsinkiComm
3- You can send a letter and email to international organizations written below.
***Center to Prevent Torture ( EU)(CPT)
Secretariat of the CPT
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
France
Tel.: France: 03 88 41 39 39, Int.: +33 3 88 41 39 39
Fax: France: 03 88 41 27 72, Int.: +33 3 88 41 27 72
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.cpt.coe.int
***ECCHR
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights e.V.
Zossener Straße 55–58
Aufgang D
D-10961 Berlin
T: +49 (0)30 – 400 485 90
F: +49 (0)30 – 400 485 92
[email protected]
***Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
[email protected]
***Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
[email protected]
[email protected]
You can also use these MEDIA LINKS below in your actions.
1- EU TURKEY RAPORTEUR NACHO SANCHEZ AMOR
#Turkish Parliament passed in April a law to release thousands of inmates from overcrowded prisons in view of #COVID19 but unfairly excluded hundreds who are jailed during the purgue. The case of Mustafa #Kabakçıoğlu is example of the harsh conditions faced by too many in prisons
#Turkish Parliament passed in April a law to release thousands of inmates from overcrowded prisons in view of #COVID19 but unfairly excluded hundreds who are jailed during the purgue. The case of Mustafa #Kabakçıoğlu is example of the harsh conditions faced by too many in prisons
— Nacho Sánchez Amor (@NachoSAmor) October 16, 2020
2- IS MUSTAFA KABAKCIOGLU TORTURED TO DEATH?
3- DEATH OF MUSTAFA KABAKCIOGLU
http://www.politurco.com/public-outcry-for-police-officers-death-in-erdogans-execution-chamber.html
Public outcry for police officer’s death in Erdogan’s “execution chamber”
4- Can Dundar
https://twitter.com/candundaradasi/status/1317405015049441280?s=09
Çıplak, izbe bir zindan,
sıvası dökülmüş, rutubetli duvarlar,
merdiven altında bir yer döşeği, bir plastik masa
ve bir plastik sandalye üzerinde, başı geriye düşmüş halde can vermiş bir tutsak…
Tecritin ölüm demek olduğunun ispatı..
Zulmün fotoğrafı…https://t.co/D2rKn1NpAy pic.twitter.com/gYxt6oDLn0— Can Dündar (@candundaradasi) October 17, 2020
Donate Now
PETITION THE TURKISH AUTHORITIES TO LAUNCH A FULL INVESTIGATION INTO THE DEATH OF MUSTAFA KABAKÇIOĞLU UNDER SUSPICIOUS CONDITIONS IN PRISON
Mustafa Kabakçıoğlu, a police officer expelled from his job by a statutory decree, died in solitary confinement cell in Gümüşhane Prison on August 29. The guards allegedly found him sitting alone on a chair with his head dropped to the back when they opened the cell door at 5.45 AM.
Mustafa Kabakçıoğlu was put in a confinement cell because he started coughing 9 days ago. Official announcements claim that he suffered from Covid-19 and the reason for his death was virus related. However, he tested negative on the day he died. Besides, his letter to the prison infirmary written 2 days ago from his death indicates that he was clearly suffering from symptoms that are not common for Covid-19.
Erdogan government released more than 90 thousand convicts and prisoners but deliberately kept politically persecuted victims in prisons. Mustafa Kabakçıoğlu was one of these political prisoners as an honorable police officer who was arrested four years ago without any concrete evidence of a crime.
Kabakçıoğlu was suffering from diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure. Over the course of four years of imprisonment, he complained many times because of insufficient health conditions. Thus, his death happens to be a suspicious case under these circumstances.
In the photographs taken after his death, Kabakçıoğlu is seen sitting on a chair his head down and his nails bruised. His black shirt is dusty. The prison doctor reports him to have died between 2 AM and 3 AM, yet no one knows how it happened.
Kabakçıoğlu filed petitions many times and demanded to go to the hospital regarding his asthma, and diabetic issues that he got in prison since 2017. He fell in the cell twice and lost consciousness. Kabakçıoğlu’s autopsy report on the cause of death is expected to be released within two months. His family filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor’s office and demanding the people who are responsible for his death to be brought to justice.
Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST) in its efforts to defend human rights calls the Turkish authorities to investigate the case urgently, bring responsible prison personnel to justice, and sanction them adequately. AST also condemns all inhuman treatment and unjust imprisonments in the strongest terms and ask for justice for those under relentless oppression for years.
Donate Now
Advocates of Silenced Turkey’s second internship program is designed to foster research and academic writing skills and will provide college students with the opportunity to work in close contact with survivors of the Turkey purge through human rights advocacy projects. The program will focus specifically on the infringement of women’s rights in Turkey, framing the larger fight for gender equality as it pertains to both contemporary political and social issues. This internship is a great opportunity to develop your research and academic writing skills as you work towards publishing a paper for AST under your own name.
Dates: January 3, 2021 to March 8, 2021
Apply by November 30, 2020
Reach out to [email protected] with any and all questions about the program.
Donate Now
Advocates of Silenced Turkey and Scholar Rights Watch Announce “HALUK SAVAS AWARDS” for academic projects that will focus on human rights and freedom issues in Turkey during the last decade.
CALENDAR
Submissions Open:
10/04/2020 00:00 a.m. EST
Submission Deadline:
08/30/2021 11:59 p.m. EST
Announcement of the award winners:
11/01/2021
AWARDS
PhD dissertation award:
Up to 5 awards, $2,000 each.
MS Thesis award:
Up to 5 awards, $1,000 each.
Publication in a peer-reviewed journal:
Up to 5 awards, $1,500 each.
Conference talk or proceeding:
Up to 5 awards, $1,000 each.
Honorable Mentions:
Up to 5 awards.
HOW TO APPLY?
You can click the link below to submit your application
WHO IS Prof Dr. HALUK SAVAŞ?
Prof. Dr. Haluk Savaş was born in Adana, Turkey in 1966. He graduated from Marmara University School of Medicine (English) in 1991. In 1997, he received his residency in Psychiatry/Mental Health and Diseases at Bakırköy Psychiatric Hospital.
In 1999, he earned his master’s degree from the Middle East Institute at Marmara University in Sociology-Anthropology with a thesis on “Culture-Psychiatry Relationship”.
He served at Gaziantep University as an associate professor between the years 2003 and 2008, and as a professor between 2008 and 2016.
On September 1, 2016, he was expelled from Gaziantep University with a statutory decree during the State of Emergency after the July 2016 Coup attempt. He was soon arrested on allegations on plotting against the government. He developed pancreatic cancer during his time in prison. His diagnosis and treatment were delayed. He was released by the court for his surgery and was later acquitted after trial.
Despite being cleared of all charges, he was deprived of his legal rights, including obtaining a passport, retirement benefits, and workers’ compensation.
Because he was denied a passport, Dr Savas could not get the available and necessary treatment abroad. Consequently, he tried to make his voice heard in the social media. As a result of the campaign, which was launched with the hashtag #HalukSavaşaPasaport [Passport for Haluk Savaş], the government reluctantly issued his passport. Haluk Savaş became a widely recognized figure as a result of this campaign.
He took part in the establishment of KHK Platforms to be the voice for the 200,000 people who were expelled from their jobs by the statutory decrees. Despite the progression of his illness, he traveled to many cities to initiate the efforts to unify and coordinate these people. He was one of the founders of a YouTube channel called KHK TV and served as its editor-in- chief. By the establishments of news outlets khktv.com and ozgurplatform.com news sites, he became a prominent figure in the KHK struggle against the government.
In the meantime, he contributed to ahvalnews.com and continued his scientific efforts through his website and personal social media accounts. He kept providing patient care at his private clinic in Adana.
Prof. Dr. Haluk Savaş passed away on June 30, 2020.
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
ONGOING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TURKEY
Since the alleged coup attempt in 2016, Turkish government has been carrying out profound human rights violations against hundreds of thousands of people – from arbitrary deprivation of the right to work and to freedom of movement, to torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary detentions and infringements of the rights to freedom of association and expression.
The Erdogan government is disregarding the rights of its dissidents. More than 200 thousand people have been arbitrarily detained and over 80 thousand people have been arrested on terrorism charges. Furthermore, detainees are being exposed to severe torture and ill-treatment by the hands of State officials. More than 170,000 public officials have been dismissed since July 2016. Those dismissed from their jobs lost their income, social benefits, medical insurance and even their homes.
One of the most distressing acts of the Turkish authorities is incarceration of pregnant women and new mothers. Some are imprisoned with their children and others are cruelly separated from them. As of now, over 800 hundred children under the age of six are in jails across Turkey with their mothers, detained or arrested as part of the government crackdown on its dissidents.
Turkish government has been expanding its unlawful actions to the foreign land and overseas. Several abductions against perceived political opponents of President Erdogan’s administration have been conducted by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in violation of the international legal norms.
The erosion of rule of law and democracy in Turkey has been continuing at an alarming rate.
Donate Now
The Origins of the Problem
Turkey’s struggle to draw the country more in line with the pillars of the European Union faced a long and accelerating slide. The country’s Freedom in the World score has been in free fall since 2014 due to an escalating series of assaults on the press, social media users, protesters, political parties, the judiciary, and the electoral system, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan fought to impose personalized control over the state and society in a deteriorating domestic and regional security environment.
Advocates of Silenced Turkey is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit registered in US under EIN: 83-1568246
AST is a GuideStar Platinum member.
Advocates of Silenced Turkey participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program to earn commissions by linking to Amazon. In other words, this means that whenever you buy something on Amazon from a link on here, we receive a small percentage of its price.
