FREEDOM CONVENTION 2020
GRAVE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TURKEY – DECEMBER 9-10
Turkey Freedom Forum is a unique convention for human rights activists, intellectuals, and policymakers 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 the 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.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS; (Alphabetical list of the speakers)
1- ABDULHAMIT BILICI
2- AHMET NESIN
3- ALON BEN-MEIR
4- ALP ASLANDOGAN
5- ARZU YILDIZ
6- BARBAROS SANSAL
7- BULENT CEYHAN
8- BULENT KENES
9- CENGIZ AKTAR
10- CRAIG SHAGIN
11- DAVID KILGOUR
12- EREN KESKIN
13- ESER KARAKAS
14- EUGENE CHUDNOVSKY
15- HAKAN YESILOVA
16- HILAL AKDENIZ
17- JAMES HARRINGTON
18- JOCELYNE CESARI
19- KATRINA LANTOS SWEET
20- KERIM BALCI
21- KISTEN GOVENDER
22- MEHMET EFE CAMAN
23- MICHAEL RUBIN
24- NATALI AVAZYAN
25- OMER FARUK GERGERLIOGLU
26- RABIA CHAUDRY
27- SOPHIA PANDYA
28- SUMEYYA AVCI
29- VONYA WOMACK
PANEL SESSIONS
1- FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION (December 9th, 10 AM – 12 PM)
- ABDULHAMIT BILICI
- AHMET NESIN
- ARZU YILDIZ
- EUGENE CHUDNOVSKY
- HAKAN YESILOVA
- OMER FARUK GERGERLIOGLU
In the aftermath of the failed coup, the government closed down 179 media outlets – including 53 newspapers, 37 radio stations, 34 TV channels, 29 publishing houses, 20 magazines, and six news agencies – with accused links to the Gulen movement, Kurdish opposition, or Leftists groups. Consequently, a total of 2,308 media workers and journalists have lost their jobs. The government canceled hundreds of press accreditations and revoked the passports of an unknown number of journalists and their family members to ban them from traveling abroad. In addition, the government imprisoned a record-breaking number of journalists in the wake of the coup attempt – with that, Turkey became the world’s largest prison for journalists. The Platform for Independent Journalism (P24) reported that at least 126 journalists and media workers were in prison in Turkey as of October 2019 – among them, many were put in long solitary confinement.
The absence of freedom of expression is not only a recurring problem for journalists but for citizens as well. In 2018, the Ministry of Interior reported that more than 7,000 individuals were detained for their social media posts after investigating 631,233 digital materials. In relation to the censorship and content restrictions in the country, Wikipedia has been blocked in Turkey since April of 2017. Currently, out of the 180 countries, Turkey ranks 157th on the Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders and are listed among ‘not free’ countries by the Freedom House.
2- COLLAPSE OF RULE OF LAW (December 9th, 1 PM – 3 PM)
- ALP ASLANDOGAN
- DAVID KILGOUR
- ESER KARAKAS
- JAMES HARRINGTON
- KISTEN GOVENDER
With approximately 4,200 judges and prosecutors (including two judges from Turkey’s highest court) dismissed permanently, over one-fifth of Turkey’s judiciary has been removed. Of those dismissed, at least 2,200 were jailed with their assets frozen. Consequently, the climate of fear paralyzed the judges and prosecutors who still have their positions. The fear combined with the heavy government influence in the court system led to the collapse of the judiciary system and the deterioration of human rights in the country. As a result, Turkey ranked 109 out of 126 countries in 2019 on the rule of law index of the World Justice Project.
3- SHIFT FROM DEMOCRATIZATION TOWARDS AUTHORITARIANISM IN TURKEY: THE RISE OF POLITICAL ISLAM ( December 10th, 10 AM – 12 PM)
- ALON BEN-MEIR
- BULENT KENES
- CENGIZ AKTAR
- JOCELYNE CESARI
- KATRINA LANTOS SWEET
- RABIA CHAUDRY
There is an emerging widespread consensus among scholars and journalists over the nature of the political regime in Turkey. One chief assumption rests at the center of countless diverse studies — Turkey is no longer a democracy and there is little space for free speech. Whether Turkey could be identified as a dictatorship still remains a matter of an ensuing academic controversy. The scholarly position oscillates between divergent viewpoints from “smart authoritarianism” to emerging fascism. The debate is not just about semantics or the epistemological dimension, it is about the essence and soul of the living system in Turkey.
4- POWER, POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND VIOLATIONS OF MINORITY RIGHTS (December 10th, 1 PM – 3 PM)
- BARBAROS SANSAL
- BULENT CEYHAN
- CRAIG SHAGIN
- KERIM BALCI
- MEHMET EFE CAMAN
- MICHAEL RUBIN
- SUMEYYA AVCI
The so-called coup attempt was a watershed moment in Turkey’s modern history. The government immediately declared a state of emergency and ruled the country with decrees, which had the full force of law, for two years. Although the emergency regime officially ended last summer, the measures taken by the government during the emergency rule remain in place after authorities enacted a new set of laws that made decrees permanent. The abortive coup provided President Erdogan and his party the much-needed pretext and unlimited latitude to embark on a massive purge to dismiss their real and perceived political opponents from public service. As one of the most obvious targets of government Kurdish people have been exposed to harsh violations. As indicated in the first OHCHR report,103 Decree 674 of 1 September 2016 permitted the Central Government to appoint “trustees” in lieu of elected mayors, deputy mayors, or members of municipal councils suspended on charges of terrorism.104 Since September 2016, 87 out of 105 mayors were imprisoned, including 35 women and 52 men. All are of Kurdish origin. Within the security operations taking place in areas home to, in large part, to Kurdish residents and targeted citizens of Kurdish origin of all ages for their perceived affiliation to the PKK, individuals have been killed, women have been sexually assaulted, and many acts of torture have been committed. Over 100,000 websites were reportedly blocked in 2017, including a high number of pro-Kurdish websites and satellite TVs.
5- WOMEN’S RIGHTS in TURKEY (December 10th, 4 PM – 6 PM)
- EREN KESKIN
- HILAL AKDENIZ
- NATALI AVAZYAN
- SOPHIA PANDYA
- VONYA WOMACK
The prison conditions for women and children are exceedingly alarming. According to the Justice Ministry, as of 2017, nearly 10,000 women and 3,000 children under 18 are in Turkey’s prisons. The inhumane prison conditions also hold weight in women’s prisons. They face additional issues of the male security staff frequently obstructing their privacy during hospital visits, oftentimes leading to an incomplete examination. Among the prisoners, there are pregnant women or women who just gave birth and 677 children under 6 years old imprisoned along with their mothers – including 149 infants under 1-year-old. Pregnant women were forced to stay with other inmates in overcrowded cells, also denied access to proper prenatal care – posing serious risks to their well-being.
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