‘Urge the Government of Turkey to release arrested women’s rights defenders immediately’

* Photo: Social media (Narin Gezgör & Adalet Kaya)

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The constituents of the Solidarity Network of Human Rights Defenders – Turkey have addressed a joint letter to the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteurs for the arrested members of the Rosa Women's Association based in Turkey's Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır province.

Click here to read the full letter

"We are writing to express our grave concern regarding the unlawful and arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of women's human rights defenders," the letter has read and noted that it is the "latest of a series of actions taken by the Turkish State to unlawfully restrict the freedom of expression of human rights defenders, including women's rights groups."

Sharing background information about how the women were arrested, the letter has said, "This harassment and arbitrary detention of women's rights defenders takes place against a background of repressive measures against civil society, as well as a deteriorating rule of law.

"The independence and impartiality of the judiciary has been substantially undermined by legislative and constitutional amendments (both pre-coup and post-coup), which have increased executive influence over the judiciary.

"The judiciary now lacks capacity to ensure a robust system of justice and uphold rule of law, especially with reference to remedies for human rights violations by state actors flowing from state of emergency measures."

7 requests by human rights defenders

Within this context, the joint letter of the Solidarity Network of the Human Rights Defenders has made seven requests from the UN Rapporteurs:

"We request the Special Rapporteurs urge the Turkish Government to facilitate the immediate release of Adalet Kaya, Narin Gezgör, Fatma Gültekin, Gülcihan Şimşek, Özlem Gündüz, Remziye Sızıcı, Sevim Coşkun, as well as the four politicians, Mehmet Ali Altınkaynak, Mehmet Arslan, Celal Yoldaş and Veysi Kuzubla, arrested in connection with the investigation to end their arbitrary and unlawful imprisonment and pre-trial detention.

"We further request the Special Rapporteurs urge the Turkish Government to stop all forms of harassment, including the judicial harassment, against these individuals as well as against other women's human rights defenders, and allow the enjoyment of their right of freedom of expression and association within civil society in the advocacy of women's rights without fear of intimidation or improper interference.

"We request the Special Rapporteurs urge the Turkish Government to take the necessary actions to ensure the return of the possessions taken from those arrested and records seized from the office of the Rosa Women's Association in the Kayapinar district of Diyarbakir.

"We further request the Special Rapporteurs urge the Turkish Government to make its anti-terrorism legislation compliant with international human rights standards and to stop prosecuting the expression of critical opinions and right to assembly.

"We request the Special Rapporteurs urge the Turkish Government to fully implement its obligations in the promotion and protection of women's rights and the prevention of violence against women under the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

"We also request the Special Rapporteurs urge the Turkish Government to respect and fully implement all other international and European instruments ratified and supported by Turkey, including the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the European Convention on Human Rights.

"We request the Special Rapporteurs to intervene in these grave matters and raise all of these issues, as a matter of priority, with the Turkish Government and to communicate the concerns outlined in relation to the violation of the right to freedom of expression, assembly and the right to liberty.

What happened?

As part of an investigation conducted by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Democratic Regions Party (DBP) politicians as well as Rosa Women's Association members and Free Women Movement (TJA) activists were taken into custody in house raids in early morning hours on May 22, 2020.

While the trustee protests, statements, death fasts and protests against the isolation of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan were cited as the reason for the detention of 18 people, the mobile phones, books, CDs and laptops were depicted as criminal evidence.

The following people were detained as part of the operation: Rosa Women's Association founding member Narin Gezgör; Rosa Women's Association founding member and former HDP MP Ayla Akat Ata, Rosa Women's Association Chair Adalet Kaya, TJA activist Zelal Bilgin, DBP former Co-Chairs Mehmet Arslan and Gülcihan Şimşek, HDP Central Executive Committee member Özlem Gündüz, HDP Yenişehir District Co-Chairs Remziye Sızıcı and Kasım Kaya, HDP member Mehmet Ali Altınkaynak, DBP Party Assembly member Celal Yoldaş, Bağlar Municipal Council members Hüseyin Harman, Veysi Kuzu and Gönül Aslan, Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipal Council member Sevim Coşkun, Diyarbakır Peace Mothers Assembly member Havva Kıran, Yenişehir Municipal Council member Nevriye Çır and and Nazile Tursun.

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), referred to the Penal Judgeship of Peace on Duty to be arrested following their interrogation at the prosecutor's office, 12 people have been arrested for "membership of a terrorist organization" while six people, including former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Ayla Akat Ata, have been released on probation.

Arrested together with his three-year-old son Dilgeş, activist Gönül Aslan was released from prison on June 9 upon the objection of her attorney. (EMK/SD)