RIGHTS - Bianet

RIGHTS

Page 161

Former Intelligence Chief Detained Within Hrant Dink Case

Former Intelligence Chief Detained Within Hrant Dink Case

Ramazan Akyürek, former Chamber of Intelligence Chairman, has been detained in Ankara within the murder investigation of Hrant Dink - murdered editor-in-chief of Agos newspaper.

26 February 2015

Journalist Charged With Prison For Defense With Acrostic

Journalist Charged With Prison For Defense With Acrostic

BirGün newspaper editor-in-chief Barış İnce has been charged with 4 years and 8 months of prison for insulting pthe president of Turkey when he defended himself with an acrostic.

24 February 2015 Elif Akgül

Turkey’s First Official Struma Disaster Commemoration

Turkey’s First Official Struma Disaster Commemoration

A state-level commemoration has been held for the 768 Jewish victims of Struma Disaster, in which 768 Jews died in the Black Sea while trying to escaping the Holocaust.

24 February 2015 Nilay Vardar

Journey of a Romani From Tent to Parliament

Journey of a Romani From Tent to Parliament

Born in a tent in Roma neighborhood and obtained a university degree, Özcan Purçu is now a pre-candidate for Republican People’s Party. He shared his life story and future projects to bianet.

24 February 2015 Nilay Vardar

Penalty against Actor for “Insulting Erdoğan”

Penalty against Actor for “Insulting Erdoğan”

Haldun Açıksözlü, sued allegedly for “insulting” of former Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan while acting as the character “Laz marks”, was taken into custody. After paying definitive monetary fine, Açıksözlü has been released.

20 February 2015

Turkey Ranks #3 in Violations Against Musicians’ Rights

Turkey Ranks #3 in Violations Against Musicians’ Rights

Freemuse monitored and documented violations of freedom of expression for musicians on www.freemuse.org in 2014.

19 February 2015

Bastinado Torture Allegations at Police Station in Istanbul

Bastinado Torture Allegations at Police Station in Istanbul

Eser Çelik (18) submitted a complaint to the prosecutor’s office, saying that he had been tortured by bastinado an a police station in Istanbul.

18 February 2015 Ayça Söylemez

Advocates Protest Homeland Security Reforms

Advocates Protest Homeland Security Reforms

Thousands of advocates assembled outside the courthouse in Ankara and marched towards Turkey’s Parliament to protest the homeland security act draft.

16 February 2015

“Insulting the President” Arrests Continue in Kocaeli

“Insulting the President” Arrests Continue in Kocaeli

Following the arrest of three individuals for “insulting the president”, police raided the apartment of United June Movement activist Buğra Aydoğan affiliated with Freedom and Solidarity Party for similar charges. Later on, he was arrested.

16 February 2015 Ayça Söylemez

Teachers, Students Boycott Classes For Education Reform

Teachers, Students Boycott Classes For Education Reform

A countrywide boycott by the appeal of Eğitim-Sen educators union and Alevi organizations has been launched as of this morning to urge authorities to remove compulsory religion classes and education in mother tongue.

13 February 2015

Kurdish Delegation Heads to Qandil Mountain

Kurdish Delegation Heads to Qandil Mountain

Following a visit to Vice PM Yalçın Akdoğan, the delegation on the resolution of Kurdish problem in Turkey headed over to Qandil Montain in Northern Iraq - the headquarters of PKK.

13 February 2015

Activist “Proportionally” Arrested For Insulting the President

Activist “Proportionally” Arrested For Insulting the President

Freedom and Solidarity Party’s (ÖDP) Izmir Provincial board member and United June Movement Izmir coordination member Onur Kılıç has been arrested for insulting the president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

13 February 2015 Ayça Söylemez

Pepper Spray Forcer Police Supervisor Dismissed

Pepper Spray Forcer Police Supervisor Dismissed

Antep Governor’s Office released a statement saying that they have dismissed the police supervisor who forced his subordinate to spray pepper gas towards local business owners - an event documented with a footage.

13 February 2015

Gendarmerie Admits Killing, Disappearance

Gendarmerie Admits Killing, Disappearance

“If the funerals are not returned to their families or officials, it means that their disappearance is admitted,” advocate Turan Ece told bianet regarding the case of a mass grave belonging to 27 PKK guerrillas from 1998.

13 February 2015 Ayça Söylemez

Activist Detained With Raid For Insulting the President

Activist Detained With Raid For Insulting the President

Freedom and Solidarity Party’s (ÖDP) Izmir Provincial board member and United June Movement Izmir coordination member Onur Kılıç have been detained by anti-terror teams for charges related to “insulting the president”.

12 February 2015 Ayça Söylemez

Sick Inmate Çelik Dies in Hospital

Sick Inmate Çelik Dies in Hospital

Abdulsamet Çelik, a sick inmate who has served 21 years of prison sentence and been released due to his grave condition, lost his life in the western province of Izmir.

12 February 2015

Assyrian Village Name Returned For 1st Time in Turkey

Assyrian Village Name Returned For 1st Time in Turkey

The name of Alagöz neighborhood in the southeastern district of Midyat has been changed back to Bethkustan - a first time that an Assyrian village name has been returned.

12 February 2015 Nilay Vardar

Advocates Protest Homeland Security Act With Night-Watch

Advocates Protest Homeland Security Act With Night-Watch

Advocates affiliated with Istanbul Bar Association held a night-long “justice watch” in Istanbul Courthouse against Turkey’s homeland security act draft.

11 February 2015

Conscientious Objector Receives 15 Months of Prison

Conscientious Objector Receives 15 Months of Prison

Mehmet Tarhan, a conscientious objector from Turkey, received 15 months of prison and 9,000 liras fine despite related ECHR rulings.

11 February 2015

Special “Homeland Security Regulations” For Prisons

Special “Homeland Security Regulations” For Prisons

While the draft of the new homeland security act has been postponed for discussions at the parliament, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey warned on some of its practices for prisons.

10 February 2015 Ayça Söylemez

Fine Ferhat Tunç’s Concert Speech Convicted by ECHR

Fine Ferhat Tunç’s Concert Speech Convicted by ECHR

The European Court of Human Rights convicted Turkey of violating freedom of speech in the case of Ferhat Tunç, a singer who was ordered to pay a fine for having a dissident speech during a concert.

10 February 2015 Erol Önderoğlu

Turkey Submits 2,642 Censor Requests, Twitter Complies 1,820

Turkey Submits 2,642 Censor Requests, Twitter Complies 1,820

Previously taken back, Twitter now released its transparency report on Turkey again. According to the report, Turkey still tops the list worldwide with most requests to censor tweets.

10 February 2015 Elif Akgül

Struggle in Prison to Keep Colored Pencils, Sharpeners

Struggle in Prison to Keep Colored Pencils, Sharpeners

Taner Korkmaz, an inmate jailed in a high security prison, requested the return of his colored pencils as the prison administration banned the usage of colored pencils and pencil sharpeners for security reasons.

10 February 2015 Ayça Söylemez

Roma Sports Club Struggles With Bidding, Training Space

Roma Sports Club Struggles With Bidding, Training Space

Romanspor, a sports club founded for children and youth with Roma background in the northwestern province of Bursa, is facing problems with pitch lease according to its president.

9 February 2015 Nilay Vardar

How to Read Turkey’s New Internet Law

How to Read Turkey’s New Internet Law

Kerem Altıparmak from Ankara University Law Faculty explained in detailed on how Turkey’s new internet law will affect users. According to him, it will be possible to shut down twitter entirely despite previous ruling by Constitutional Court.

6 February 2015 Elif Akgül

“Perinçek’s Discriminative Discourse Affects Turkey’s Armenians”

“Perinçek’s Discriminative Discourse Affects Turkey’s Armenians”

Murat Çelikkan from Truth Justice Memory Center claimed bianet that the real reason behind Perinçek’s conviction by Swiss Courts was not denying the “genocide” but his discriminative discourse.

5 February 2015 Elif Akgül

Call to World Leaders: Go to Yeravan, Not to Gallipoli

Call to World Leaders: Go to Yeravan, Not to Gallipoli

5 NGOs urged world leaders “not to accept President Erdoğan’s invitation to Gallipoli on the 100th Anniversary of Armenian Genocide but to visit Yerevan instead”.

5 February 2015 Begüm Yalçınkaya,Aslı Sayat

“Gezi Souvenir Photo” Not A Crime, Court Rules

“Gezi Souvenir Photo” Not A Crime, Court Rules

Yeşinil Yeşilyurt, an advocate, acquitted from charges related to “praising crime and criminals” when she had a souvenir photo during Turkey's Gezi Resistance in 2013.

3 February 2015 Ayça Söylemez

ECHR Finds Kurdish Newspaper Right After 10 Years

ECHR Finds Kurdish Newspaper Right After 10 Years

The European Court of Human Rights ordered Turkey to pay 3,333 euros in the case of Bayar and Gürbüz in which Turkey convicted former owner and editor of the daily newspaper Ülkede Özgür Gündem for publishing statements by a PKK leader.

3 February 2015

Bill Aims to Avoid Ambiguity on Statute of Limitations

Bill Aims to Avoid Ambiguity on Statute of Limitations

HDP Şırnak deputy Kaplan submitted a bill proposal to remove the statute of limitation for “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” charges.

2 February 2015

IHD: 3,840 Detentions, 669 Arrests in Kurdish Cities

IHD: 3,840 Detentions, 669 Arrests in Kurdish Cities

Turkey’s Human Right Association Diyarbakır Province Branch released an annual report on the human right violations in the southeastern Kurdish cities, saying that at least 3,840 were detained and 669 were arrested in 2014.

30 January 2015

“Will PM Davutoğlu Apologize For Manipulating Public Opinion?"

“Will PM Davutoğlu Apologize For Manipulating Public Opinion?"

HDP Şırnak deputy Faysal Sarıyıldız submitted an official inquiry to PM Ahmet Davutoğlu regarding the killing of 12 year old Nihat Kazanhan - an incident claimed to be premeditated by policemen.

30 January 2015