RIGHTS - Bianet

RIGHTS

Page 161

Long Term Inmates Apply For Suspension After Sledgehammer Ruling

Long Term Inmates Apply For Suspension After Sledgehammer Ruling

Hasan Polat and Sami Özbil, two inmates who have been jailed for 23 and 16 years respectively despite ECHR verdict on “lack of fair trial”, have applied for their suspension of arrest term, saying that the recent Sledgehammer ruling on retrial must set example.

No Therapy But Torture in Turkey's Sanatoriums

No Therapy But Torture in Turkey's Sanatoriums

Having visited sanatoriums in Turkey for two years, RUHISAK reported the violation of rights. The only solution for fixing these places is to change the mentality which does not see the patients as individuals.

27 June 2014 Çiçek Tahaoğlu

ECHR: Kumkapı Removal Centre Is “Inhumane”

ECHR: Kumkapı Removal Centre Is “Inhumane”

ECHR found Turkey guilty of violating the “ban of torture and ill-treatment” in the case of Zalim Yarashonen, a Russian citizen who had been kept in Kumkapı Removal Centre in Istanbul for six months.

27 June 2014 Ayça Söylemez

TİHV, İHD: 5,848 Subjected to Police Violence

TİHV, İHD: 5,848 Subjected to Police Violence

Human Rights Association (IHD) and Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) issued a joint press release at IHD Istanbul Headquarters on 26 June - the International Day in support of Victims of Torture.

27 June 2014 Pınar Ağabeyoğlu

Human Rights Activists Arrive in Ankara For Sick Inmates

Human Rights Activists Arrive in Ankara For Sick Inmates

Members of Human Rights Association will march to Turkey’s Parliament and meet authorities today to demand the liberation of sick prisoners.

4 Released in KCK Case Including Journalist

4 Released in KCK Case Including Journalist

Siirt 1st High Criminal Court released 4 defendants within KCK case including Abdullah Çetin, a report from DIHA.

Constitutional Court: Öcalan's Right Was Violated

Constitutional Court: Öcalan's Right Was Violated

Constitutional Court ruled that Öcalan's right was violated when his book was seized and burnt in the process of publishing.

“Yıldırım Verdict Must Pave the Way For KCK Defendants”

“Yıldırım Verdict Must Pave the Way For KCK Defendants”

bianet interviewed HDP Assembly member Meral Danış Beştaş on the retrial order of Aziz Yıldırım due to the closure of Turkey’s Special-Duty Courts. She said the same should apply for KCK defendants.

25 June 2014 Ekin Karaca

Activists to Walk to Ankara For Sick Inmates

Activists to Walk to Ankara For Sick Inmates

Members of Human Rights Association Istanbul Branch Prison Commission will start a march to Ankara in order to raise awareness on sick inmates and urge for their immediate release.

“Punishing Two Generals Doesn’t Confront Us with Military Coup”

“Punishing Two Generals Doesn’t Confront Us with Military Coup”

Of his 60-year long life, Tahir Canan spent 32 years in prison and witnessed the most serious aspects of September 12, Turkey’s 3rd military coup in 1980. bianet interviewed Canan on the life sentence rulings on two generals Evren and Şahinkaya.

20 June 2014 Ekin Karaca

Constitutional Court Finds “Right Violation” For Hanefi Avcı

Constitutional Court Finds “Right Violation” For Hanefi Avcı

Turkey’s Constitutional Court responded to the individual complaint of Hanefi Avcı, a former police commissioner currently jailed within Devrimci Karargah case, ruling that his long arrest and trial periods committed a violation.

Former Generals Sentenced to Life For 1980 Military Coup

Former Generals Sentenced to Life For 1980 Military Coup

Ankara 10th High Criminal Court convicted former general Kenan Evren and Tahsin Şahinkaya to life for their involvement in the 1980 Military Coup. The verdict was issued after the opinion of the prosecutor.

Commemoration for Berkin Elvan in Okmeydanı

Commemoration for Berkin Elvan in Okmeydanı

A commemoration was held in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood for the first injury anniversary of Berkin Elvan, a 15 year old boy who was died after a comatose of 269 days due to a police gas bomb canister.

İbrahim Aras, a 15 y.o. Protestor, Dies in Adana

İbrahim Aras, a 15 y.o. Protestor, Dies in Adana

According to eyewitnesses, İbrahim Aras, 15, died last night after hitting his head due to an object fired by a police tank during a protest in the southern district of Seyhan.

One Suspect Arrested For Taking Down Flag

One Suspect Arrested For Taking Down Flag

A court arrested an alleged collaborator in the investigation into the demonstrator that took down Turkey’s flag in Diyarbakır 2nd Air Force Command.

A Guerrilla Speaks Up: Mountains and Childhood

A Guerrilla Speaks Up: Mountains and Childhood

What deceives children is the course of this society, in my opinion. It is the state itself, which provides neither a future, nor the space for freedom or democracy, that deceives.

11 June 2014 Ruken Şahan

Cemevi Shooting in Antep

Cemevi Shooting in Antep

A motorcycled assailant opened fire on the crowd attending a funeral service in a cemevi in Antep province. Three were injured in the event.

Flag Take-Down Demonstrations, Attacks

Flag Take-Down Demonstrations, Attacks

While the taking down of the flag in Diyarbakır led to demonstrations in the name of respecting the flag in certain provinces, the reaction to the flag in certain places turned into an attack against Kurds.

Two Dismissed After Flag Take Down

Two Dismissed After Flag Take Down

Ministry of Internal Affairs, Turkish Air Force Command and Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office have launched an investigation regarding the incident of taking down of Turkish flag within the military bsse of Diyarbakır 2nd Air Force Command. Two security officers were dismissed.

What It Takes to Be Penniless in Prison

What It Takes to Be Penniless in Prison

“In here, they don’t provide anything to us, neither water nor soap, toothpaste or sugar… just tea is free...I used the same sheet for 27 months…Now, I don’t even have an underwear, just two rapped t-shirts and pants… Believe me, we feel the absence of everything..”

10 June 2014 Ayça Söylemez

“641 Sick Prisoners Are Still Jailed”

“641 Sick Prisoners Are Still Jailed”

Struggle Platform Against Isolation released a statement, saying that as of June, there are 641 sick prisoners across Turkey’s prisons with 233 in serious condition.

9 June 2014 Beyza Kural

Attack on High Security Checkpoint Protest in Lice, Two Dead

Attack on High Security Checkpoint Protest in Lice, Two Dead

Soldiers attacked the protests in Lice against the construction of police stations and high security police checkpoints. Two Lice residents, Ramazan Baran (24) and Baki Akdemir (50) were killed. Two people were injured, one of them female. The funerals of the deceased were held yesterday.

New Ruling in Dink Murder: Related State Officials Must Face Trial

New Ruling in Dink Murder: Related State Officials Must Face Trial

The responsibility of state officials in the Dink murder was not carried to court despite the ECHR verdict and the reform on Code on Criminal Procedure. Bakırköy 8th High Criminal Court made a ruling opening the way to this investigation.

6 June 2014 Erol Önderoğlu

“Children Aren’t Being Taken To The Mountains; They Go There”

“Children Aren’t Being Taken To The Mountains; They Go There”

bianet talked with Human Rights Foundation (İHD) Chairman Öztürk Türkdoğan about the recent “child guerrillas” debate sparked by the protest of around 80 families in Diyarbakır whose children have joined the PKK.

4 June 2014 Ekin Karaca

YouTube At Last!

YouTube At Last!

Turkey lifted its YouTube ban dated March 27 following the Constitutional Court’s decision on May 29 stating, “The access ban on Youtube is a rights violation.”

Our New Paramilitaries: Trust Teams

Our New Paramilitaries: Trust Teams

I saw the people called “Trust Teams”, whom one doesn’t even recognize to be police officers, for the first time at a social event. They put on their show in the first year commemorations of the Gezi Resistance through swearing, violence and shouting.

2 June 2014 Ekin Karaca

Gezi Anniversary Protests: 126 Detained, 13 Wounded

Gezi Anniversary Protests: 126 Detained, 13 Wounded

Istanbul’s Gezi Anniversary Protests on Saturday left 126 demonstrators detained and 13 wounded. “İstanbul looks better thanks to peace and security,” Istanbul Provincial Police Chief Altınok said during his visit to the police in Taksim.

Gendarmerie Intervention on Diyarbakır-Lice Road

Gendarmerie Intervention on Diyarbakır-Lice Road

Armed forces together with special units staged an operation against PKK’s youth organization YDG-H, due to their blocking the Diyarbakır-Lice road for the past week in protest of the construction of police stations and high-security police bases at the borders of the country.

Constitutional Court: YouTube Ban is a "Right Violation"

Constitutional Court: YouTube Ban is a "Right Violation"

Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled that the ban on YouTube imposed by TIB authorities was a "right violation".

Popular Twitter User Receives 15 Months of Prison

Popular Twitter User Receives 15 Months of Prison

E. P., the owner of popular twitter user "Allah CC”, has been convicted to 15 months of prison for “overtly humiliating religious values accepted by a faction of the society”.

“I Want My Son and I Want Peace”

“I Want My Son and I Want Peace”

“When the funerals don’t come in, people think there’s peace. But mothers are still crying here. We want our children back, and we want peace,” Selami Erden, father of Fırat Aydın Eren who joined the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) at age 15 told bianet.

28 May 2014 Nilay Vardar

PKK Kidnaps Chief Sergeant in Mardin

PKK Kidnaps Chief Sergeant in Mardin

PKK guerrillas kidnapped a chief army sergeant traveling from Mardin to Erzurum after blocking a highway between eastern provinces of Diyarbakır and Bingöl last night.