1- VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO LIFE: (Turkish Constitution art.15 / 2, 17/1, ECHR art.2, UDHR art.3, ICCPR art.6,CFR art.2)
20 OCTOBER 2020; Battered and killed in prison
It is alleged that Serkan Tumay, who was detained in the F-Type Prison in Kırıkkale, was battered and killed by the prison guards. Tumay had been in prison for 6 years. Upon Tumay’s death onSaturdaynight, the prison administration called his family on Sunday, 18 October 2020, and said, “Come and take your funeral.” When Tumay’s family received hisdead body, they noticed the traces of beatings on it.
His family had previously made official complaints to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office of Manisa for six timesabout the Prison Administration with respect to battery and torture. However, the Prosecutor’s Office replied only by saying that “we’ll take care of it” and never did so.According to Serkan’s brother,Hakan Tumay, Serkantold him during their phone calls: “I have no life safety here”. Furthermore, in their last visit, another prisoner from the same ward with Serkan said to Hakan Tumay thatthey beat his brother in prison.
After his family madea complaint to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office of Manisa, Tumay was taken to the hospital, and upon his return, he was placed in solitary confinement.His family said that Serkan’s voice sounded good in their last conversation; however, shortly after he was placed in solitary confinement, the family was informed of his death, which was later recorded as a forensic death. The family seeks to find those who are responsible of Serkan’s death and hold themaccountable. After Serkan Tumay’s death, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office of Manisa launched an investigation into the incident.
2- VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO LIBERTY AND SECURITY: (Turkish Constitution art.19, ECHR art.5, UDHR art.3)
21 OCTOBER 2020; People,who helped dismissed public servants find a job, were arrested
23 people, who helped dismissed public servants find a job, were arrestedas part of the police operations, based in Antalya,conducted against the Hizmet Movement in 7 different cities. This situation demonstrates that operationscarried out against theHizmet Movement since 15 July 2016has had the purpose of abandoning the people in contact with this Movement to a social death.
20 OCTOBER 2020; Members of the musical band “Grup Yorum” were detained again
Police conducted a raid in theIdil Cultural Center at around 12:00 pm on 14 October 2020. As a result, 5 members of Grup Yorum, a musical group in Turkey, were detained. Two of them had just been released two weeks ago. During the search of the Center, police used aggressive methods such as destroyingmusical instruments in the Center and throwing books on the ground. And the existing 4-day detention period was extended to 8 days.
3- VIOLATION OF THE FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION (ECHR art.11, Turkish Constitution art.34)
17 OCTOBER 2020; Coal miners from Somawere taken intocustody
Coal miners from Soma had been holding sit-in to claim their rights. After 5 days, they started walking to Ankara, but when they arrived to the border of Salihli district, the gendarmerie took them into custody and brought them to the District Gendarmerie Command of Salihli in order to take their statements. 31 coal miners were released after their statements were taken for 7 hours.According to the coal miners, these events appear to be an act of intimidation and suppression.
4- VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO ENVIRONMENT (Turkish Constitution Art.56, ECHR Art.2 and 8 (including case law), UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD))
18 OCTOBER 2020; Fire investigation was rejected by votes of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)
AKP and MHP rejected the parliamentary question about the investigation of a fire,which started in Belen district of Hatay andcaused the burning of 350 hectares of forest land.On social media, there were some allegations saying that the fire had been started by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
A PKK-affiliated group called “the Initiative of Children of the Fire”claimed responsibility for the forest fire. According to the report of the Iskenderun Branch of the Human Rights Association,the response to the fire was late and thousands of hectares of forest landhave beendestroyed.According to the examination of the commission, damage was actually greater than what was provided by the official data. However, the parliamentary question on fire investigation was rejected despite all of the inconsistent information.
5- VIOLATION OF THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: (Turkish Constitution art.25 and 26, ECHR art.10, UDHR art.19)
19 OCTOBER 2020; The Governor of Denizli shut down the workplace of a tradesmenwho did not pay attention tohim
The Governor of Denizli, Ali Fuat Atik,during his visit to a doner kebab shop, got angry with the kebab master because themasterdid not pay attention to him and continued doing his job. Atik gave an order to shut down the business on the pretext that the kebab master did not wear gloves.
It has been known that, according to the legislation, the doner kebab mastersare not required to wear gloves. The governor issued a public statement and apologized after receivingnegative reactions on social media. He said:”It also saddened me that my dialogue with an employee was hurtful due to the tiredness of the whole day.”
But this time, he was criticized for having too many spelling mistakes in his public statement. The fact that the officials in the governorship, who received salaries for this kind of works, published a text that includes full of spelling errorsmade people question the competence of theseofficials in the governorship.
19 OCTOBER 2020; The Quran was considered as evidence of a crime
An image was spread on social media showing that a Quran was seized as evidence of a crime. Many publishing houses had been shut down by decree laws in Turkey after failed coup attempt and the Qurans publishedbythem were also previously considered as evidence of crime during operations against Hizmet movement. However, reactions increased after some photos spread on social media. People expressed their reactions on social media by saying, “I saw it with my own eyes. The Holy Quran was considered as evidence of a crime during the AKP period”. Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, deputy of Kocaeli and human rights activist, submitted a parliamentary question to the Ministry of Justice on this issue.
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