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subjected to reporting requirements. Only a
tiny minority of them were accused of taking
part in the actual events of the attempted
coup. The judiciary, itself decimated by the
dismissal or detention of up to a third of
Turkey’s judges and prosecutors, remained
under extreme political pressure. Arbitrary,
lengthy and punitive pre-trial detention and
fair trial violations continued routinely.
Armed clashes continued between the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and state
security forces. Turkish armed forces also
carried out military operations against armed
groups within Syria and Iraq; in September,
the mandate to do so for another year was
approved by Parliament.
In April, constitutional amendments
granting extensive powers to the office of
President were passed by referendum.
Opponents of the proposed amendments had
complained that they had vastly less access
to state media and were prevented from
demonstrating their opposition in public. The
authorities dismissed allegations of
irregularities in the counting of votes.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Civil society representatives, as well as the
general population, widely practised self-
censorship, deleting social media posts and
refraining from making public comments for
fear of dismissal from their jobs, closure of
their organizations or criminal prosecution.
Thousands of criminal prosecutions were
brought, including under laws prohibiting
defamation and on trumped-up terrorism-
related charges, based on peoples’ peaceful
exercise of their right to freedom of
expression. Arbitrary and punitive lengthy
pre-trial detention was routinely imposed.
Confidential details of investigations were
frequently leaked to government-linked
media and splashed across the front pages of
newspapers, while government spokespeople
made prejudicial statements regarding cases
under investigation. Prosecutions of
journalists and political activists continued,
and prosecutions of human rights defenders
sharply increased. International journalists
and media were also targeted.
Criticism of the government in the broadcast
and print media largely disappeared, with
dissent mainly confined to internet-based
media. The government continued to use
administrative blocking orders, against which
there was no effective appeal, routinely, to
censor internet content. In April, the Turkish
authorities blocked all access to the online
encyclopedia Wikipedia due to a page that
cited news reports alleging links between the
Turkish government and several armed
groups in Syria. Wikipedia refused to edit the
page. The website remained blocked at the
end of the year.
JOURNALISTS
Among the more than 100 journalists and
media workers in pre-trial detention at the
end of the year, three were from the secular
opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet; during the
course of the year eight of their colleagues
who had been in pre-trial detention were
released pending the outcome of their trial.
Journalists from media outlets closed by state
of emergency decrees continued to face
prosecution, conviction and imprisonment.
Former Taraf editor Ahmet Altan and his
brother Mehmet Altan remained in pre-trial
detention following their detention in
September 2016 on grounds of membership
of the Gülen movement, as did 34 media
workers who worked for Zaman group
newspapers. Zehra Doğan, a journalist for the
Kurdish women’s Jinha news agency, was
imprisoned in June following her conviction
and sentencing to two years, nine months
and 22 days for terrorist propaganda. İnan
Kızılkaya, editor of the Kurdish Özgür
Gündem newspaper, was released in October
after 440 days in pre-trial detention pending
the outcome of his trial for membership of
the PKK.
Deniz Yücel, correspondent for the German
Die Welt newspaper, was arrested in February
and at the end of the year was still in
detention without being indicted, much of it
in solitary confinement. Wall Street Journal
journalist Ayla Albayrak was convicted of
terrorist propaganda and in October was
given a prison sentence of two years and one
month for a 2015 article about armed
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clashes between state forces and PKK-
affiliated youths.
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
In July, police raided a human rights
workshop on Büyükada Island near Istanbul,
detaining all 10 human rights defenders
present, including two foreign nationals.
Eight, including Amnesty International Turkey
Director İdil Eser, were held in pre-trial
detention until a trial under trumped-up
charges for “membership of a terrorist
organization” based on their work as human
rights defenders began in October. The court
also decided to join the prosecution of Taner
Kılıç, Chair of Amnesty International Turkey.
Detained in June, Taner Kılıç stood accused
of “membership of FETÖ” on the grounds
that he had downloaded onto his phone the
ByLock messaging application, said by the
authorities to be used for the group’s
communications. Despite two independent
forensic reports showing that he had not
downloaded the application, and without
credible evidence being presented by the
prosecution, he remained in pre-trial
detention at the end of the year.
In August, veteran human rights defender
Murat Çelikkan was imprisoned following his
conviction for terrorist propaganda; this
related to the 2016 solidarity action with the
now closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. He
was released on parole in October after
serving two months of an 18-month prison
sentence. A further 16 activists received
suspended sentences for taking part in the
action, while prosecutions were continuing
against 18.
In October, civil society leader Osman
Kavala was detained and accused of
“attempting to overthrow the constitutional
order” in connection with the 2016 coup
attempt. At the end of the year, he was still in
pre-trial detention without being indicted.
In November, Raci Bilici, Deputy Chair of
the national Human Rights Association (İHD)
and Chair of its Diyarbakır branch, went on
trial accused of membership of a terrorist
organization. More than 20 other İHD officials
were being prosecuted for alleged terrorism-
related offences.
Five representatives of the Progressive
Lawyers Association (ÇHD), which took on
human rights cases and was closed by
emergency decree in 2016, were remanded
in pre-trial detention following police
operations across the country. They had been
accused of offences linked to the PKK or the
Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party–Front
(DHKP-C), an armed group. In November,
Selçuk Kozağaçlı, ÇHD’s national Chair, was
detained. He remained in pre-trial detention
at the end of the year.
ACTIVISTS
Activists were targeted for their criticism of
the authorities. Nuriye Gülmen and Semih
Özakça were detained in May and remanded
in custody on the basis of court orders citing
their peaceful protests; they had been on
hunger strike since March in protest against
their arbitrary dismissal by a state of
emergency decree. Semih Özakça was
released in October, but Nuriye Gülmen
remained in detention until December when
she was convicted of membership of the
DHKP-C, pending the outcome of an appeal.
Semih Özakça was acquitted of the same
charge. Police routinely detained protesters
demanding their release.
Over 70 Academics for Peace were indicted
for making PKK propaganda following their
January 2016 petition calling for an end to
military operations in the southeast of Turkey.
The first trials began in December.
Activist Barbaros Şansal was remanded in
custody in January following posts he had
made on social media criticizing the
government. He was convicted in June of
“denigrating the Turkish Nation” under
Article 301 of the Penal Code and given a
suspended sentence of six months and 20
days.
FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
Public demonstrations dwindled as provincial
governors imposed arbitrary and blanket
bans, citing powers under the state of
emergency, and police used excessive force
against the small number of individuals who
demonstrated despite the risks. The “Justice
March” led by the main opposition