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Amnesty International Report 2017/18

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 

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