Turkey

Region: Eurasia

Number of Trials: 8

Veysel Ok

Cansu Pişkin

Ahmet Tuna Altınel

OdaTV journalists

Diken journalists

Boğaziçi University Students

Osman Kavala

Hakan Aygün

In Turkey, TrialWatch is monitoring the misuse of anti-terrorism and other national-security laws to target journalists, lawyers, and government critics, including the expansive laws forbidding ‘propaganda for a terrorist organization’ and ‘membership in a terrorist organization.’

At the same time, TrialWatch is also monitoring how Turkey is cracking down on those standing up for the vulnerable, including the LGBTQ+ community.

A free-speech lawyer was convicted of insulting the judiciary for giving a newspaper interview in which he commented on the erosion of judicial independence in Turkey. The Fairness Report on the case assigned the trial a grade of ‘D,’ finding that “the judge effectively assumed the role of the prosecution” and that “[c]onvicting a professional lawyer in an unfair trial for his public criticism of problems in the judicial system constituted a violation of the right to freedom of expression.”

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A journalist was convicted of “making a public servant into a target for terrorist organizations” for publishing a prosecutor’s name in an article, despite the fact that his name had already been made public. At trial, which was monitored by CFJ’s partner the Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic, there was “no evidence presented to prove [intent] . . . [an] essential mental element of the offense.” The Fairness Report on the case assigned the trial a grade of ‘D,’ concluding that “the prosecution of the case must be seen as a politically-motivated response to her publication.

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A professor of mathematics was charged with ‘propaganda for a terrorist organization’ for social media posts inviting attendance at an event in France to discuss the Turkish military’s attack on the town of Cizre. While he was acquitted, the Fairness Report on the case gave the trial a grade of ‘C,’ finding that “the proceedings amounted to an abuse of the legal process.”

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Journalists from OdaTV were prosecuted for allegedly disclosing the name of an intelligence officer, in violation of Turkish intelligence law, despite the fact that the information had already been made public by others. A report on the case is forthcoming.

Journalists from the news portal Diken were prosecuted on charges of “aiding a terrorist organization without being its member” for covering tweets from the anonymous ‘Fuat Avni’ Twitter account. A report on the case is forthcoming.

TrialWatch is monitoring the proceedings against university students who have been charged with provoking “hatred or hostility in one section of the public against another section which has a different characteristic based on … religion” for a depiction of the Kaaba, a sacred Islamic site, with rainbow flags at its corners. The art was part of protest against President Erdoğan’s appointment of a new rector to the university.

TrialWatch is monitoring the renewed proceedings against human rights defender Osman Kavala, whose case has been the European Court of Human Rights numerous times, and who now faces a new trial for “attempting to overthrow the constitution by force and violence” and “espionage.”

Aygün was convicted of “inciting hatred and enmity” among the public and “insulting religious values” for a tweet that made a play on words based on the similarity between the Turkish words for “believe” and IBAN to criticize President Erdoğan’s fundraising campaign to fight COVID.