About four months ago, during an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, 15 girls under the age of 18 were detained and interrogated for hours. We heard from these girls that the police threatened them, saying, “You will be made to suffer!” During the May 7, 2024 operation, over 30 people, most of them university students, were detained, and 28 of them were arrested.
Recently, the prosecutor filed the case, and we had the opportunity to learn the accusations that were used as justification for making these children “suffer.” To be clear from the outset, just like in thousands of other cases, this indictment neither respects the law, nor rights, nor justice! Even more alarming is that we learned that middle and high school girls were interrogated without a lawyer, pressured into testifying against their parents and friends, and that these coerced statements were used as justification for the arrest of other individuals.
In the indictment, prepared against 41 people in total, including 37 women, we see that the prosecutor has labeled educational, social, and religious activities as “terrorist acts.” The prosecutor claims to have identified 116 actions, listing them one by one. When you look at these so-called actions, you see that university girls living in the same house, talking to each other, giving English lessons to middle and high school students, going to the mall with children, playing bowling together, or offering them guidance on religious matters are all being treated as “crimes,” and even more absurdly, as “terrorist crimes.”
Crimes Are Being Fabricated from Assumptions!
When you hear the term “terrorist crime,” you expect to find evidence of “violence or force,” which is essential to the definition of such a crime. However, in this indictment, you won’t find a shred of violence, not even an offensive word from these children. As you wade through the over 500-page indictment, all you find are prejudices, assumptions, illogical conclusions, and preconceived judgments.
If a group of people, even children, come together during a time when any member of their family is facing legal or administrative action, and they engage in activities similar to what millions of their peers do, that is labeled a “terrorist act” in Turkey.
If a mother wants her daughter to both have fun with her friends and learn about her faith, and receives voluntary support from people with similar worldviews, that mother is considered to be involved in “terrorist activities” in Turkey!
You Don’t Need to Commit a Crime to Be Labeled a “Terrorist!”
In summary, the indictment reveals that you don’t need to commit a crime, or engage in any act of violence or force, to be followed by the police for months, have all your movements recorded, your phones tapped, and be arrested. You could be forced to confess that either you, your friends, or your family members are criminals. If you refuse, you will be imprisoned for months, maybe years. You will be branded a “terrorist,” unable to continue your education, separated from your children, and your life will be turned upside down. Put more simply, based on the rationale of this indictment, anyone in Turkey can become the target of a terrorism accusation.
As I have tried to explain in previous articles, the use of terrorism accusations as a “weapon” and the vague and broad definition of anti-terrorism laws lead to violations of basic legal principles, as seen in the targeting of children. This reality, also emphasized in European Court of Human Rights rulings, once again, but in an even more painful way, demonstrates that Turkey’s anti-terror laws are unpredictable and open the door to arbitrary enforcement. The principles of legality and certainty in criminal law require that the actions constituting a crime be clearly defined in advance. However, as seen in the May 7 operation, educational, social, and religious activities are being labeled as terrorist crimes, and innocent people are being victimized.
As a country, whether from the government, opposition, young or old, we need to find a solution to this situation. Because in a country where middle and high school girls playing bowling is considered a terrorist act, no one deserves to live. Let us not forget, if the error of using terrorism accusations as a “weapon” is not corrected, it doesn’t take a prophet to predict that one day anyone can easily become a target…
