Ensar Nur/TR724
Solidarity With OTHERS brought the girls’ case in Turkey to the agenda at the ‘Human Dimension Conference’ organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Warsaw, Poland, attended by high-level bureaucrats from member states.
Coşkun Yorulmaz, a representative of Solidarity With OTHERS who attended the conference, spoke about the legal injustices in Turkey.
Yorulmaz mentioned the unjust detentions of thousands of people and the girls’ case trial held between September 23-27. He called on international organizations and human rights groups to follow the trials scheduled for December.
Here is the full speech of Coşkun Yorulmaz:
“According to the Turkish government’s figures, as of July this year, more than 700,000 people have been investigated under the country’s anti-terrorism legislation. More than 300,000 people have been detained by police, and at least 100,000 have been imprisoned.
Furthermore, between 2015 and 2021, more than 15,000 children under the age of 18 were tried for terrorism-related offenses.
Mass arrests continue to this day. Earlier this year, on May 14, more than 500 people were arrested in a single day as part of a nationwide police operation.
The extent of Turkey’s abuse of anti-terrorism laws continues to draw the attention of international human rights bodies. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has expressed deep concerns that the widespread and systematic targeting of individuals alleged to be linked to the Gülen Movement could constitute crimes against humanity.
Moreover, the European Court of Human Rights has consistently found that Turkey applies its anti-terrorism laws overly broadly and allows for the arbitrary prosecution of individuals for whom there is no evidence of any connection to armed activity.
As human rights lawyers, we regret to observe the emergence of a trend in Turkey where even the children of individuals previously tried under anti-terrorism laws are being targeted.
In May of this year, Istanbul Police detained forty people in separate operations, including 15 children aged between 13 and 17, on the grounds that they were members of an armed terrorist organization.
The children later complained that they were interrogated without their lawyers or psychologists, were constantly threatened and verbally harassed during the interrogation, and were not given food despite being held in custody for nearly 24 hours.
They also stated that they were pressured to testify against their own parents.
Their case was heard last week by a high criminal court in Istanbul. The evidence against the children consists of nothing more than social behaviors such as meeting at each other’s houses to study, going to shopping malls together, and strangely, playing bowling together. All these innocent social activities were recorded by police surveillance teams and presented to the court as recruitment activities.
The next hearing for the children will take place in Istanbul a few months later, in December. Turkish authorities may perhaps use this as an opportunity to show the international organizations they are a member of, and of course the whole world, that the rule of law still prevails within its borders.
Meanwhile, we call on the OSCE and its member states to closely monitor this trial. We also ask our human rights defender friends to extend their support to the defendants and their lawyers. Thank you.”
