US Human Rights Report: Tens of thousands jailed in Turkey with little clarity on charges


Date posted: March 14, 2017

The 2016 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices — the Human Rights Reports — released by the US State Department on Friday said that Turkish courts had imprisoned tens of thousands of people with little clarity on charges and evidence over their alleged links with a failed coup in July 2016 that was blamed on the Gülen movement.

The report on Turkey underlined a large number of purges in state jobs, detentions, arrests, jailed journalists and violation of human rights and freedoms while stating that the Turkish government took limited steps in investigating, punishing and drafting indictments against security forces accused of human rights violations.


According to the report, the AKP government cancelled or refused to issue passports for the minor children of Gülen followers who fled a government witch-hunt that forced family separation.


After pointing out that Turkish authorities put the blame for the failed July 15 coup on the Gülen movement, which is defined as a terrorist group by Turkish government, the US report identified US-based Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen, whose views inspired the Gülen movement, as a “cleric” and referred to his movement as the “Fethullah Gülen Movement.”

While similar human rights reports consist of 57 pages on Syria, 58 on Saudi Arabia, 59 on Egypt, 48 on Iran, 65 on Iraq, 44 on Azerbaijan, the report on Turkey consists of 73 pages.

According to the report, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government issued decrees under a state of emergency that restricted suspects’ access to legal assistance, allowed suspects to be held without charge up to 30 days and permitted authorities to seize or freeze the assets of suspended or fired civil servants or their family members in some cases.


It also mentioned minority groups, including Alevis, Christians, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) individuals, continued to face threats, discrimination and violence and reported that the government took insufficient steps to protect them. According to the report, the pro-government media used anti-LGBTI, anti-Armenian, anti-Alevi and anti-Semitic rhetoric in Turkey.


The report also emphasized that at least 140 journalists were arrested after July 15, 2016 mainly over their links to the Gülen movement and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“The government used its authorities under the state of emergency to close more than 195 media outlets critical of the government as of mid-December. Authorities linked most to either the Gulen movement or PKK. The government issued arrest warrants for more than 200 journalists and blocked dozens of online news media sites,” the report stated.

“After the coup attempt, 29 Gulen-affiliated publishing companies were closed, and schools avoided the titles they published although the titles were not technically criminalized,” the US human rights report on Turkey also said.

Underlining that primary and higher education in Turkey was affected by government purges in the Ministry of National Education, the report noted that tens of thousands of teachers, academics and staff were dismissed.

“A decree issued on July 27 closed 15 universities affecting 64,533 students and 2,808 academics. As of December some sources estimated as many as 6,000 academics had been suspended or fired on allegations of terror links,” it said.

The report also referred to a government witch-hunt against the Gülen movement, stating that “the government targeted family members [of Gülen followers] to exert pressure on some wanted suspects.”

According to the report, the AKP government cancelled or refused to issue passports for the minor children of Gülen followers who fled a government witch-hunt that forced family separation.

Providing few specific examples of the massive government crackdown on the Gülen movement, US State Department report also referred to the cases of former Zaman columnist and Yarına Bakış editor-in-chief Bülent Korucu, whose wife has been under arrest since August, and famous soccer player Hakan Şükür, whose 75-year-old father Sermet Şükür was detained in August and released at the end of November.

To describe the degree of the purges in state institutions, the report mentioned a measure taken by the Ministry of National Education to rewrite 58 textbooks after the failed coup attempt in an effort to remove “subliminal messages” allegedly inserted by the Gülen movement into the books.

“Primary, secondary, high schools, and universities became increasingly cautious about the books they allowed students to read,” the report said.

“The Turkish Publishers Association (TPA) reported that publishers often exercised self-censorship, avoiding works with controversial content (including government criticism, erotic content, or pro-Kurdish content) that might draw legal action,” it noted.

According to the report, the government fired more than 3,000 members of the judiciary, which created an atmosphere of fear that further limited judicial independence and complicated or delayed court proceedings.

On the Kurdish issue, the report indicated that the Turkish security forces failed to take adequate actions and measures to protect civilians while combatting the PKK in southeastern provinces.

“Hundreds of thousands of residents of the Southeast were forced to flee their homes and most remained internally displaced at year’s end. Upwards of 200 civilians were killed in the fighting. Human rights groups reported that security forces killed and injured persons who attempted to cross illegally from Syria into Turkey and documented reports of torture and abuse of prisoners following the coup attempt,” the State Department report pointed.

In addition, the report stated that prisons in Turkey are overcrowded due to the influx of tens of thousands of new prisoners after the coup attempt.

It also mentioned minority groups, including Alevis, Christians, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) individuals, continued to face threats, discrimination and violence and reported that the government took insufficient steps to protect them.

The report also added that the worst forms of child labor, especially among the refugee population, persisted in the country.

According to the report, the pro-government media used anti-LGBTI, anti-Armenian, anti-Alevi and anti-Semitic rhetoric in Turkey.

Meanwhile, human rights groups criticized the low profile release of the country reports in Washington under the new US administration, which contrasted with long-standing State Department traditions.

Source: Turkey Purge , March 4, 2017


Related News

Alevis voice unease over lack of promised rights at Abant meeting

Alevis have expressed at Abant meeting their uneasiness over pro-government comments claiming that the Gezi Park protests were an “Alevi uprising,” warning against a “dangerous approach that encourages wrong perceptions.” The title of this year’s Abant Platform, which started on Dec. 13, was “Alevis and Sunnis: Searching for Peace and a Future Together.” It was organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), a group affiliated with the Gülen Movement.

The Erdoğan mafia

Turkey is now run by a mafia. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is at the top of this organization. He has created parallel financial, social, religious and legal structures to maintain this mafia organization.

Prosecutor says he was blocked from investigating new graft probe

After the [Turkish] government took a new graft probe from prosecutor Muammer Akkaş – a move that could further cast a shadow over the corruption investigation – he told media that the case was taken from him without any reasons being cited, effectively blocking him from doing his job. “All my colleagues and the public should know that I have been prevented from doing my duty,” the prosecutor said in a statement sent to media outlets on Thursday.

Hiring based on ‘color lists’ a violation of Constitution, analysts say

A public sector employee selection process using personal data to create “color lists” that profiled and separated the candidates into acceptable and non-acceptable categories, as was recently maintained by the Taraf daily, is a violation of the Constitution, analysts have agreed.

Tables Have Turned for Some Media in Turkish Crackdown

Mr. Kenes says he should have been more outspoken in defense of fellow journalists when the government started targeting its critics more than a decade ago. “Frankly, we did not realize Mr. Erdogan’s real intentions,” said Mr. Kenes, who was convicted last year of insulting the president on Twitter and given a 21-month suspended prison sentence. “When I look at my history, I criticize myself for not showing more sympathy for their cases.”

Hizmet school ready to pioneer education in Kurdish

Following the decision to allow education in languages other than Turkish in private schools, as part of the democratization package recently unveiled by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a private school run by Gülen movement volunteers said it is ready to start education in Kurdish once such a law is introduced.

Latest News

Erdogan’s Failed Crusade: The World Rejects His War on Hizmet

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

In Case You Missed It

Turkey’s Economy Suffering Enormous Post-Coup Purges

Fethullah Gulen Deplores Recent Attacks on Christians in Pakistan

European court says Turkey’s Ergenekon arrests legal

Award-winning US screenwriter: Without freedom of speech and media, we’re all slaves

Turkish associations in US condemn Boston Marathon attack

How It Feels to Be a Dissident in Turkey After the Failed Military Coup

We must live with principles of peace and love

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News