Opposition journalists speak at U.N. panel on Turkey’s human rights record


Date posted: March 9, 2019

Two exiled Turkish journalists spoke on a United Nations human rights panel on Turkey’s human rights violations and jailed journalists despite attempts by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cancel the session, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday.

Abdullah Bozkurt, former Ankara chief for the now-defunct, Gülen-linked newspaper Today’s Zaman, and also defunct Meydan editor-in-chief Levent Kenez, participated in the panel at the U.N. Office in Geneva during the 40th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The Turkish government accuses the two of membership in the Gülen movement, a religious group led by Fethullah Gülen, a U.S.-based cleric Ankara accuses of leading a terrorist organisation that orchestrated the July 2016 coup attempt to topple the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The government has implemented crackdown on media, among other sectors, following the failed putsch with Turkey becoming a leading country of jailed journalists.

Pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah reported on Kenez and Bozkurt’s participation in the panel, referring to the two as “terrorists.”

Kenez took to Twitter to say that Turkey’s foreign ministry had unsuccessfully tried to cancel the panel.

Bozkurt also posted on the panel on Twitter, saying, “As a panelist, I joined a discussion about #Turkey at the United Nations’s Geneva office during UN Human Rights Council #HRC40 . Told about rights violations, and how @RT_Erdogan has jailed journalist to cover its tracks with armed jihadists thugs in #Syria .”

Kenez and Bozkurt have both fled Turkey following Ankara’s crackdown on the Gülen movement.

Following the failed coup attempt, about 200 media outlets in Turkey were shut down under the state of emergency decree that lasted until July 2018.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) placed Turkey 157th out of 180 countries on its World Press Freedom Index in 2018, down two from the previous year, and called Turkey the “world’s biggest jailer of journalists” in its 2018 report.

Source: AhvalNews , March 6, 2019

Tags: | | |


Related News

How does the Hizmet movement fare with democracy?

Ruling elites of this country, unfortunately, have targeted different groups at different times. Thus, religious people, Kurds, Alevis, nationalists (ülkücüs), leftists, non-Muslim minorities and democratic intellectuals have been in the bull’s eye for attacks from these elites. The Hizmet movement has always been a member of this list of plagued groups.

Draft law on prep schools

The first adverse effect is related to unemployment. The AKP did not keep its promise to provide jobs at public institutions to all the prep school teachers who are not hired by the new private schools. Only teachers with six years of experience will have the chance of being hired at public schools. Thus, tens of thousands of prep school teachers will definitely lose their jobs since only the large, well-established prep schools can take the financial risks of re-establishing themselves as a new private school.

Erdoğan’s Fight against the Gülen Movement & The Demise of Turkish State Rationality

In a nutshell, Erdoğan’s divisive political rhetoric and his attempts to foster anti-Gülenist sentiments have perfectly served his own political interests within the country, but they have not served the country’s interests in the international arena, as they raise serious doubts about the credibility and rationality of the state as embodied in Erdoğan’s personality.

Erdogan: The Sultan of an illusionary Ottoman Empire

It appears that Erdogan had never committed himself to a democratic form of government. A quote attributed to him in 1999 describes precisely what his real intentions were from the day he rose to power. “Democracy” he said, “is like a bus, when you arrive at your destination, you step off.”

Erdogan in Africa: Gulen and trade ties

Erdogan wants the Gulen-linked schools in Africa to be closed down, yet they are the very educational establishments which are popular with Africa’s middle class. They are an inexpensive alternative to French schools. If parents send their children to Turkish schools, it is not because the schools are Turkish, but because they employ good teachers. Africa’s middle class want good schools.

CSOs slam ongoing black propaganda against Hizmet movement

The Law and Democracy Platform, which includes 60 CSOs in İzmir province, held a press conference to protest the polarizing language used by government officials. The representative of the platform, Ömer Mustafa Aytekin, said there have been very unpleasant developments that risk democracy and the rule of law in Turkey.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Renewing Islam by Service: A Christian View of Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement

Dinners in Ramadan tent welcome all faiths in Bethlehem

Erdogan’s Faux Coup may have been Turkey’s Reichstag Fire

Letter campaign launched for Turkey’s imprisoned women, mothers

Graduation ceremony of Turkish School in Kenya

Tanzanian students place first in Turkish Olympiad folk dance final

Turkey detains Mozambican software developer over links to Gülen movement

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News