ECtHR rules Bulgaria violated rights of Turkish journalist who was deported despite seeking asylum


Date posted: July 23, 2021

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Tuesday ruled that Bulgaria violated the rights of a Turkish journalist who had fled Ankara’s crackdown on dissent by deporting him without examining his asylum request.

ECtHR said Bulgaria was in breach of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights and ordered the payment of 15,000 euros in non-pecuniary damages to the applicant, D, whose name was not revealed.

The ECtHR held that the Bulgarian authorities did not examine D’s application for international protection despite the fact that he said he might face ill-treatment if he were deported to Turkey.

Based on the statements included in the court’s ruling, D was a journalist for the Zaman daily and Cihan news agency, part of the Feza Media Group. The group was seized by the government on March 4, 2016 over its alleged affiliation with the Gülen movement, to be subsequently closed down with an emergency decree-law issued after a failed coup on July 15, 2016.

D said he left Turkey in the aftermath of the abortive putsch, at a time when a range of measures were being taken against media outlets and journalists, including dismissal, arrest, detention and confiscation of passports. He then crossed the border between Turkey and Bulgaria hidden in a truck with eight other passengers — six Turkish and two Syrian nationals.

They were detained at a Bulgarian border police station and sought asylum, citing fear of persecution in Turkey. But the Bulgarian authorities did not examine their cases. On October 15, 2016, at about 5:30 a.m., D was handcuffed and taken with the six other Turkish passengers to the Kapitan Andreevo border post, where they were handed over to the Turkish authorities.

D was immediately jailed in Turkey and was convicted of membership in a terrorist organization and sentenced to seven years, six months’ imprisonment. He is currently incarcerated in Kocaeli’s Kandıra Prison.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-Prime Minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He locked up thousands including many prosecutors, judges and police officers involved in the investigation as well as journalists who reported on them.

Erdoğan intensified the crackdown on the movement following the coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the abortive putsch or any terrorist activity.

Turkey is one of the world’s biggest jailers of professional journalists and ranked 153rd among 180 countries in terms of press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

According to the Stockholm Center for Freedom’s “Jailed and Wanted Journalists in Turkey” database, 173 journalists are behind bars in Turkey and 167 are wanted and either in exile or at large.

Source: Stockholm Center for Freedom , July 22, 2021


Related News

25-year-old woman escapes Turkey’s witch-hunt as Bosnia grants asylum

A 25-year-old woman, identified as H.G., was granted asylum by Bosnian court which dismissed Turkey’s request for extradition, according to media.

3-month-old with oral disease also under arrest as parents imprisoned over coup charges

Under arrest along with his mother since April 27, three-month-old Betul A. has been suffering from oral thrush in prison, her grandfather told Turkish media. With her father, Ali İhsan also under arrest over similar charges, Betul is kept under mother’s care in prison.

Financial Times: Turkey’s crackdown on dissent has gone too far

More troubling is evidence emerging that his government is now using the attempted coup as a pretext to round up all manner of troublesome opponents, not just the Gulenists. It is also damaging the fabric of Turkish society and undermining its institutions, including the security forces. That is a dangerous move in a country whose immune system is already weakened by jihadism and which is battling armed opponents on several fronts.

Nigeria – Our students should not be victims of Turkey’s high-handedness and authoritarianism

We strongly condemn the arrest, detention and deportation of some Nigerian students from Turkey’s capital city, Istanbul, over the botched coup in the country. The harassment and intimidation of our students by the Turkish Government over a matter that does not concern them is undiplomatic and utterly reprehensible. The Turkish government should not visit the punishment for the alleged actions of its political enemies on innocent Nigerian students.

A women – Author, Reporter And Lawyer – Faces 15 Years In Jail For Her Tweets

An author, lawyer and journalist who made a career and a name for herself from years of working as a court reporter who chased high-profile legal cases has become a victim of Turkish government’s massive crackdown on freedom of press in Turkey.

Erdogan’s diplomats have become ‘Gulenist-busters’

A diplomat told me that there was no way he would do what Tayyip Erdogan was asking him to do. It was against everything he held dear: chasing one’s own citizens without any credible evidence. Soon, many diplomats who refused to turn into Gulenist-hunters were not promoted, demoted or, worse, expelled from the ministry.

Latest News

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?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Or is it Gülenophobia?

Hizmet’s Relations with Other Muslim Communities in the United States

Students enchant German crowd with poems of praise

South African, Kenyan leaders show support for Turkish schools

Pak-Turk schools replace Turkish principals with Pakistanis

Sophia Pandya on Hizmet Movement

Gülen calls on corrupt politicians to confess their sins, beg forgiveness

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News