The Turkey Tribunal, a civil society-led, symbolic international tribunal established to adjudicate recent human rights violations in Turkey, started proceedings in Geneva on Monday where rapporteurs pointed to the use of systematic torture by the government against alleged members of the faith-based Gülen movement and Kurds.
In the first chapter of his book: “A Genocide in the Making?” Zooming on “Erdogan’s regime crackdown on the Gulen Movement”, Dr. Bulent Kenes clearly refers to “genocide” as a set of “systematic violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to terminate their existence.”
The signatory states and their courts need to decide where their loyalty lies: With the authoritarian Erdogan government or with the human rights and judicial guarantees solemnly enshrined in their respective constitutions?
Appearing on TV that night, Erdogan claimed no pre-knowledge of the incident and immediately blamed Gulen supporters in the military. However, Western governments and observers were not convinced. Experts noted the implausibility of a civilian living on another continent organizing a military coup and not being detected by U.S., Turkish or other intelligence agencies.
Yusuf Özmen, a cancer patient who has been sentenced to 8 years, 9 months in prison due to his alleged links to the Gülen movement, has recently been sent back to prison after the supreme court of appeals upheld the prison sentence.
The European Court of Human Rights condemned Bulgaria for the 2016 extradition of a Turkish journalist, hastily handed over to the Turkish authorities who accused him of being part of the Fehtullah Gülen movement, in violation of national and international rules.
Fatma Yurt, a 64-year-old Turkish woman who is confined to bed, is in the 17th month of her imprisonment over alleged links to the Gulen group, which the government of accused of masterminding a coup attempt in July 2016.
A recently published book titled “Escape from Turkey” tells the first-hand story of two people who were forced to flee the country to avoid a crackdown launched by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government on Gülen movement members following a failed coup in 2016, local media reported on Monday.
Turkey’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund announced it has sold Sürat Kargo and Sürat Lojistik, private logistics companies that had been transferred to the TMSF due to their alleged affiliation with the Gülen movement. Numerous private companies were transferred to TMSF due to their alleged links to the Gülen movement before and after a failed coup in 2016.
It seems that the bias of the Supreme Constitutional Court, the highest judicial body in Turkey, may force the Turkish government to pay a large sum of money, according to a prominent computer expert, who monitors erroneous decisions of the Constitutional Court on Internet applications used by Turkish citizens.
Arzu Nur Özkan, a former teacher, has been in Bünyan Prison in Kayseri province for the last four months for alleged links to the Gülen movement despite being six months pregnant. Özkan is experiencing complications related to her pregnancy and is frequently put in quarantine cells because of her hospital visits.
Abductions, forceful disappearances, tortures, and political target killings have always been among the burning human rights violations in Turkey; however, they skyrocketed during Erdogan’s rule and especially after the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.