A visiting Turkish university director who had yet to be convicted of any crime was finally released from the Sungai Buloh Prison after being conferred refugee status, which has been conferred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The UNHCR identification supersedes the cancellation of his visa.
Measures taken in Turkey after the July 15 coup attempt created an “environment conducive to torture”, and ill treatment appears to have been widespread immediately after the failed putsch, UN special rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer said told reporters in Ankara. “Some recently passed legislation and statutory decrees created an environment conducive to torture,” he said.
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has criticized a speech delivered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at a UN meeting on Tuesday in which he called on world leaders to take measures against the faith-based Gülen movement, saying that Erdoğan’s speech only served to promote the Gülen movement.
The past couple of months have been tumultuous in Turkey. In short order, an ill-conceived military coup was followed by popular mass protest, the quick return of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to power, and a wave of repression ranging from military and judicial purges, to state restrictions on a panoply of basic human rights protections, to allegations of “widespread human rights abuses” by state actors.
Two months after responding to a coup attempt by declaring a state of emergency, the Turkish government continues to target journalists, pluralism and freedom of information. RSF is today publishing a reportthat details the many abuses and urges the government to return to democratic principles.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday demanded at UN speech international action against the US-exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of orchestrating an aborted coup d’etat against him. Gulen, who fled Turkey for Pennsylvania and has been active in religious dialogue and charity, strongly denies Erdogan’s charges that he organized the July military coup attempt, which quickly collapsed.
The International Festival of Language and Culture (IFLC), which is a Gulen-inspired organization was at United Nations headquarters in New York on April 29, 2016. The youth from many different countries showcased their talents at UN. Mr. Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary General, sent a message to IFLC.
Turkey-based charity organization Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anyone There?), which has been a target of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government’s unjust smear campaigns, has now been invited to an exclusive meeting ahead of the UN’s World Humanitarian Summit.