Chronology (ENG)
Update on the situation of human rights defenders
Chronology in English
31 July 2017
Being arrested after detained at Büyükada and then sent to Bakırköy Prison, rights advocates İdil Eser, Özlem Dalkıran and Nalan Erkem were sent to Silivri Prison today.
İlknur Üstün is still being kept at Ankara Sincan Prison.
25 July 2017
Nejat Taştan has been brought before the 9th Court of Peace upon arrest warrant following prosecutor’s objection to his previous release. Judicature released Tastan on condition of judicial control for a two days a week, instead of the previously decided three days. Tastan’s travel ban outside the country remains.
Later in the day, Şeyhmus Özbekli was also released on conditions of judicial control and travel ban to another country, following his statement at the Diyarbakir Prosecutor’s Office.
22 July 2017
İlknur Üstün was taken by the police from her home in Ankara during noon.
Nalan Erkem’s statement was taken in Istanbul, İlknur Üstün’s statement was taken in Ankara. The two rights defenders were arrested. İlknur Üstün was placed atAnkara Sincan Prison and Nalan Erkem at Istanbul Bakırköy Prison.
21 July 2017
Prosecution office objected to court’s decision to release 4 human rights defenders with judicial control. The Court of Peace confirmed the objection and issued another warrant for the 4 rights defenders. Consequently, Nalan Erkem was taken from her home late at night, to be placed in Istanbul Police Headquarters after medical control.
18 July 2017
The court ruled early in the morning the release of 4 right defenders with judicial control decision: Nalan Erkem, Nejat Taştan, İlknur Üstün and Şeyhmus Özbekli. The court imposed ban on leaving the country and 3 times visit a week to the police station. The remaining 6 friends Günal Kurşun, Özlem Dalkıran, İdil Eser, Veli Acu, Ali Gharavi and Peter Steudtner were remanded for trial. We will share the details of the decision.
17 Temmuz 2017
At 20.00 pm, statements procedures of all our friends have been concluded . At 22.30 pm, the prosecutor referred all ten human rights defenders to Court of Peace on Duty with a request to arrest.
16 July 2016
The questioning of the 10 right defenders by the police has just been completed on 16 July, Sunday. Our friends will be taken to meet the Prosecutor at the Çağlayan Court House in Istanbul on 17 July, Monday.
15 July 2017
The process of taking police statements from rights defenders started. The statements have been taken from Şeyhmus Özbekli and İdil Eser.
12 July 2017
- Representatives of Human Rights Association and Citizens’ Assembly visited the Office of Istanbul Chief Prosecutor. The group met with the Deputy Istanbul Chief Prosecutor and presented him with an Information Sheet, jointly endorsed by a group of human rights organisations, containing all relevant information, including why the workshop was organised, the content of the workshop, and why the workshop took place on Büyükada. (This document can be accessed here: (http://bit.ly/informationnote)
11 July 2017
- The 7 day detention period for human rights defenders was extended for 7 more days.
10 July 2017
- Late in the afternoon, police searched the houses of the human right defenders. Police confiscated some electronic materials, books and documents.
- 40 international human rights organization issued a joint declaration stating that, “Turkey: Holding a meeting on human rights is not a terrorist conspiracy”
(Available in English at: http://www.omct.org/human-rights-defenders/urgent-interventions/turkey/2017/07/d24442/ ) - Parliamentarian Şenal Sarıhan (People’s Republican Party) spoke with Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ on the phone. Sarıhan told the Minister that she personally knows many of the human rights defenders under detention and demanded their immediate release.
8 July 2017
- Several human rights groups issued a joint statement regarding the fake news published about the human rights defenders.
7 July 2017
- In the afternoon lawyers submitted their objections against the period of detention. As the investigation dossier is “confidential”, the lawyers are not able to access the investigation documents.
- All of the detained activists were taken to the Istanbul Police Headquarters.
6 July 2017
- Lawyers were able to visit all detained human rights defenders. In general, they were all in good psychical condition. Some of their needs (such as clothing, medicine etc) were delivered.
- The detention period for all of them was extended for 7 days. Under the State of Emergency the detention period can be extended for a total of 14 days.
- A group of human rights organizations from Turkey issued a joint statement demanding the immediate release of the human rights defenders. (Available at: http://www.hyd.org.tr/tr/haberler/222-insan-haklari-savunuculari-derhal-serbest-birakilmali )
5 July 2017
- On 2 July 2017, the following human rights activists convened for a five day workshop on “Protection of human rights defenders”, on Büyükada, İstanbul. The group consisted of Özlem Dalkıran (Citizens’ Assembly), lawyer Nalan Erkem (Citizens’ Assembly), İlknur Üstün (Women’s Coalition), İdil Eser (Amnesty International Turkey Director), Veli Acu (Human Rights Agenda Association), lawyer Günal Kurşun (Human Rights Agenda Association), Şeymus Özbekli (Rights Initiative), Nejat Taştan (Equal Rights Watch Association), Ali Gharavi (moderator — Swedish national), and Peter Steudtner (moderator — German national).
- On 5 July, in the morning hours, the police raided the workshop and detained all human rights defenders. All of their electronic equipment was confiscated. However digital images of the confiscated equipment were not taken by the police.
- The detentions became public by coincidence in the evening.
- The group was first taken to Büyükada Police Station. However 8 of the human rights defenders were transported to other police centers in the evening.
- Those under arrest were denied access to lawyers and their families. The State of Emergency Law in Turkey allows the authorities to deny the detainees’ right to see a lawyer for up to 24 hours.
