Free Republic

Strict pressure and torture in Gebze Type M Women’s Prison has taken a systemic form. The detainees are tortured in the place called “the under door”, under the guise of searches. Inmate Evrim Konak sent a letter from the prison telling her experiences. Rights violations and torture in prisons has peaked since the declaration of the State of Emergency. Every day news of a different violation come out of the prisons, at a rate that surpasses the ‘80s. There is systemic torture in prisons and they are not open for inspection. The latest report listing the rights violations in prisons...

There are 560 babies who live with their mothers in prisons in Turkey. HDP Muş MP Burcu Çelik’s 3 year old daughter Asmin Mira being brought to her mother in prison this week has brought the issue of children in prisons to the fore. HDP Adana MP Meral Danış Beştaş took the issue to the parliament and demanded the sentences be postponed until the children grow up. The 560 children who have to live with their mothers in Turkey’s prisons were taken to the Parliament’s agenda by HDP Adana MP Meral Danış Beştaş. Beştaş pointed out that only 100 out...

UN Human Rights High Commissioner Al Hussein said: “Our attempts at investigating the severe human rights violations in South Eastern Turkey are constantly rejected.” 35th Human Rights session of the United Nations Human Rights Council started in Geneva. UN Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s speech at the opening started with the Israel-Palestine issue and demanded an end to the pain both sides have endured. Al Hussein also stated that extrajudicial executions are widespread in many countries throughout the world still and people suffer inhumane treatment. “OUR EFFORTS ON TURKEY'S SOUTH EAST ARE HINDERED” Al Hussein said the...

Human rights defender and lawyer Eren Keskin stated that there is no legal basis for the isolation imposed upon Öcalan and stressed that this needs to end immediately and visits need to be arranged.   Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan has been held in İmralı Type F High Security Prison since February 15, 1999. The Turkish judiciary system is trampling their own laws as well as universal norms in the treatment of Öcalan, while international judicial institutions are also silent. One of the institutions that has turned a blind eye to the ongoing unlawfulness has been the European Court...

Syrian Democratic Council (MSD) Co-chair Îlham Ehmed stated that Turkey wants to prevent the liberation of Raqqa and become permanent in the Shehba region. Syrian Democratic Council Co-chair Îlham Ehmed wrote an article published in the Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper titled “What is happening in Shehba?” and commented on Turkey’s plans in Shehba, Manbij and Raqqa, stressing that international powers are silent in the face of Turkey’s plans for invasion. The article, translated by ANF English service, is below: As the operation to liberate Raqqa continues successfully and the city is cleared of gangs street by street, an ethnic cleansing project...

Pro-Turkey Syrian rebel fighters of the Euphrates Shield Brigades. File photo The Kurdish National Council in Syria (KNC) on Monday accused Turkey-backed rebel groups of displacing hundreds of Yezidi civilians from the village of Elî Qîno, in Syria’s northwestern Aleppo province.Furthermore, the KNC also accused pro-Turkey Islamists of kidnapping Kurdish civilians in northern Aleppo.Yezidi villagers of Elî Qîno, which belongs to the Afrin district, were given one hour to empty the village. After this the properties were confiscated, including olive groves, livestock and furniture.The KNC did not blame a specific rebel group, but said that the residents were forced...

Residents of Van's Belencik village were threatened and forced to leave their homes because they voted 'NO' in April's referendum. It came out that residents of the Belencik (Wast) village in Van's Başkale district, where a high rate of 'NO' votes prevailed in April's referendum for presidential system, were forced to leave their homes by threats of the clan leader İskender Ertuş and village guard Selim Bozkurt. According to reports, village guard Selim Bozkurt opened fire on the homes of villagers on June 1st, saying: “I will not let you live here in peace”. Almost the entire village has been...

SDF fighters take position on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in southwestern Kobane during clashes with ISIS militants. File photo: ARA News A senior Syrian Kurdish official on Monday accused Turkey of cutting of the water of the Euphrates River, causing a drop in water levels in the Kurdish town of Kobane and in Tabqa.“The Turkish government cut off the waters of the Al-Furat [Euphrates] River, causing a significant drop in the Tishreen Dam [near Kobane] and the dam of the Al-Tabqa [in Raqqa province],” said Abdulkarim Omer, the head of foreign relations for the Cezire Canton...

Special for the Armenian WeeklyWarning: This article includes graphic images some readers may find disturbing Alevi Community Leader Attacked in Istanbul Baki Duzgun, the President of the Alevi-Bektasi Federation, and some of his friends were attacked by a group local Muslims in the Sisli district of Istanbul on Oct. 22. “A group of about thirty people attacked us, shouting ‘Allahu akbar,’” wrote Duzgun on his Twitter account. “What happened last night can happen in Turkey anywhere, any time,” Duzgun added.Indeed, physical and verbal attacks against Alevis, a religious minority in Anatolia, are commonplace in Turkey.  Even their faith, Alevism, has not officially been recognized by the...

A Turkish textile company that purchased the assets of the former Microfibres firm is seeking $125,000 worth of incentives from the city of Winston-Salem and plans to create up to 390 jobs, according to a story in the Winston-Salem Journal. The newspaper reports that the Winston-Salem City Council will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. June 19 for Tukek Holdings Inc, which has requested the incentives to offset the costs of a startup called HPFabrics Inc. Tukek plans to invest $3.85 million over five years to upgrade the former Winston-Salem facility of Microfibres. The local jobs would pay $31,310,...

The first reaction to KDP’s referendum decision came from the Turkish state as expected. The Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement on the issue threatened KDP and said, “We won’t allow for faits accompli” and “It would be a historic mistake”. The first reaction to KDP Leader Masoûd Barzani deciding on a date for the “independence referendum” came from their “ally” Turkey. The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a written statement that threatened KDP and said, “it would be a historic mistake”. The Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement also protested the Kurdistan Region flag in official institutions in Kirkuk and said, “We won’t allow...

The diplomatic crisis in Qatar saw a new development Wednesday as Turkey's parliament passed legislation permitting the deployment of troops to a Turkish military base in Qatar. The legislation was drafted prior to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain severing ties with Qatar, but indicates that Turkey is willing to help the Gulf Arab country. The bill was supported by both the governing AK party and the nationalist opposition.

Turkey's parliament is expected to fast-track on Wednesday a draft bill allowing its troops to be deployed to a Turkish military base in Qatar, officials from the ruling AK Party and the nationalist opposition said. The move appears to support the Gulf Arab country as it faces diplomatic and trade isolation from some of the biggest Middle Eastern powers. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain severed relations with Qatar and closed their airspace to commercial flights on Monday, charging it with financing militant groups. Qatar vehemently denies the accusations. It is the worst split between powerful...

Turkey's parliament is expected to fast-track on Wednesday a draft bill allowing its troops to be deployed to a Turkish military base in Qatar, officials from the ruling AK Party and the nationalist opposition said. The move appears to support the Gulf Arab country as it faces diplomatic and trade isolation from some of the biggest Middle Eastern powers.

The dramatic decision by five Arab countries to sever ties with Qatar over its alleged coddling of the Muslim Brotherhood and its flirtation with their archenemy Iran has caught the pugnacious emirate’s closest regional ally, Turkey, off balance and wondering whether it too may be targeted. Turkey’s initial reaction to the announcement by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen that they were suspending diplomatic ties as well as air and sea travel to and from Qatar was a call for dialogue. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a news conference, “We see the stability in the Gulf region as our own...

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (left) and Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu Germany will have to pull its forces out of the Incirlik air force base in southern Turkey because of Turkish government restrictions on German lawmakers seeking to visit troops there, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday.Gabriel was speaking after a meeting in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, which had aimed to address the standoff over Incirlik and other diplomatic tensions between the two NATO allies.“My Turkish colleague explained to me that in the current situation, Turkey is not able to allow every visit by German...

Kurdish citizens in Serekaniye town, northeast Syria, bidding farewell to several YPG fighters who were killed in clashes with ISIS. Photo: ARA News Kurdish leadership of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) announced on Sunday the death of 111 of its fighters during offensives by the Turkish Army and Turkey-backed Islamist groups in northern Syria.According to the YPG media office, the Turkish Army and allied Islamist rebels launched more than 80 attacks on Kurdish areas held by the YPG in May. “Turkey’s military used heavy artillery and mortar shells in its offensives against the YPG-held areas in Rojava-Northern Syria,” YPG officer...

You may remember NBA forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Enes Kanter. He’s the one who Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would like the United States to turn over to him because of his outspoken criticism of the regime which is currently eradicating democracy in Turkey. For the time being Kanter seems to be safe enough here in the United States, but his positions have caused him a lot of trouble in his native land. His own family disowned him, either out of disapproval of his positions or in fear of their own government. That wasn’t enough to save...

Speaking at a seminar on the role of the Kurds in the fight against ISIS, German parliamentarian Andrej Hunko asked “Is the information gathered in İncirlik given to ISIS over Turkey? We have serious doubts on this matter.” A seminar titled 'Kurds as a regional factor in the fight against ISIS' was held at the Cultural Diplomacy Institute in German capital Berlin yesterday. 'WE UNDERSTOOD PKK BETTER AFTER THE ISIS ATTACK' Speaking at the seminar, German parliamentarian Andrej Hunko stated on behalf of the Left Party (Die Linke), the leading opposition party in the German Federal Parliament, that they stood...

CHP deputies Sezgin Tanrikulu (center-left) and Aykut Erdogdu (center-right) at a press conference on Monday. Opposition party members of the parliamentary commission investigating the coup attempt of 15 July 2016 slammed the commission’s draft report in a press conference they held on Monday, news outlet Diken reports.Speaking in the beginning of the press conference, Aykut Erdogdu, Istanbul deputy for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said that “the draft report announced by [Head of the Parliamentary Investigation Commission AKP Deputy Resat] Petek is a report that hides the political wing of a controlled coup attempt and a report that...