Under the pretext of regulating social media networks, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has submitted on 23 July 2020 a new nine-article legislation proposal to the Parliament Justice Commission. This includes a set of restrictive measures such as the obligation of each social network to have a representative present in Turkey responsible for the … Continued
August 1st marks the anniversary of the Istanbul Convention initially signed in 2011 and aiming to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence. As the Council of Europe remarked, “2020 should have been a year in which the global progress on achieving gender equality was reviewed. Instead, a global health pandemic exposed the dangerous and pervasive forms of gendered social, economic and political inequality and … Continued
On 16 June 2020, unknown perpetrators broke into Human Rights Association co-chair and woman rights defender Eren Keskin in Istanbul. Referring to this incident, Wadih Al-Asmar, President of EuroMed Rights said: “EuroMed Rights shares the concerns of our member organisation, the Human Rights Association. This act can be considered as a direct threat to Eren Keskin’s … Continued
On 15 May 2020, the administration of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) forcibly sent 100 Syrian refugees, including unaccompanied children, to Mersin, Turkey. They have been transferred to Kilis, near the Syrian border, where they are now. Most of the 100 Syrian refugees – 56 – are children and women and girls … Continued
Even the COVID-19 cannot stop politics. The recently adopted “Amnesty Law” in Turkey is another proof of the authorities’ relentless crackdown undertaken to quiet dissident voices. While 90,000 inmates were freed, 50,000 held on bogus terrorism charges have been left aside. Among them are journalists, politicians, human rights defenders, students or simply critics of the … Continued
Interview with Alev Özkazanç, visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford with the research project on anti-gender movements and gender violence in Europe and Turkey How would you define anti-gender politics in Turkey? Firstly, I must say that the term “anti-gender” and “gender ideology” did not exist in the vocabulary of Turkish gender politics until … Continued
In the last few years, the number of “backlashes” against women and LGBTQI+ persons’ rights across the world have risen. One of those growing anti-equality forces gathers under the common rejection of “gender ideology”. “Gender ideology” is used as an empty signifier which manages to gather many different movements under a shared resistance to progressive … Continued
Refugees are currently being used as pawns in the global power play surrounding the war in Syria. In Idlib, nearly a million people, including many children, are still trapped under heavy bombardments in front of a closed Turkish border. There are currently 3.5 million refugees in Turkey from Syria and a further half a million … Continued
For the Turkish version, click here. The fifth hearing of the Gezi trial will resume on 28 January 2020, on the same day as the Universal Periodic Review of Turkey at the United Nations Human Rights Council. Sixteen civil society figures will be tried for “attempting to overthrow the government or partially or wholly … Continued
The fourth hearing in Turkey’s political and unjust trial of 16 civil society activists and human rights defenders is scheduled for December 24 before an Istanbul court. The defendants, who include civil society leader Osman Kavala, artists, filmmakers, architects, and NGO workers, are accused of conspiring to overthrow the Turkish government by allegedly organising the … Continued
