We cordially invite you to the virtual protest on the occasion of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 26, 2022. Along with reflections from law professionals and human rights experts, true stories of survivors of torture will be shared in this virtual protest which will be live-streamed on YouTube.
International Solidarity for Human Rights Forum – June 5th 2022
You are Cordially invited
As Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST), we are thrilled to announce “The International Solidarity Day for Human Rights” that will be held on June 5, 2022.
This special event aims to draw attention to human rights violations in various parts of the world, particularly in Turkey, and amplify the silent scream of the victims to reach a wider public recognition.
We cordially invite you to this significant forum that will be held at Baymont by Wyndham Hotel, Wayne, NJ on June 5, 2022 at 5pm – 8:30pm.
Turkey’s Human Rights Record in Numbers
Turkey, which was once touted as a model country, has now become a case study of what can happen to a country that moves away from the rule of law and human rights. The painful cries of people groaning at the face of oppression, cruelty and injustice are rising all over Turkey, and what’s worse is that the society in general is blind and deaf to these grievances. While Turkey’s once-faulty democratic regime is rapidly evolving into a one-man dictatorship, economic and social indicators show that the country is precipitating into a ditch.
RELEASE AHMET ÖZKAN IMMEDIATELY
RE: AST URGES TURKISH AUTHORITIES TO RELEASE AHMET ÖZKAN and ALL THE ELDERLY and SEVERELY SICK INMATES IN TURKEY’S PRISONS.
Ahmet Zeki Özkan, a 65-year-old stage 4 cancer patient, has been arbitrarily imprisoned despite the medical reports stressing the severity of his condition.
Ahmet Zeki Özkan was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison for his alleged ties with the Gülen Movement and taken to Antalya L-Type Prison, after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict. Özkan had to stay in the quarantine cell for a week and because there was no bed he had to lie down on the floor. He caught the flu there.
NUSRET MUGLA’S TRAGIC DEATH
ON THE OCCASION OF NUSRET MUGLA’S TRAGIC DEATH AST BRINGS THE URGENT SITUATION OF ELDERLY AND SERIOUSLY ILL PRISONERS TO ATTENTION AND URGES THE GOVERNMENT OF TURKEY TO RELEASE THEM EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY
84-year-old Nusret Sağlam died on February 14 due to COVID-19 he contracted in prison where he was held captive on the grounds of having an account at Bank Asya – one of the hundreds of companies shut down following the July coup attempt in 2016. States are obliged to protect the right to life of those deprived of their liberty and to ensure that they can benefit from health services at least as much as free individuals. The death of Sağlam, who struggled in the severely adverse conditions of prison despite his old age, is no different from a murder due to the reckless neglect of a most basic human right.
Call on the Government of Greece to investigate and end the push-backs of Turkish refugees
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RE: PUSHBACK INCIDENTS AT THE GREEK BORDER
“We have a legal and moral obligation to protect people fleeing bombs, bullets and tyrants, and throughout history those people have enriched our society.” —Juliet Stevenson
Thousands of refugees fleeing their homeland due to violence, terror, or political prosecution use Greece as an entry gate to Europe. Since the beginning of 2014, over 1.1 million refugees have crossed the borders of Greece. (1) Growing numbers of refugees have begun to use Evros as a passage from Turkey to Greece.
In the last couple of years, a significant number of Turkish citizens have also begun to cross the border between Turkey and Greece and sought asylum due to the Turkish government’s targeting of dissidents belonging to different ideologies, particularly the Gulen Movement. Advocates of Silenced Turkey appreciates all the Greek government did to welcome genuine Turkish refugees, who have escaped in fear of their life and freedom. It is important to understand that those who are not able to leave are subjected to social death and are not accepted as fully human by the wider society.
“SONGS SUNG FOR THE OPPRESSED” – SONG CONTEST 2022
Grievances in Turkey and other countries within the scape of human rights violations can be expressed with art especially song as a powerful method.
In this context, AST is organizing a song contest to raise awareness about human rights violations in Turkey.
This competition aims to raise awareness with the power of art about political prisoners, torture, deprivation of fundamental human rights. Another goal of this competition is to bring individuals in the field of art to speak out; reflect aesthetic skills, present the message clearly to the listener; to engage in artistic activities for human rights.
FREEDOM CONVENTION 2021: GRAVE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TURKEY
Freedom Convention Turkey 2021; that will address injustices, inequalities, human rights violations taking place under the current regime in Turkey; will be held virtually on December 10th, Human Rights Day.
Consisting of three panels, the convention will shed a light on human rights violations in Turkey.
Mark your calendars to hear from exclusive voices on these topics.
THE CURRENT SITUATION OF PRISONS
Under the political Islamist Erdoğan regime, which has been ruling Turkey since 2002, the number of prisons reached the highest level in history. With Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) abandoning libertarian discourse and policies and turning to one-man rule in the country, it is striking that prison populations have also increased. The prisons were filled with political prisoners far exceeding their current capacity especially after the failed coup attempt in 2015, with the crackdown carried out against the members of the Gülen movement, an international, voluntary-based education and dialogue community, which the Turkish government designated as a terror organization after the corruption allegations in 2013.
Sick and Elderly Political Prisoners IN ERDOGAN’S TURKEY – Special Report
Introduction
The jails in Turkey have long been mentioned in the same breath as inhumane actions and the breach of even the most basic rights, especially against the political prisoners. The violations have reached to unprecedented levels in parallel with the emergence of the current political-Islamist authoritarianism. The oppressive regime under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule instrumentalized the country’s legal system to muzzle the political dissidence, turning the prisons into concentration camps. The number of inmates behind the bars has reached historic highs. Hosting convicts much more than their capacities, the prisons, which were already substantially subpar, have fallen way below the minimum acceptable standards for human dignity. Patients in particular bore the most of the brunt of this precipitated deterioration of the prison conditions and the wrath of the Turkish regime against its opponents.
