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Shoot Me For God’s Sake

The only crime and criminals the young woman ever saw were in movies. Suddenly, she found herself in prison without any evidence of a crime. When she had a severe nervous breakdown because she was unable to bear the separation from her two little children, the head guard in prison threatened her with sending her to a mental hospital.

She never shed a tear again. When she was released and pending trial, she found out that her mother was diagnosed with cancer, due to suffering from intense grief. Afterward, she faced the risk of being imprisoned again, in violation of the rule of law, she had no other choice but to leave her beloved country together with her husband and children.
They found freedom in Greece, but new challenges were on the horizon. Unfortunately, she was shocked by her little son’s illness. You will witness the story of Birgül – in her own words – who was imprisoned at a young age, left her country by crossing the borders via dangerous routes, and felt the pain of her loved ones.

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The Baby in the Bag

“The Baby in the Bag” is a compilation of four riveting first-hand accounts of refugees from modern-day Turkey. Their homelands rapidly turned into open-air prisons that persecuted them for crimes that they had not committed. They stood strong in the face of employment termination, harassment, persecution, incarceration, smuggling, and death in order to defy all odds and find freedom in faraway lands. Their narratives sound more like movies than lived experiences, yet they are the stories of thousands of innocent people.
The title refers to the book’s flagship story of the same name, an intense story of a mother’s requirement to hide her newborn in a duffel bag in order to safely escape Turkey. Join our heroes on their journeys as they search desperately for some of life’s most important treasures; family, freedom, liberty, and happiness.

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Inconceivable torture as a grave human rights violation in Turkey at Şanlıurfa Counter-Terrorism Branch (TEM): “I put on a condom, now I will rape you”

Another grave human rights violation documented by Sevinç Özarslan with the victim of torture in Turkey. The history teacher, who worked as a teacher in the closed private teaching institution and had 3 children, who did not want his name to be disclosed for security reasons, told about the torture he faced in Şanlıurfa Counter-Terrorism Branch.

He was taken to Sanliurfa TEM with his 15-day-old baby, whose heart was born bigger than it should, and his puerperant wife. Moreover, he was subjected to such torture that he still could not take the trauma of what he had been through. The incident that happened was disgusting enough to identify it as subhuman. After they completely cut off contact with his wife and child, they put him in the cell. After being pressured to take advantage of effective regret, the victim, who did not even know the crime that he did, was tortured. In the winter, they imprisoned him in a room with open windows and no heating. They did not permit to sleep him until the morning with the control of police on duty, and then he was exposed to those horrible events he will never forget. First, they forced him to be naked, leaving only the underwear. They cursed and assaulted mothers, spouses, children, and whatever values came to mind with very severe insults. He was stripped and beaten after being blindfolded by people who were called “Interrogators“; and he heard that an interrogator said, “I put on condoms, now I will rape you.” Although this person could not do the action, he was tempted to do so. At the same time, they threatened the victim with open surgery, and the history teacher, who came to the end of his patience, shouted to be operated on without anesthesia. Even more painful, after all these tortures, they realized that they took the wrong person and then stopped the torture.

The reasons for a 44-year-old father with 3 children to live those situations are the fact that he was dismissed with the decree numbered 672, that he had just insurance registration in the closed institutions and his children were studying in Gulen-affiliated schools, that he had accounts at the Bank Asya, which was a bank approved by the state and its inaugurate was made by President Erdogan himself.

In a country where so-called democracy and justice are alleged, the main offense is to rape or allega batter, threaten with his family and feel entitled to this.

Source:

Interview by Sevinç Özarslan from Bold Medya with the victim of torture in Turkey on 2/9/2021. (The name of the victim is not disclosed because of security reasons)

https://boldmedya.com/2021/02/09/sanliurfa-temde-iskence-prezervatif-taktim-simdi-tecavuz-edecegim/

http://aktifhaber.com/m/gundem/sanliurfa-temde-iskence-prezervatif-taktim-simdi-tecavuz-edecegim-h156393.html

Reports on Torture in Turkey

https://oldwebsite09012025.silencedturkey.org/erdogans-torture-squads-and-torture-in-turkey-as-a-grave-human-rights-violation

https://oldwebsite09012025.silencedturkey.org/systematic-torture-and-ill-treatment-in-turkey

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/29/turkey-police-watchmen-involved-torture-ill-treatment

Stories of the victims fled from Turkey:

 

 

 

 

 

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Erdogan’s Torture Squads and Torture in Turkey as a Grave Human Rights Violation

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THE CRIME OF TORTURE

As a member of the Council of Europe, Turkey has ratified the European Convention on Human Rights. Even according to the 15th article of the European Convention on Human Rights which permits under extreme circumstances the suspension of certain obligations by members, the ban on the use of torture cannot be suspended. According to the 3rd article of the European Convention on Human Rights titled.

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ADVOCATES OF SILENCED TURKEY REPORT 2020


WORDS FROM THE ADVOCATES

When the Turkish President declared in an infamous speech that “old Turkey no longer exists. This Turkey is new Turkey”, the story of Turkish authoritarianism had once and for all taken on a new character. Since July of 2016, the Turkish government has improperly imprisoned 130,214 homemakers, teachers, NGO workers, academics, judges, prosecutors, and journalists.

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STAND UP FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN TURKEY – JOIN TO PROTESTS ON MARCH 6TH.

2020 has been hard. We have been hit by a pandemic that halted life at multiple levels. This sudden and global event made us realize how valuable our little conveniences in life are. We now realize what it means to travel, have coffee outside our home, meet with friends, and shop for groceries. Now we miss the chores we despised.
There is another pandemic that has been here for years: Violence against women. Women in most places cannot live their ordinary lives without brutality, harassment, inequality, or aggression. Globally, 35 % of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by their partners. 137 women are killed by a member of their family every day. Calls to help lines have increased five-fold in some countries during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Some countries are especially darker. In 2009, 42% of Turkish women between the ages of 15 and 60 were subject to violence. Global Gender Gap Index 2020 ranks Turkey 130th among 153 countries.

Since the alleged coup attempt in 2016, women’s rights have been systematically ignored and violated by the Turkish authorities. Many women in custody were subject to strip searches. They were asked to undress and squat while naked, sometimes with cameras present. More than 5,000 women have been jailed as political prisoners, 600 women were held in detention with their children including 100 women who were pregnant or had just given birth. 780 babies are imprisoned alongside with their mothers who were not convicted of any crimes.

AST will organize protests in more than 25 locations including, New York, Washington, Toronto to raise the voice to end the violence against women in Turkey and in the World. Your participation will be extremely valuable to all the women suffering under the violence and motivate who are joining their efforts to make a difference.

Be a part of these protests, help the victims of violence, spread the word!
Advocates of Silenced Turkey

For more info

[email protected]

Support
https://oldwebsite09012025.silencedturkey.org/donatenow

Report on Women Rights violations

WOMEN’S RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY THE TURKISH LEGAL SYSTEM

 

 

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Take Action: Enforced disappearances in Turkey – The Case of Hüseyin Galip Küçüközyiğit

Following the coup attempt of July 15, 2016, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency paving the way for a crackdown on political opponents which has ultimately led to gross violations of civil rights and liberties of Turkish citizens.

The Turkish government has revoked passports and aggressively petitioned for the arrest and deportation of dissenters overseas including individuals under UN protection. Abductions, forced disappearances, and renditions of dissenters are among the long list of atrocious crimes committed by the Turkish government. The Turkish state has even conducted cross-border operations by brazenly abducting its citizens from other countries. This is not only an offense against the national sovereignty of countries where these covert operations are conducted but also an egregious insult to international human rights laws. There is also ample evidence to suggest that once dissenters are abducted, they undergo extensive torture and suffer physical and emotional trauma at the hands of their unidentified abductors. They are not informed of the charges brought against them as they are apprehended and are deprived of their due process rights. Some of these abducted individuals face trial after be- ing subjected to months of torture if they are lucky enough to survive the horrifying ordeal. The Turkish government has rarely repudiated claims of such horrific acts and illegalities committed against dissenters. On the contrary, these inhumane practices are lauded amongst national intelligence agencies and government officials. Stories of dissenters being viciously abducted in front of their families are boasted of by sycophant media out-lets who cheer for and commend the brutal acts of the government.

On December 29, 2020 a new allegation of enforced disappearance in Turkey about Hüseyin Galip Küçüközyiğit, a former civil servant dismissed from his job by an emergency decree, was reported. His daughter, Nursena Küçüközyiğit, has been trying to file a criminal complaint saying that her father was abducted, however, authorities in the northwestern city of Kocaeli, notably the public prosecutor’s office and the police department, refused to receive the complaint.

Last Contact With The Abductee

Küçüközyiğit last spoke with his daughter Nursena on the phone on December 29 at around 3:30 p.m. His coworkers were the last people to have seen him. About 4 p.m. he left his office to visit a friend in Ankara’s Gölbaşı district, by a Mazda 323 with license plate 34 FNF 28. His cell phone stopped receiving signals at 4:23 pm.

Nursena Küçüközyiğit says her father was unemployed for a long time after being expelled from public service and was held in detention for six months for his alleged links with Gülen Movement. After he was released, he set up a business to offer legal advice to other purged public sector workers, which, Nursena believes might have been the reason her father to be abducted.

Similarities with Other Abduction Incidents

Kucukozyigit was a civil servant like many other victims of the recent abduction cases. Almost all abductions occurred at public places while the abductee was about to leave from an acquainted location. After months of their disappearances, victims resurfaced under police detention and were arrested immediately. Also almost in all cases, police officers and public prosecutors have been hesitant to open a case in spite of the clear and concrete evidence of a crime.

Growing Number of Cases of Abductions with Black Transporters

In many of the disappearances, a black transport vehicle is used, according to the eyewitnesses and CCTV footages. A group of masked men, believed to be the members of the Turkish intelligence agency, are grabbing the victims and pulling them into a black transporter van and disappear swiftly.

Almost all of the victims of these enforced disappearances resurfaced months after they went missing in bruises and traumatized. Some have spoken out in court, recounting the systematic and severe torture they were subjected to during their secret interrogation by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), The victims also have reported that they were kept until their wounds got healed to be handed over to the police.

According to the testimonies of former MİT directors Erhan Pekçetin and Aydın Günel, who was captured by Syrian Kurdish militants in 2017 while they were in a covert operation in northern Syria, all abducted people that have affiliations with the Hizmet movement were tortured and interrogated in a building in the capital city of Turkey, Ankara(1)

Nursena thinks her father is yet another victim of the enforced disappearances and she is worried that he might be subject to torture. She says has reached CCTV footages displaying that Galip Kucukozyigit was followed by three suspicious men on the day he disappeared but she was not able to convince a prosecutor to open an investigation.

According to Kucukozyigit’s daughter Nursena, Turkish police are not willing to search for evidence against her father’s kidnapping. The only answer she could get from the police is: “We are unable to provide any information.” Families of other victims were also faced with the same attitude by the police, who were reluctant to investigate and collect evidence. The United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances in its reports emphasized that the Turkish authorities were not pursuing the necessary investigative tracks. Detailed information about and a full list of enforced disappearances of Turkish nationals can be found in AST’s report, Erdogan’s Long Arms: Abductions In Turkey And Abroad2.

Forced disappearances and abductions are an assault on human rights as established by the Convention on the Forced Disappearance of Persons. According to Advocates for Silenced Turkey (AST)’s report3, there have been 135 abductions and forced disappearances to date; this report consists of an alarming number of ac- counts of abductions and torture provided by abductees. AST calls on international human rights organizations to urge Turkish authorities to abide by domestic and international laws of human rights and cease their illegal and inhumane practices of abductions, forced disappearance, and renditions immediately.

Hafza Y. GIRDAP
Executive Director and Spokesperson[email protected]

1 “MIT Officials Confess Turkey’s Relations with ISIS and Al Nusra.” ANF News, 23 Jan.2018, anfenglish.com/news/mit-officials-confess-turkey-s-relations-with-isis- and-al-nusra-24382.

2 https://oldwebsite09012025.silencedturkey.org/erdogans-long-arms-abductions-in-turkey-and-abroad

3 https://oldwebsite09012025.silencedturkey.org/erdogans-long-arms-abductions-in-turkey-and-abroad

Relevant Human Rights Institutions
The Honorable Dunja MijatovicOffice of the Commissioner for Human Rights Council of Europe
Avenue de I’Europe F-67075
Strasbourg Cedex, FrancePhone: +33 (0)3 88 41 34 21
Fax: +33 (0)3 90 21 50 53
Email: [email protected]
United National Human Rights Committee

Petitions Team
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Fax: + 41 22 917 9022 (particularly for urgent matters)
E-mail: [email protected]
Committee Against Torture

Petitions and Inquiries Section
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

E-mail:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

OHCHR-UNOG CH
1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland

Phone: (41-22) 917 90 00
Fax: (+41-22) 917 90 06
E-mail: [email protected]
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission House Committee on Foreign Affairs 5100 O’Neill House Office Building 200 C Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20515

Phone: +1 (202) 225-3599
Fax: +1 (202) 226-6584
Email: [email protected]
US Helsinki Commission

234 Ford House Office Building 3rd and D Streets SW
Washington, DC 20515

Email: [email protected]
The Honorable Abdülhamit Gül

Minister of Justice
06659 Kizilay
Ankara, Republic of Turkey

Email: [email protected]

 

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WOMEN’S RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY THE TURKISH LEGAL SYSTEM

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The intent of this report is to declare the victims of the ‘New Turkey,’ especially women with children who have been under persecution since the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. Although the Turkish government does not promote transparent data on the number of children imprisoned with their mothers, there are 864 children in the prison according to the Justice Department Prison and Penitentiaries Management. The ages of these children vary between newborns to 6 years, as of May 24, 2019.

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TÜRKİYE’DEKİ İŞKENCECİLER

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İŞKENCECİLER

İşkence suçu;
Türkiye Avrupa Konseyi’nin üyesi bir hukuk devleti olarak Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesi’ne taraftır. Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesi’nin olağanüstü hallerde yükümlülükleri askıya almayı düzenleyen 15. maddesine göre işkence yasağı OHAL’de bile askıya alınamayacak insan haklarındandır. Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesi’nin ‘İşkence Yasağı’ başlığını taşıyan 3. maddesine göre ‘Hiç kimse işkenceye veya insanlık dışı ya da aşağılayıcı muamele veya cezaya tabi tutulamaz…”

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Freedom Convention 2020

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Turkey Freedom Forum is a unique convention for human rights activists, intellectuals and policy makers focused on human rights violations in Turkey organized by AST. Participants and experts will not only learn the ongoing violations and persecutions in Turkey but also be able to develop strategies and recommendations to Turkish government and international bodies to end those grave violations through the panel discussions.

In pursuance of justice and peace, this forum aims to bring hundreds of human rights defenders and activists together and also to foster the dynamics to mobilize.

December 9-10th, 

 

Registration Form

 

If you have any questions concerning these terms and condition please contact us at [email protected]

 


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