#FreeTurkeyMedia

The International Observatory of Human Rights is organising this international conference on 2nd November in Geneva to highlight the unprecedented threat to human rights in Turkey. In a rare congregation; families of Turkish prisoners currently languishing behind bars, prominent Turkish journalists and lawyers living in exile and active members of civil society will come together to speak on the ongoing witch-hunt and … Read more →

The International Observatory of Human Rights is organising a peaceful stand outside the United Nations office at Geneva on 1st of November at 4.00 pm to protest against the unprecedented threat to human rights, due process and press freedom in Turkey. … Read more →

Turkey finally ending its 2-year state of emergency last week was a move that should have signalled a move towards more secure times. But conversely a new draft bill has been passed that could put an end to the rule of law and maintain the systemic abuse of power that has been in operation since the state of emergency was declared in 2016. … Read more →

IOHR brought civil society activists, exiled journalists, lawyers, and policy makers to the Swiss Press Club in Geneva to raise awareness of the unprecedented threat to human rights in Turkey. The international conference featured a special interview with award winning US journalist Lindsey Snell on her incarceration in Turkey and featured panel discussions with MEPs Julie Ward and Takis Hadjigeorgiou, Vice-President, EP Delegation for relations with Turkey. … Read more →

Exiled prominent Turkish journalist Kerim Balci who fled the country fearing for his life speaks about the prosecution of 1544 Turkish lawyers and judges including those given lengthy sentences. Is there any hope for an independent judiciary in Turkey? … Read more →

IOHR in collaboration with the Stockholm Center for Freedom organised a panel discussion in Sweden on World Press Freedom Day with a focus on the crackdown on media in Turkey–the worst jailer of journalists. A number of Turkish journalists living in exile called on President Erdogan to free more than 200 jailed journalists. … Read more →

IOHR organised a panel discussion at the Sorbonne University in Paris to debate the ongoing trial of 17 Cumhuriyet journalists. Muratcan Sabuncu, son of imprisoned editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, and Yonca Şik, wife of incarcerated journalist Ahmet Sik, joined Ernest Sagaga, from the International Federation of Journalists and Johann Bihr, head of Reporters Without Borders central Asia and eastern Europe. … Read more →

Muratcan Sabuncu – Son of Murat Sabuncu, incarcerated editor-in-chief of Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, discusses the mass incarceration of journalists and rights defenders in Turkey. Turkey is the world’s foremost jailer of journalists with almost 150 imprisoned. Muratcan Sabuncu reveals the details of his father’s incarceration and the Turkish state’s neglect of universal human rights and freedoms. … Read more →

The arbitrary practice of seizing and revoking passports, or denying the issue of new ones for critics, opponents and dissidents, as well as for their spouses, children and relatives in Turkey by the government of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has turned at least half a million people into captives condemned to live in an open prison, where the right to travel freely has been unlawfully restricted, along with expanded limitations on other fundamental human rights. … Read more →

Events within two weeks of the election of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggest that the dire state of human rights violations in Turkey will continue to go from bad to worse, and that the worst is yet to come. … Read more →

The concepts of human rights, freedom of speech and freedom of religious beliefs emerged from the ashes of WWII. Theoretically, we are living in peacetime and the actors involved in conflict zones are supposed to honour and uphold international law and human rights. But in reality, we are neither in peacetime nor are human rights protected as they should be. This analysis could also extend to non- conflict zones. But to remain focused on the point at hand – human rights and international law, which are purportedly a norm of today’s world, are in fact exceptions. … Read more →

The International Observatory of Human Rights is organising this international conference on 2nd November in Geneva to highlight the unprecedented threat to human rights in Turkey. … Read more →