Judicial harassment /

Ill-treatment /

Turkey

August 9, 2017

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation AgainstTorture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation inTurkey.

Descriptionof the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about thearbitrary arrest and the provisional release three days later of Ms. GülserenYoleri, President ofthe Istanbul Branch of the Human Rights Association (İnsan Haklari Derneği – İHD) and Executive Committee member of IHD,and Mr. Dogan Ozkan, member of the IHD Istanbul executive board.

According to the information received, on August 5, 2017, around 8 pm,the police arrested Ms. Gülseren Yoleri and Mr. Dogan Ozkan alongside with at least 39demonstrators, including journalists and lawyers, following a protest, in theBesiktas district. The protest was held in support of Ms. Nuriye Gülmen and Mr.Semih Özakça, two dismissed teachers who have been in ahunger strike for more than 150 days and are famous for their struggledenouncing the mass layoffs initiated by the Turkish authorities after thefailed coup d’état in 2016.

The 41 arrested protesters were taken toEminyiet police station. Ms. GülserenYoleri and Mr. Dogan Ozkan and other demonstrators were victims ofill-treatment during the arrest. Ms. GülserenYoleri was beaten at the police station and Mr. Dogan Ozkan was handcuffed and beaten during his arrest and at the policestation. Another imprisoned protester, Ms. Barkin Timtik, a lawyer, wasalso beaten after she refused to give her finger prints at the police station.

Furthermore, the arrested protesters were denied proper access to their lawyers, whowere allowed a limited contact with their clients. The Public Prosecutorrejected meeting requests of the lawyers without providing grounds.

On August 8, 2017, thePeace Criminal Judge ordered the provisional release of the 41 detainees,including Ms. Gülseren Yoleri and Mr. Dogan Ozkan on condition of judicial control[1].The 41 are still facing prosecution for allegedly “makingpropaganda on behalf of an illegal organisation” (Article 7/2 of theAnti-Terror Law – ATL) and participating in non-authorised demonstration(Article 2911 of the Penal Code).

The Observatoryexpresses its deepest concerns over this new wave of arbitrary arreststargeting human rights defenders for the exercise of their freedoms ofassociation and peaceful assembly.

The Observatory stronglycondemns the judicial harassment of Messrs. Gülseren Yoleri and Dogan Ozkan,which appears to only aim at sanctioning to their peaceful and legitimate humanrights activities. Accordingly, the Observatory calls upon the Turkish judicialauthorities to end all forms of harassment against Ms. Gülseren Yoleri and Mr.Dogan Ozkan.

Actions requested:

Pleasewrite to the authorities in Turkey, urging them to:

i. GuaranteeMs. Gülseren Yoleri and Mr. Dogan Ozkan the right to due process and a fair trial, includingadequate access to their lawyers and to information about the judicialprocedure against them;

ii. Guaranteein all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Ms. GülserenYoleri and Mr. Dogan Ozkan as well as ofall human rights defenders in Turkey;

iii. Putan end to all forms of harassment, including at judicial level, against Messrs.Gülseren Yoleri and Dogan Ozkan, as well asall human rights defenders in Turkey;

iv. Orderan immediate, thorough, transparent, effective and impartial investigation intothe above-mentioned allegations of physical and psychological pressure ofMessrs. Gülseren Yoleri and Dogan Ozkan in order to identify all those responsible, bringthem before an independent tribunal, and apply the sanctions provided by thelaw to them;

v. Complywith all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human RightsDefenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particularits Articles 1, 6(a), 9, 11 and 12.2;

vi. Ensurein all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms inaccordance with international human rights standards and internationalinstruments ratified by Turkey.

Addresses:

· President of Turkey,Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Fax: (+90 312) 525 58 31

· Prime Minister of TurkeyBinali Yıldırım, Fax: +90 (312) 403 62 82 Email: ozelkalem@basbakanlik.gov.tr

· Minister of Justice,Mr. Bekir Bozdağ, Fax: +90 (0312) 419 33 70; E-mail: ozelkalem@adalet.gov.tr

· Minister of Interior,Mr. Süleyman Soylu; Fax: +90 (312) 425 61 30

· Ambassador Izzet SelimYenel, Diplomatic Mission of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium;Fax: + 32 2 511 04 50

· Ambassador Mr. AliNaci Koru, Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva,Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 734 08 59; Email: mission.turkey@ties.itu.int

Please also write to the diplomaticmission or embassy of Turkey in your respective country.

***

Paris-Geneva, August 9, 2017

Kindly inform us of any actionundertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (theObservatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and OMCT The objective of thisprogramme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression againsthuman rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented byinternational civil society.

To contact the Observatory, call theemergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

[1] The judicial control includes a travel ban to leave the country and theobligation to appear at the police station once a week on Saturdays. @font-face { font-family: "Arial";}@font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math";}@font-face { font-family: "Liberation Serif";}@font-face { font-family: "Noto Sans CJK SC Regular";}@font-face { font-family: "FreeSans";}@font-face { font-family: "OpenSymbol";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }h1 { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 21.6pt; text-indent: -21.6pt; page-break-after: avoid; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-weight: normal; }h4 { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 43.2pt; text-indent: -43.2pt; page-break-after: avoid; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-weight: normal; }p.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoBodyText, li.MsoBodyText, div.MsoBodyText { margin: 0cm 0cm 7pt; line-height: 120%; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline; }span.Titre1Car { }span.Titre4Car { }span.Caractresdenotedebasdepage { vertical-align: super; }span.Appelnotedebasdep1 { vertical-align: super; }span.Marquedecommentaire1 { }span.CorpsdetexteCar { }p.WW-TextBody, li.WW-TextBody, div.WW-TextBody { margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; line-height: 120%; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }span.NotedebasdepageCar { }span.msoIns { text-decoration: underline; color: teal; }span.msoDel { text-decoration: line-through; color: red; }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 10pt; }div.WordSection1 { }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; }