Provisional release of Mr. Orhan Kemal Cengiz and travel ban against him

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliablesources about the provisional release ofMr. Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a human rights lawyer[1],a journalist who writes on various human rights issues and founding member andformer President of the Human Rights Agenda Association (Insan HaklariGundemi Dernegi – HRAA)[2]. As a journalist, Orhan KemalCengiz published articles on various newspapers including Today's Zaman,Radikal, Al-Monitor, Ozgur Dusunce and Bugun.

According to the information received, on July 24, 2016, the Prosecutor ordered the provisional release ofOrhan Kemal Cengiz and issued a travel ban against him, pending the end of theinvestigation.

During his interrogation, the Prosecutor informed Orhan Kemal Cengiz that he was investigatedwithin the framework of a criminal case regardingMuhammed Fethullah Gülen’s alleged terrorist organisation. Orhan Kemal Cengizwas questioned about a few tweets posted on his Twitter account.

The Observatory welcomes the release of Orhan Kemal Cengiz but deploreshis continuing judicial harassment, which seems to merely aim at sanctioninghis human rights activities.

Until all charges are dropped, the Observatory calls upon the Turkishauthorities to cancel the travel ban and ensure that any judicial proceedingagainst him are carried out in full compliance with his right to a fair trial,as protected under international law.

Background information:

Since July 2015, the Turkish authorities have launched a massivecrackdown on some civil society organisations abusively depicted as “terroristnetworks”. The campaign targeted dozens of peaceful activists who have beeninvolved in the monitoring of human rights violations resulting fromanti-terrorism operations and who have been advocating for a peacefulresolution of the Kurdish issue, including NGO members, lawyers, political partyrepresentatives and journalists.

On July 17, 2016, Mr. Orhan Kemal Cengiz was mentioned on a blacklist of“dissent journalists” to be detained soon, published on the pro-Government Twitteraccount known as Başkentçi.

On July 21, 2016, Mr. Orhan Kemal Cengiz and his wife, Ms. SibelSemira Hurtas[3],were arrested by the police at Istanbul’s Ataturk international airport, beforeboarding for a plane to London to attend a conference promoted by the TahirElci Foundation and placed in police custody. Sibel Semira Hurtas was releasedon the same day, while Orhan Kemal Cengiz was detained in Istanbul SecurityDirectorate located on Vatan Avenue.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Turkey asking them to:

i. Drop all the chargesagainst Mr. Orhan Kemal Cengiz, and ensure that any judicial proceedingsagainst him are carried out in full compliance with the defendant's right to afair trial, as protected under international law;

ii. Put an end to the travelban imposed against Mr. Orhan Kemal Cengiz;

iii. Guarantee in allcircumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Orhan KemalCengiz as well as of all human rights defenders in Turkey;

iv. Put an end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level,against Mr. Orhan Kemal Cengiz and all human rights defenders in Turkey, so that they are able to carry out their workwithout hindrance;

v. Comply with all theprovisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, inparticular with its Articles 1, 6(b)(c) and 12.2;

vi. Ensure in allcircumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordancewith international human rights standards and international instrumentsratified by Turkey.

Addresses:

· President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Fax: +90 (312) 525 58 31,E-mail: contact@tccb.gov.tr

·Prime Minister of Turkey AhmetDavutoglu, Fax: +90 (312) 40362 82

·Minister of Justice of Turkey, Mr. Bekir Bozdağ, Fax: +90 (0312) 419 3370; E-mail: info@adalet.gov.tr

· Minister of Interior of Turkey, Mr. EfkanAla; Fax: +90 (312) 425 61 30; Email: ozelkalem@icisleri.gov.tr

· Ambassador Izzet Selim Yenel, Diplomatic Mission of Turkey to theEuropean Union in Brussels, Belgium; Fax: + 32 2 511 04 50

· Ambassador Mehmet Ferden Çarikçi, Permanent Mission of Turkey to theUnited Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 734 08 59; Email: mission.turkey@ties.itu.int

Please also write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of Turkey inyour respective country.

[1] He is one of the lawyers in the “Tahir Elci” case, a Kurdish humanrights lawyer and President of the Diyarbakir Bar Association killed inNovember 2015. In February 2016, he spoke at the Geneva Summit for HumanRights, devoting his entire speech to the memory of Mr. Tahir Elci.

[2] The HRAA was established in 2003 in order to work at the national andinternational levels on human rights violations, especially on torture, freedomof expression, minority rights and economic, social and cultural rights.

[3] Ms. Sibel SemiraHurtas is a journalist specialising in women's rights and State crimes.