Ahmet Altan, an imprisoned Turkish writer and journalist, has topped the December 2020 ranking of the One Free Press Coalition’s “10 Most Urgent” list of press freedom cases. Altan, described by Amnesty International as a “prisoner of conscience”, was first arrested in September 2016 as part of the Turkish government’s media purge following the failed coup d’état. He was accused of encouraging planners of the coup with “subliminal messages” via … Read more →
Turkey
Turkey occupies a unique geographic position, lying partly in Asia and partly in Europe and serving as both a bridge and a barrier between them.
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President Erdoğan has purged the press, now he’s going after social media
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced he will press ahead with his government’s controversial plans aimed at regulating social media companies. On some level, the plans are in line with wider discussions across Europe and the United … Read more →
Refugees caught between Turkish politics and Greek resistance
Background Since the start of the migrant crisis across Europe in 2015, and no less today, Greece has been a focal point for refugees in Europe. Up until March 2016, thousands of asylum seekers were arriving on Greek shores every day before attempting to continue their journeys through Europe. Things changed in March 2016, when the EU struck a deal with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants entering the … Read more →
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Stuck between Turkey and Europe – new NGO pleas highlight dangers for women and children at Moria refugee camp
Salam Aldeen has been helping refugees on the Greek island of Lesvos since 2015.He left his home in Denmark on 5th September of that year, his birthday, but more significantly than that – two days after he first saw pictures in the news of a young Syrian boy … Read more →
How many journalists are behind bars in Turkey?
Speaking to BBC’s Hardtalk on 17 December 2018, Prof. Gulnur Aybet, a senior advisor to the President of Turkey, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, refuted Stephen Sackur’s question about Turkey being the worst jailer of journalists in the world, on the grounds that she has checked the numbers given by various organisations, including Amnesty … Read more →
Erdoğan’s Thugs Plot to Kill Turkish Journalist in Denmark
A plot to kill a critical Turkish journalist living in Denmark by a clandestine group tied to the Turkish government exposes the sheer hypocrisy of the autocratic regime of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been driving a political campaign to exploit the outrageous murder of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul. Hasan Cücük … Read more →
Upcoming Events
Information meeting on the UPR Process in Turkey
The International Observatory of Human Rights and the Press Emblem Campaign are holding a panel discussion on 27 January 2020 to coincide with the UN’s Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review of Turkey. The panel will highlight … Read more →
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IOHR partners with Press Emblem Campaign to consider the future of human rights in Turkey prior to the UN’s Universal Periodic Review 3rd Cycle
The International Observatory of Human Rights teamed up with the Press Emblem Campaign to host a discussion to coincide with the UN’s Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Turkey and to highlight the unprecedented threat to human rights in Turkey. The discussion was convened at the Palais des Nations, United Nations in Geneva … Read more →
The International Observatory of Human Rights (IOHR) organises a protest and International Conference on the Unprecedented Threat to Human Rights in Turkey
IOHR held a protest of solidarity outside the UN headquarters on the 1st November to highlight the plight of press freedom in Turkey. IOHR also held an international conference on the 2nd of November bringing together outspoken members of the British, Swiss, and Dutch parliaments who have been working on the Turkish crisis along with family member … Read more →
Tima Kurdi: From the boy on the beach to safe harbour
On the 15 August 2018 in the David Lloyd George Room at the National Liberal Club, Westminster, the International Observatory of Human Rights (IOHR) brought Tima Kurdi – aunt of drowned Syrian child Alan Kurdi – to London to deliver an address in support of community sponsorship schemes to bring Syrian refugees to safe harbour in Europe. … Read more →
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#TurkeyTribunal
The Turkey Tribunal has been set up in collaboration with International Observatory of Human Rights to establish a framework to review the current situation in Turkey and the promises made by the Turkish government to improve their dire human rights record.
#FreeTurkeyMedia
Press freedom watchdogs described Turkey as the worst jailer of journalists with more than two-hundred reporters and media professionals unjustly detained. President Erdoğan shut dozens of media outlets after ratifying an emergency decree in 2016.