A stream of ambulances continued to bring the dead from the Turkey’s Soma mine today. The bodies are carried 2km from inside the mine by a stream of volunteers — many of who are miners themselves. As many as 787 miners were in the mine at the time of Tuesday afternoon’s explosion, which is thought to have been caused by [...] → Read the full article…
“Journalists wanted for international news agency,” read the Guardian job ad. As an editor in an industry where opportunities seem to be fading away by the day, you apply for pretty much any full-time job you see. A couple of months later, we arrived in Ankara, Turkey, ready to “write history” as the first international journalists to be welcomed [...] → Read the full article…
Turkey has blocked access to Twitter, hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to close down the social media platform. “We now have a court order. We’ll eradicate Twitter. I don’t care what the international community says. Everyone will witness the power of the Turkish Republic,” Erdogan said at his campaign rally in the western city of Bursa on [...] → Read the full article…
Restrictions on freedom of expression during and following the Gezi Park protests The Turkish authorities severely restricted the right to freedom of expression of journalists and writers during and after the Gezi Park protests in 2013, English PEN and PEN International said in a new joint report published today. Journalists, protesters and social media users are still facing prosecution in [...] → Read the full article…
A United Nations human rights expert and the World Medical Association (WMA) today urged the Turkish parliament to reconsider a draft law that would criminalize the provision of medical care by qualified independent practitioners during emergencies after the arrival of a state ambulance. “If adopted, Article 33 will have a chilling effect on the availability and accessibility of emergency medical [...] → Read the full article…
The European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty in the case of Abdullah Yaş – a protestor who was injured by police tear gas bombs in Diyarbakır in 2006. The Turkish state was ordered to pay 20,000 euros to the applicant. The European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty in the case of Abdullah Yaş – a protestor [...] → Read the full article…
Istanbul (CNN) — Turkish counter-terror police launched pre-dawn raids against scores of targets across Turkey’s largest city Tuesday. At least 30 suspects were detained, Turkey’s semi-official Anatolian Agency reported, in connection with anti-government protests that erupted in Istanbul in late May. What’s driving unrest and protests in Turkey? The Turkish Interior Ministry, the Istanbul governor’s office and Istanbul police declined [...] → Read the full article…
Authorities failing to prosecute crimes against protesters. Following the death of a fifth protester, the FIDH deplores the response to the demonstrations that have been held throughout Turkey since 28 May. Rather than promoting reconciliation and ensuring that Turkey’s citizens are protected and freedom of speech respected, the authorities are engaging in a veritable “witch hunt” against protesters, observers and [...] → Read the full article…
Turkish riot squads fired enormous amounts of tear gas, often at close range in confined spaces, and used other types of disproportionate force in their tactics to crush the antigovernment protests that erupted last month in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities, an alliance of international medical rights groups said in a report released Friday. The report, which cast a new [...] → Read the full article…
Five people have been killed and thousands injured as Turkey is gripped by its biggest wave of anti-government protests in years. Ankara has been criticized for its crackdown on the protests, which it has attempted to downplay in the media. 15:20 GMT: Approximately 2.5 million people have taken to the streets across Turkey since May 31, when a harsh police crackdown [...] → Read the full article…