OBS Urgent Appeal: Arbitrary Detention of Women’s Rights Defenders

Arbitrary detention /

Judicial harassment

July 24, 2020

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your intervention in the following situation in  Turkey.

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the ongoing arbitrary detention of women’s rights defenders Mses.  Elif Haran, co-Chair of the Med Federation of Associations for Legal Aid and Solidarity with Families of Arrestees and Convicts (MED TUHAD-FED), Hasret Alp, Bahar Akyapı  and Figen Ekti, women’s rights activists from the Free Women’s Movement (TJA), as well as the ongoing judicial harassment against  women’s rights defenders Mses. Ayşe Güney, spokesperson of the Mesopotamia Women Journalists’ Platform and editor of Jinnews, Ayşe Gökkan, spokesperson of TJA, Zekiye Güler, Emine Kaya, Selma Metin, Ruken Şehir, Şükran Tamir, Gülseren Akkum , Tekoşin Tekin, and Hatice Şen , women’s rights activists from TJA, Rozerin Çatak, Diyarbakır Branch Executive of the Health and Social Service Laborers’ Union (SES), Dilan Yakut  and Güneş Özel, former executives of Office Workers’ Union (BES).

According to the information received, on July 14, 2020, police officers raided the houses of 23 women in Diyarbakır, including the above stated 17 women’s rights defenders, and took them into custody in Diyarbakır Provincial Security Directorate. In the following days, five additional women were taken into police custody within the scope of the same investigation, including Mses. Hayriye Türkekul  and Aklime Hanas, members of Peace Mothers Initiative who are over 70 years  old. After their interrogation at the Police Directorate was completed, five women who were recently taken into custody were released, and 23 others were later interrogated by the Prosecutor’s Office in Diyarbakır.

The women’s rights defenders are facing the accusation of “membership to a terrorist organisation” for their membership to the women’s rights initiative TJA, their participation in meetings and press statements organised by TJA, their participation in other assemblies, demonstrations and press statements on gender based violence and other women’s rights issues, for taking part in public statements on the hunger strike of Kurdish politicians, as well as for their attendance at the congress of TUHAD-FED.

On July 17, 2020, a total of 18 women, including women’s rights defenders Mses. Ayşe Güney, Ayşe Gökkan, Zekiye Güler,Emine Kaya, Selma Metin, Ruken Şehir, Şükran Tamir, Gülseren Akkum, Tekoşin Tekin, Hatice Şen, Rozerin Çatak, Dilan Yakut and Güneş Özel were released on judicial control by the court while the court ordered the detention of five women, including Mses. Elif Haran, Hasret Alp, Bahar Akyapı and Figen Ekti. The four detained women’s rights defenders are being held in the Diyarbakır Closed Women’s Prison.

The Observatory recalls the recent investigations opened into Rosa Women’s Association and TJA in Diyarbakır, and that tens of women’s rights defenders remain in arbitrary detention for their human rights activities[1].

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention of Mses. Elif Haran, Hasret Alp, Bahar Akyapı and Figen Ekti, as well as the judicial harassment against Mses. Ayşe Güney, Ayşe Gökkan, Zekiye Güler, Emine Kaya, Selma Metin, Ruken Şehir, Şükran Tamir, Gülseren Akkum, Tekoşin Tekin, Hatice Şen, Rozerin Çatak, Dilan Yakut and Güneş Özel, as it seems to be merely aimed at punishing them for exercising their legitimate human rights activities.

The Observatory urges the Turkish authorities to put an end to all forms of harassment, including at the judicial level, against them and all other human rights defenders in Turkey.

Please write to the authorities of Turkey asking them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mses. Elif Haran, Hasret Alp, Bahar Akyapı and Figen Ekti and all other human rights defenders in Turkey;

ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Mses. Elif Haran, Hasret Alp, Bahar Akyapı and Figen Ekti and all other human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in Turkey as their detention is arbitrary since it only seems to aim at punishing them for their human rights activities;

iii. Put an end to all forms of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Mses. Elif Haran, Hasret Alp, Bahar Akyapı, Figen Ekti, Ayşe Güney, Ayşe Gökkan, Zekiye Güler, Emine Kaya, Selma Metin, Ruken Şehir, Şükran Tamir, Gülseren Akkum, Tekoşin Tekin, Hatice Şen, Rozerin Çatak, Dilan Yakut and Güneş Özel, and against all human rights defenders in Turkey;

iv. Put an end to the judicial harassment and arbitrary detention of Kurdish women’s rights defenders and provide an enabling environment in which they can continue their legitimate activities in defense of women’s rights;

v. Comply with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its Articles 1, 6(a), 9, 11 and 12.2;

vi. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Turkey.

·     President of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Fax: +90 (312) 525 58 31. Email: contact@tccb.gov.tr

·     Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdülhamit Gül. Email: info@adalet.gov.tr. Fax: +90 (0312) 419 33 70

·     Minister of Interior, Mr. Süleyman Soylu. Email: diab@icisleri.gov.tr ;  sti@icisleri.gov.tr

·     Ambassador Mr. Mehmet Kemal Bozay, Diplomatic Mission of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. Fax: + 32 2 511 04 50. Email: info@turkdeleg.org;  tr-delegation.eu@mfa.gov.tr

·     Ambassador Mr. Sadık Arslan, Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Email:  turkey.unog@mfa.gov.tr

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

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Paris-Geneva, July 24, 2020

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

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency 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