TUR 002 / 0619 / OBS 047

Arbitrary arrest / Release/

Judicial harassment

Turkey

June 6, 2019

The Observatory for the Protection ofHuman Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World OrganisationAgainst Torture (OMCT), requests your intervention in the following situationin Turkey.

Descriptionof the situation:

The Observatory has beeninformed by reliable sources about the arbitrary arrest and subsequent releaseof Ms. Nurcan Baysal. A journalist and 2018 Global Laureate for HumanRights Defenders at Risk by Front Line Defenders, Ms. Nurcan Baysal has beendocumenting and writing about human rights abuses in the Kurdish region ofTurkey since 2012.

According to theinformation received, on June 3, 2019, five Anti-Terror Police officers arrested Ms.Nurcan Baysal at her home in Diyarbakir and took her to the Anti-TerrorDepartment of Police over suspicion of membership of an armed terroristorganisation, with the intention to keep her in detention until June 10, 2019,when the prosecutor who ordered her arrest will come back from holidays. Afterthree hours of detention, under international pressure, police officers tookher to the prosecutor on duty, who did not know the reason of her arrest,recognised that her file was dating back from 2010-2012 and that he did notknow why it had been reopened, and decided to release her. Ms. Nurcan Baysal’slawyers said prosecutors did not provide them with further details about thecharges. It is expected that the prosecutor who issued the arrest warrantagainst Ms. Nurcan Baysal will take a decision on her case in the daysfollowing June 10.

In April 2019, Ms.Nurcan Baysal gave a speech[1] at theGeneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. When she returned to Turkey, herspeech was reported by pro-government media and it was published that Nurcan Baysal had given a speech inGeneva and blamed Turkish government for killing civilians, calling her a lier,traitor and supporter of PKK organisation. Ms. Nurcan Baysal and her lawyerdecided to file a complaint against the media.

The Observatory recallsthat it is not the first time Ms. Nurcan Baysal is targeted for the legitimateexercise of activities to promote human rights. In January 2018, she wasarrested over charges of “terrorist propaganda” during the night, after thepolice broke her home door, in connection with five tweets in which shedemanded peace and condemned the military incursion launched by the Turkishgovernment in Afrin, Syria. The prosecutor requested a three years jailsentence but Ms. Nurcan Baysal was acquitted in that case in April 2019. InFebruary 2018, in another case, she was sentenced to 10 months of prison for“humiliating the Turkish security forces” in an article she wrote in 2016 andin which she criticized the Turkish military operation in the Kurdish city ofCizre. The court decided to suspend the verdict and decided there would be nopenalty as long as Ms. Nurcan Baysaldoes not “humiliate the Turkish security forces” again within five years.

The Observatory firmly condemns the arbitraryarrest of Ms. Nurcan Baysal, which seems to be only aimed at punishing her forhuman rights activities, and calls on the Turkish authorities to put an end toall acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against her and allthe human rights defenders in Turkey.

Actions requested:

Please write to theauthorities of Turkey asking them to:

i. Guarantee in allcircumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Ms. Nurcan Baysal;

ii. Put an end to all forms of harassment,including at the judicial level, against Ms. Nurcan Baysal and against allhuman rights defenders in Turkey;

iii. Comply with all the provisions of theUnited Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN GeneralAssembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its Articles 1, 6(a), 9, 11 and12.2;

iv. Ensure in all circumstances respect forhuman rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international humanrights standards and international instruments ratified by Turkey.

Addresses:

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

· Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdülhamit Gül,E-mail: ozelkalem@adalet.gov.tr

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

· H.E. Mr. Kaymakci Faruk, Ambassador, DiplomaticMission of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, E-mail: tr-delegation.eu@mfa.gov.tr; Fax: + 32 2 511 04 50

· H.E. Mr. Sadık Arslan, Ambassador, PermanentMission of Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, E-mail: turkey.unog@mfa.gov.tr; Fax: +41 22 734 08 59

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

***

Paris-Geneva, June 6, 2019

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

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is tointervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rightsdefenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights DefendersMechanism implemented by international civil society.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergencyline:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 4355 18 80

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

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