Arbitrary detention and upcoming trial of four academics and researcher

The Observatory for the Protection ofHuman Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation forHuman Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requestsyour urgent intervention in the following situation in Turkey.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed byreliable sources about the arbitrary detention and upcoming trial of four academics andresearchers, Ms. Esra Mungan Gürsoy, Ms. Meral Camcı, Mr. Kıvanç Ersoy and Mr. MuzafferKaya.

According to the information received, onApril 22, 2016, Ms. Esra Mungan Gürsoy, Ms. Meral Camcı, Mr. Kıvanç Ersoy andMr. Muzaffer Kaya will appear before the Istanbul 13th Heavy PenalCourt to face charges of “terrorist propaganda” (Article 7/2 of Anti-Terrorism Law) after denouncing human rightsviolations in a press statement and a petition. Currently heldin pre-trial detention, the four face prison sentences ranging from one and ahalf to seven and a half years.

Ms. Esra Mungan Gürsoy, Mr. Kıvanç Ersoyand Mr. Muzaffer Kaya were arrested on March 15, 2016 and have since beendetained in high security closed prisons in İstanbul, Bakırköy Prison for Womenand Silivri Prison for Men, respectively. Ms. Meral Camcı was arrested upon herreturn to Turkey on March 31, 2016 and has been detained in Bakırköy Prison forWomen since then.

The indictment against them refers to apress statement which they read out on March 10, 2016 on behalf of theAcademics for Peace, as well as to a related petition, entitled “We will not bea Party to This Crime”, which was supported by more than 1,000 academicsthroughout Turkey and abroad (see background information).

The Observatory expresses its deepestconcern over the ongoing judicial harassment and arbitrary detention of humanrights defenders in Turkey and calls upon the Turkish authorities toimmediately and unconditionally release Ms. Esra Mungan Gürsoy, Ms. MeralCamcı, Mr. Kıvanç Ersoy and Mr. Muzaffer Kaya and drop all charges pendingagainst academics for denouncing human rights violations since they arearbitrary as they only aim at sanctioning their human rights activities.Pending their release, it further urges the Turkish authorities to ensure thatany judicial proceeding against Ms. Esra Mungan Gürsoy, Ms. Meral Camcı, Mr.Kıvanç Ersoy and Mr. Muzaffer Kaya are carried out in full compliance withtheir right to a fair trial, as protected under international law.

Background information:

On January 15, 2016 an anti-terrorismpolice operation targeting more than 1.000 academics in Turkey who had signed astatement denouncing State violence on Kurdish provinces was launched, leadingto the arrest of 20 of them[1],amongwhom Mr. M.D. Ümit Biçer, Board Member of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT) and professor at the Kocaeli University, under laws prohibiting “makingpropaganda for a terrorist organisation” and the ”denigration of the TurkishNation”. Later on the same date, all academics were released. At the time ofpublication of this Urgent Appeal, the investigation was ongoing.

On January 11, 2016, more than 1,400academics in Turkey and abroad had published a statement led by Academics forPeace entitled “We will not be a Party to This Crime”. The statement expressedconcern that the ongoing curfews, which have been declared in several citiesacross South East Turkey, are exposing their inhabitants to severe human rightsviolations and asked that they are immediately lifted and that solutions for apermanent peace process be established. Furthermore, it called the State ofTurkey to put an end to violence and prepare the conditions for peacenegotiations. However, soon after its publication, President Recep TayyipErdoğan heavily criticised the academics and compared them to terrorists. In apublic speech made on January 15, 2016, he referred to the academics as “thedarkest of dark” and accused them of having committed “the same crime as thosewho carry out massacres”. The President also called the academics the “fifthcolumn” for terrorists. Several academics are also said to have received threatsvia social media and by telephone, including from nationalist mafia boss SedatPeker, who has publicly threatened the group saying: “we will bathe in yourblood”.

The arrests of the academics have takenplace against the backdrop of the deteriorating human rights situation inTurkey. The authorities have launched a wide-range anti-terrorism operation,started in late July 2015 under the pretext of countering terrorism. In this context, at least 58 curfewshave been imposed in several cities in South East Turkey (Cizre, Sirnak, Sur,Mardin, Diyarbakir, Hakkâri, Muş, Elazığ and Batman), leading to restrictionsin access to basic services for approximately 1,377,000 people living in thesedistricts and to the death between August 16, 2015 and March 18, 2016 of atleast 310 civilians (including 62 women, 72 children, 29 people aged over 60)[2].

The operation turned into a massivecrackdown against peaceful civil society actors depicted as part of “terroristnetworks”. This campaign has been targeting dozens of peaceful activists whohave been involved in the monitoring of human rights violations resulting fromanti-terrorism operations and advocating for a peaceful resolution of theKurdish issue. These peaceful activists include human rights defenders, particularlymembers of HRFT and the Human RightsAssociation (İHD) members, lawyers,political party representatives, academics and journalists[3].

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities in Turkey,urging them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances thephysical and psychological integrity of all human rights defenders in Turkey,including the above-mentioned academics;

ii. Drop all charges against all signatoryacademics, particularly Ms. Meral Camcı, Ms. Esra Mungan Gürsoy, Mr. KıvançErsoy and Mr. Muzaffer Kaya and, in the meantime, ensure that any judicialproceedings against them is carried out in full compliance with the defendants'right to a fair trial, as protected under international law;

iii. Release Ms. Meral Camcı, Ms. EsraMungan Gürsoy, Mr. Kıvanç Ersoy and Mr. Muzaffer Kaya immediately andunconditionally, since their detention is arbitrary as it only aims atcurtailing their human rights activities;

iv. Put an end to all acts of harassment,including at the judicial level, against all human rights defenders in Turkey;

v. Put an end to the crackdown on civilsociety under the pretext of countering terrorism and recognise the legitimaterole of human rights defenders in line with Turkey’s internationalobligations;

vi. Comply with all the provisions of theUnited Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with:

- its Article 1, which provides that“everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, topromote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights andfundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”;

- its Article 6(a-b-c), which foreseesthat “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, (a)to participate in peaceful activities against violations of human rights andfundamental freedoms, (b) as provided for in human rights and other applicableinternational instruments, freely to publish, impart or disseminate to othersviews, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms,(c) to study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in lawand in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, throughthese and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters”;

- its Article 12.2, which provides that“the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by thecompetent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others,against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adversediscrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of hisor her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the presentDeclaration”;

vii. Ensure in all circumstances respectfor human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with internationalhuman rights standards and international instruments ratified 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 Ahmet Davutoglu, Fax: +90(312) 403 62 82 ; Email: ozelkalem@basbakanlik.gov.tr

• Minister of Justice of TurkeyMr. Kenan Ipek, Fax: +90 (0312) 419 33 70; E-mail: info@adalet.gov.tr

• Minister of Interior of Turkey Mr. EfkanAla,Fax: 90 312 418 1795; Email: ozelkalem@icisleri.gov.tr

• Ambassador Izzet Selim Yenel, DiplomaticMission of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium; Fax: + 32 2 51104 50

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

  Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassyof Turkey in your respective country.

  ***

  Paris-Geneva, April 20, 2016

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

[1] The 20 university academics and researchers are Associate Prof.Dr. Aynur Özuğurlu, Associate Prof. Dr. Burcu Yakut Çakar,Assistant Prof. Dr. Derya Keskin, Associate Prof. Dr. Gül Koksal,Associate Prof. Dr. Güven Bakırezer, Associate Prof. Dr. Hakan Koçak,Assistant Prof. Dr. Hülya Kendir, Prof. Dr. Kuvvet Lordoğlu,Prof. Dr. Mehmet Cengiz Erçin, Assistant Prof. Dr. Mehmet Rauf Kesici,Assistant Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ruhi Demiray, Prof. Dr. Nilay Etiler,Prof. Dr. Onur Hamzaoğlu, Associate Prof. Dr. Özlem Özkan, Prof.Dr. Ümit Biçer, Prof. Dr. Veli Deniz, Associate Prof. Dr. YücelDemirer, Prof. Dr. Zelal Ekinci, Research Assistant AdemYeşilyurt, and Assistant Prof. Dr. Emek Bayrak.

[2] Data collected byHRFT Documentation Center.

[3] For more informationsee FIDH Press Release of 21 September 2015:https://www.fidh.org/International-Federation-for-Human-Rights/europe/turkey/turkey-rights-groups-strongly-condemn-escalating-violence-and-human