IPS Communication Foundation – Bianet

May 2022 alone has seen local administrations cancel concerts by Kurdish singer Aynur Doğan and musicians Metin and Kemal Kahraman, and the banning of ‘Don Kîxot’, a Kurdish adaptation of Cervantes’s ‘Don Quijote’.

Owner and managing editor of local newspaper ‘Kocaeli Ses’, Güngör Arslan was targeted in an armed attack at his office. A suspect has been arrested.

Detained journalist Sedef Kabaş faces a potential prison sentence of over 12 years for “insulting the president” and “insulting a public official”. Her first hearing is scheduled for 11 March 2022.

Since releasing a video clip for one of her songs, singer Sezen Aksu has faced threats. A group of government supporters filed a criminal complaint against her and she later became the target of the pro-government media, government politicians and their allies, and finally, President Erdoğan.

Turkey’s Council of State has concluded that the Presidency’s Communications Directorate is not authorised to decide who will be given a press card or under what circumstances the press card is to be cancelled.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in 2019 that Turkey should release civil society leader Osman Kavala. Infringement proceedings were initiated due to Turkey’s failure to abide by the ECtHR decision.

Yalçın was convicted of “aiding an illegal organization” and “propagandizing for a terrorist organization.” She was indicted as part of an investigation into the Rosa Women’s Association.

The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey’s report on free expression violations during 2015-2019 notes a sharp increase in the number of charges of “insulting the president” after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s election in 2014.