Feminist writer Gülfer Akkaya, whom the social media account named “Jitem..” the acronym for Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism) threatened to kill, filed a criminal complaint with the Istanbul Courthouse
Grup Yorum denied the news that their application to İstanbul Governorate for a concert had been approved
According to a written statement by İsmail Çataklı, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior, 7 thousand 127 accounts posting about the coronavirus have been placed under surveillance, 1058 social media users have been identified, 496 users have been taken into custody. 10 people have been arrested in the scope of the same operation
In a report on the second month of the coronavirus pandemic in Turkey, The Turkish Medical Association (TMA) underlines that the true impact of the pandemic cannot be assessed as the entire process has not been managed transparently
Mahmut Alınak, Kurdish writer and politician, was released at the first hearing of the case brought against him with a motion for life in imprisonment. Alınak had been in prison for two months
The police attacked the farewell ceremony that was meant to be held in Gazi neighbourhood before sending the body of İbrahim Gökçek, bassist of Grup Yorum, to Kayseri. Gökçek’s parents were also stopped at the entrance of the Djemevi for a criminal record check
Grup Yorum member İbrahim Gökçek had agreed to take a break on his protest following some positive talks after 323 days on hunger strike protesting against concert bans and repression. The band announced the death of Gökçek , who was being treated in intensive care, on their social media account
Crackdown on journalists is on the rise during the corona pandemic. In Turkey, President Erdoğan filed a criminal complaint against Fox News anchor-man and journalist Fatih Portakal for spreading lies and manipulating the public through his social media posts. The story is always the same wherever you go: Fatih Portakal in Turkey, journalist Ana Lalic in Serbia, the law recently enacted in Vietnam, and the measures taken by the media supervision authority Roskomnadzor in Russia. Reporters continue to be accused with such vague language as “spreading fake news”, “sowing fear”, and “causing panic”
Participating in the homophobic campaign of Yeni Akit against ‘Aşk 101’ series, RTÜK President Ebubekir Şahin said that RTÜK, which undertakes the task of supervising internet broadcasting, will not allow broadcasts that are “contrary to the national and moral values of the society” and that “may adversely affect the physical and spiritual development of children and young people”
In Turkey, directors of the documentary movie Bakur (North) were sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison. This marked one of the harshest penalties imposed so far over the allegation of “disseminating terrorist group propaganda”. Speak Up Platform prepared a timeline of the Bakur trial and the developments surrounding it