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
Journalists reporting on the coronavirus pandemic that has shaken the world are coming under increasing pressure. According to the International Press Institute report, six journalists from Turkey were either investigated or questioned in March due to their coverage of the coronavirus outbreak
Taken into custody and detained on 8 December on charges of “being a member of a terrorist organization” and “spreading terrorist propaganda”, musician Yılmaz Çelik was released under judicial control
Turkish film, television, and advertising trade unions, associations, professional organizations, and platforms called upon government institutions and ministries to suspend filming for at least two weeks due to the risk involved in the sector in the face of coronavirus pandemic
In Turkey, musicians İbrahim Gökçek and Helin Bölek, who have been on indefinite hunger strike and in critical condition, were forcibly taken by an ambulance to the Ümraniye Training and Research Hospital for “forced intervention”
Turkish Deputy Minister announced that legal action is being taken against the supposedly “fake” news spread through social media platforms about the death of 33 Turkish soldiers during the airstrikes in Syria’s Idlib province
While the Governorship of Istanbul announced that all campaigns for saying “No to War” were banned, it also claimed that such actions and activities were “threatening social peace”.
Access to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were blocked first by the Turkish national platform Türk Telekom and other operators, Vodafone and Turkcell soon after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in airstrikes in Syria’s Idlib province
Grup Yorum guitarist İbrahim Gökçek has been released after the Council of Forensic Medicine submitted a medical report declaring that ‘he cannot remain behind bars.’ He continues his hunger strike in the ‘resistance house’ to protest against the band members’ trial and detention
Former frontman of Grup Munzur, Şenol Akdağ, who had been detained on charges of “performing at a concert under the flag and banner of a terrorist organization” and “spreading terrorist propaganda, was released on 20 February