Turkey: Arbitrary detention of WHRDs and judicial harassment of Rosa Women’s Association

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of women’s rights defenders, including members of Free Women’s Movement (Tevgera Jinen Azad – TJA) and Rosa Women’s Association (RWA) [1], as well as Kurdish politicians, including members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) in Diyarbakır, within the scope of an investigation against the Rosa Women’s Association.

According to the information received, in the early morning of May 22, 2020, Turkish special operation forces raided the houses of 19 people in Diyarbakır and took them into police custody. Those who were taken into police custody are, RWA President Ms. Adalet Kaya; founding members of RWA Mss. Ayla Akat Ata, Narin Gezgör and Fatma Gültekin; RWA executives and also TJA members Mss. Gülcihan Şimşek and Zelal Bilgin; HDP Central Executive Board member Ms. Özlem Gündüz; HDP Yenişehir district branch co-chairs Ms. Remziye Sızıcı and Mr. Kasım Kaya; Bağlar Municipal Council members Ms. Gönül Aslan, Mr. Veysi Kuzu and Mr. Hüseyin Harman; Diyarbakır Municipal Council member Ms. Sevim Coşkun; Yenişehir Municipal Council member Ms. Nevriye Çur; Kurdish politicians Ms. Nazile Tursun and Mr. Celal Yoldaş; former DBP co-chair Mr. Mehmet Arslan; HDP member Mr. Mehmet Ali Altınkaynak; as well as Diyarbakır Peace Mothers’ Assembly member Ms. Rebia Kıran. The police also broke the door of and raided the office of Rosa Women’s Association in Kayapınar district in Diyarbakır without notifying its officials. After almost a five-hour long search, the police confiscated some documents, including the records about survivors of violence and sexual harassment. Authorities put a confidentiality order on the case file, and the lawyers haven’t seen the case file to date.

The 13 women rights defenders and six men were accused of "membership to a terrorist organisation" (under Article 314/2 of the Criminal Code). Women’s rights defenders were questioned about their activities such as making press statements, organising demonstrations including the March 8 rally, holding banners asking the whereabouts of a women lost for over 100 days, participating in the sittings of Peace Mother’s on hunger strike, and participating in demonstrations against the dismissal of HDP mayors. It was reported that an anonymous witness alleged that the women’s rights defenders were “aiming to reach out to more people by focusing on matters that concern women such as femicides and sexual harassment, and thus to recruit more people for a terrorist organisation giving an impression of conducting legal activities.” Additionally, all men who were taken into police custody within the scope of this investigation were alleged to be the “secret members of Rosa Women’s Association” with the exception of Mr. Veysi Kuzu.

After their interrogation at the Anti-Terror Branch, Nevriye Çur, Ayla Akat, Zelal Bilgin, Nazire Tursun were released by the Prosecutor of Diyarbakır. The other 15 were requested to be detained by the Prosecutor without being interrogated by the latter and were referred to the Diyarbakır 1st Peace Judgeship. While the judge released Hüseyin Herman on judicial control, 13 were detained. 68-year old peace activist Rebia Kıran was put under house arrest. Women’s rights defenders who were detained by court decision included Adalet Kaya, Narin Gezgör, Fatma Gültekin, Gülcihan Şimşek, Özlem Gündüz, Remziye Sızıcı, Gönül Aslan and Sevim Coşkun. Gönül Aslan was detained with her 3-year old son, who has serious health conditions related to his kidneys, for her to take care of him.

The Observatory firmly condemns the criminalisation of Rosa Women’s Association and the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of the above mentioned women’s rights defenders as they seem to be only aimed at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities. The Observatory calls on the Turkish authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all the detained women’s rights defenders and to put an end to any act of harassment, including at the judicial level, against them and all the human rights defenders in Turkey.