Activist Detained in Turkey for Tweets
| Publisher | Human Rights Watch |
| Publication Date | 22 January 2018 |
| Cite as | Human Rights Watch, Activist Detained in Turkey for Tweets, 22 January 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a8eb0c28.html [accessed 23 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Turkey Censors Criticism of Military Operation in Syria
January 22, 2018 1:00PM EST
By Emma Sinclair-Webb
Writer and human rights activist, Nurcan Baysal, pictured in Diyarbakır, Turkey. © 2015 Human Rights Watch
The Turkish government's intolerance of criticism knows few bounds.
Police detained writer and human rights activist Nurcan Baysal from her house in Diyarbakır, southeastern Turkey, late Sunday. As I write this she remains in custody.
She has been detained in connection with her tweets calling for peace and condemning the Turkish government's military incursion in the northwest Syrian enclave of Afrin, her lawyer told Human Rights Watch. Afrin is under the control of Kurdish forces, which Ankara has long opposed.
Baysal is among 30 people detained in Diyarbakır for their social media posts. The city's chief prosecutor's office announced those tweeting had, "spread propaganda for armed terrorist organizations . . . and a call for provocative actions."
Yet nothing in Baysal's tweets advocates violence. If anything, it's the opposite. As the Turkish government knows, Baysal, who is Kurdish, has long advocated for dialogue and political negotiations to end the decades' long conflict between the Turkish state and the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). She has joined countless efforts to bring together government officials and civil society actors to that end, and is someone who believes communication should be kept open on even the darkest days.
President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan on Sunday declared that those who protested the military operation on the streets would pay a "very heavy price."
Police prevented an attempted street demonstration in at least one district of Istanbul, and the move against people who took to Twitter shows that Turkey's government is determined to censor critical voices.
Prosecutors in Turkey have repeatedly misused articles of the law such as, "spreading terrorist propaganda," and, "inciting hatred and enmity among the population," to silence journalists, government critics, and activists. So far, three members of parliament from the pro-Kurdish opposition are also under investigation for their tweets criticizing the military operation. The Istanbul chief public prosecutor's office has stated that investigation into social media posts and the crackdown on street demonstrations will continue.
Turkey's silencing of voices who speak out against war is in violation of its own laws and obligations under international human rights law. I hope that by the time these words are published, Baysal will be out of police custody and home, with no charges.
Link to original story on HRW website
