Turkey Indictment Project
PEN Norway’s Turkey Indictment Project has assessed indictments against journalists, editors and other civil society actors in Turkey.
PEN Norway has since Spring 2020 brought together legal experts from different countries, including Norway, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey and the United Kingdom, as well as academics and experts on the ground in Turkey to study indictments in cases of journalists and civil society actors in Turkey.
The legal experts have compared the indictments to the requirements set out in Turkey’s Penal Code, and the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Guidelines for Prosecutors. Both the project from 2020 and 2021 illustrates that the indictments do not meet national or international legal standards.
The project included articles on the history and current state of the judicial system in Turkey, as well as the specific issues concerning the state of the freedom of expression.
Turkey Indictment Project 2021
In 2021, PEN Norway’s Turkey Indictment Project studied 10 indictments against journalists, reports and other civil society actors in Turkey, and wrote six articles on the state of freedom of expression and rule of law.
The launch of the 2021 Turkey Indictment Report will take place on 23 March 2022 at the House of Literature in Oslo, Norway. More information about the launch.
Indictment reports:
- A review of the indictment against Can Dündar and Erdem Gül by Tony Fisher (16 December 2021)
- A review of the indictment against Canan Coşkun by Şerife Ceren Uysal (11 November 2021)
- A review of the indictment against Adana Bar Association by Stella Pizatto & Jaantje Kramer (28 October 2021)
- A review of the indictment against Necla Demir by Hannah Beck og Clariss Fondi (21 October 2021)
- A review of the indictment against Hikmet Kumli Tunç by Şerife Ceren Uysal (14 October 2021)
- A review of the indictment against Veysel Ok by Jaantje Kramer & Stella Pizzato (7 October 2021)
- A review of the indictment against Seyhan Avşar Oğuz by Heidi Heggdal (30 September 2021)
- A review of the indictment against Bülent Şık by Vidar Strømme (23 September 2021)
- A review of the indictment against Ertuğrul Mavioğlu & Çayan Demirel by Ezio Menzione (16 September 2021)
- A review of the indictment against Özgür Gündem raid by Hannah Beck & Clarissa Fondi (9 September 2021)
Articles:
- How to Get Away with Enforcing the ECtHR Decisions: Nine Procedural Recommendations for Governments Intent on Authoritarianism by Kasım Akbaş (21 December 2021)
- Analysis of Turkey’s 4th Judicial Reform Package” by Kasım Akbaş (14 December 2021)
- Social Media as criminalizing tool by Kemal Göktaş (9 December 2021)
- Jin News Agency: “On the path to truth with a woman’s pen” by Şerife Ceren Uysal (25 November 2021)
- Women Journalists & the judiciary – the experience of a court reporter by Canan Coşkun (18 November 2021)
- A Test for Associations in Turkey by Seyhan Avşar (4 November 2021)
Turkey Indictment Project 2020
In 2020, PEN Norway’s Turkey Indictment Project studied 12 indictments against journalists, reports and other civil society actors in Turkey, and wrote four articles on the state of freedom of expression and rule of law.
Indictments
- A review of the indictment against Reyhan Çapan, Hüseyin Aykol, Emire Eren Keskin by Hannah Beck & Clarissa Fondi (4 February 2021)
- A review of the indictment against Ahmet Altan & others by Şerife Ceren Uysal (21 January 2021)
- A review of the indictment against Osman Kavala and Henri Jak Barkey by Kevin Dent QC (22 December 2020)
- A review of the indictment against Fincancı, Nesin and Önderoğlu by Heidi Heggdal (17 December 2020)
- A review of the indictment in the Büyükada trial by Clarissa Fondi & Hannah Beck (27 November 2020)
- A review of the indictment of the MIT News Trial by Şerife Ceren Uysal (13 November 2020)
- A review of the indictment of the Cumhuriyet trial by Aska Fujita (3 December 2020)
- A review of the indictment against Deniz Yücel by Şerife Ceren Uysal (29 October 2020)
- A review of the indictment against Pelin Ünker by Heidi Heggdal (15 October 2020)
- A review of the indictment against Osman Kavala and others by Kevin Dent QC (9 October 2020)
- A review of the indictment against Berzan Güneş by Clarissa Fondi & Hannah Beck (10 August 2020)
- A review of the indictment against Nedim Türfent by Şerife Ceren Uysal (5 August 2020)
Articles
- Point Zero of a Trial by Dr. Kasim Akbaş (14 January 2021)
- Is this your world of justice? by Berna Akkızal (5 November 2020)
- Legal Practice and Bar Associations – Where to now? by Dr. Kasım Akbaş (22 October 2020)
- Rule of Law in Turkey: Judicial Administration by Dr. Orhan Gazi Ertekin
Do you want to know more about PEN Norway’s Turkey Indictment Project?
Contact Caroline Stockford, PEN Norway’s Turkey Adviser: caroline@norskpen.no.
