11 politicians’ interviews booklet

Historic elections take place in Turkey on May 14th, 2023, in which the candidates for both the President and Turkey’s Parliament will be determined. A month before the elections PEN Norway’s Turkey Adviser travelled to Istanbul to interview representatives of the major political parties to question them about issues such as freedom of expression, the freedom of the press, the rule of law, and the right to a fair trial in Turkey. A total of 11 party representatives were interviewed.

Since 2020, as part of the Turkey Indictment Project, PEN Norway has examined 25 separate indictments focused on freedom of expression in Turkey and has produced reports on these indictments in cooperation with expert lawyers from different European countries. The PEN Norway Turkey Indictment Project reports of 2020 and 2021 revealed that every one of the 25 indictments in question failed to comply with Turkey’s domestic legal provisions and also international provisions and contracts such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Guidlines for prosecutors.

PEN Norway’s in-person, recent, observations of such trials as the Gezi Park trial, the We Will Stop Femicide Platform case and trials of Turkey’s chief physician Prof. Dr Şebnem Korur Fincancı, activist Pınar Selekand journalist Sedef Kabaş all demonstrate the lack of independence of the judiciary as well as serious fundamental flaws in the preparation of indictments.

Read the interviews here:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. M. Serhan Yücel, Secretary General of the Democrat Party (DP)

Selahattin Demirtaş, imprisoned former co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)

Dr. Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the Istanbul Regional Chair of the Republican People’s Party (CHP)

Bülent Turan, Deputy Group Chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AKP)

Züleyha Gülüm, MP for the People’s Democratic Party (HDP)

Zeynep Esmeray Özadikti, candidate for MP from Turkey’s Worker Party (TİP)

Muharrem Erkek, Vice President of the Republican People’s Party (CHP)

Mustafa Yeneroğlu, Justice and Legal Affairs Policy Chairman of theDemocracy and Progress Party (DEVA)

Bülent Kaya, Legal Affairs Chairman of the Saadet Party

Bahadır Erdem,Vice Chair of the Iyi Party

Ahmet Şık, MP for the Turkey Worker’s Party (TİP)

Share on: