Today, Warsaw Human Dimension Conference Organized by The 2025 OSCE Finnish Chairpersonship, with the support of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) being held.
We took the floor at the conference and continued to discuss human rights violations in Turkey within the scope of “freedom of expression” Our president, Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Demir, continued his remarks as follows:
I am Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Demir, President, Human Rights Defenders e.V. Based in Berlin Germany.
Distinguished delegates, and colleagues,
Freedom of expression is the heartbeat of democracy. Yet, in today’s Turkey, that heartbeat is faint constricted by fear, criminalization, and censorship.
Since the state of emergency declared after the 2016 alleged coup attempt, the Turkish government has turned its counterterrorism laws into tools of political persecution. Under nine emergency decrees, 170 media outlets were closed, their assets confiscated, and more than hundred and fifty journalists imprisoned—many accused of “terrorist propaganda” for nothing more than a tweet, a headline, or a source they interviewed.
Today, Turkey ranks one hundred fifty seventh in the World Press Freedom Index, below most conflict zones. Journalists like Ahmet Altan, Ali Ūnal, Hidayet Karaca, and countless others have been prosecuted for criticizing the government. Even foreign correspondents are targeted: press cards are denied arbitrarily, and pro-government think tanks like SETA publish blacklists of international journalists, exposing them to harassment and violence.
The silencing doesn’t stop at Turkey’s borders. Hundreds of Turkish journalists like Cevheri Guven, Abdullah Bozkurt, and Bülent Korucu are in exile in Germany, Sweden—live under digital surveillance and transnational repression. Online news portals such as TR724 or Bold Medya are blocked in Turkey, while exiled journalists are pursued through Interpol notices and intimidation campaigns.
This systematic assault extends beyond the media. Academics, lawyers, and human rights defenders who voice dissent are dismissed, detained, or banned from travel. Freedom of thought and freedom of academia have become crimes. As our own reports show, over 7,000 academics were expelled, 14 universities were shut down, and many of their passports were revoked—turning them into stateless intellectuals.
Freedom of expression in Turkey is not just under attack it is being criminalized as terrorism. Articles 299 and 301 of the Penal Code, and the vague definition of “terrorist propaganda” in the Anti Terror Law, are used to punish opinion itself. As a result, self-censorship has become a survival strategy.
We call upon the OSCE, participating States, and especially the European partners, to:
- Demand the release of imprisoned journalists and academics, and ensure that freedom of expression is non-negotiable in any engagement with Turkey.
- Monitor transnational repression targeting exiled journalists.
- Protect asylum-seeking journalists by preventing political extraditions.
- And finally, to reaffirm that truth-telling is not terrorism.
At Human Rights Defenders e.V., we believe that defending journalists and free speech is defending democracy itself. Without a free press, no election is fair, no society is safe, and no human right can survive.
Thank you.
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