The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of Türkiye on 7 August 2025. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. The Government replied on 6 October 2025.
The next hearing in the criminal case of the Tarlabaşi Community Centre is scheduled for 15 January 2026, and the hearing in its dissolution case is set for 21 January 2026.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the alleged increasing repression of women’s rights defenders and organizations, particularly those led by Kurdish women human rights defenders. They include We Will Stop Femicide Platform; Feminist Gündem; Tarlabaşı Community Centre; Rosa Women’s Association; and Women’s Time Association.
We Will Stop Femicide Platform (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız) works on the protection of women’s rights, striving to stop femicide, end all types of women’s rights violations and protect them from violence. It provides legal assistance to women seeking safety from violence, monitors and documents femicide cases, and organizes trainings and awareness-raising activities.
Feminist Gündem is a women’s initiative consisting of women working in the field of culture and arts, which has been engaged in the women’s rights movement since the early 1990s.
Tarlabaşı Community Centre is a community-based organisation that provides social, psychological and educational support to young people and women in the Istanbul neighborhood of Tarlabaşı, through a rights-based approach with a focus on gender equality and social inclusion.
Rosa Women’s Association (Rosa Kadin Derneği) is a civil society organization focusing on women’s rights, ending violence against women and eliminating all kinds of discrimination against women in Diyarbakır and the overall South-Eastern region of Türkiye. It was founded in December 2018 in Diyarbakır and is one of the few organizations in the region specifically focusing on women’s rights.
Women’s Time Association (Kadın Zamanı Derneği) is Istanbul-based and works on supporting and advising women exposed to gender-based violence, particularly women of ethnic minorities and Kurdish women, and raises awareness on women’s rights and women’s participation in policy processes.
The repression of women human rights defenders in relation to their right to freedom of peaceful assembly has been the subject of previous communications to the Turkish Government, including AL TUR 10/2023, sent on 27 December 2023 and to which a reply was received on 30 December 2024, as well as AL TUR 7/2021, sent on 12 May 2021 and to which a reply was received on 8 July 2021. The criminalisation of women human rights defenders and the use of Türkiye’s Anti-Terror Law has been the subject of communication AL TUR 2/2023, to which a reply was received on 14 August 2023. Türkiye’s Anti-Terror Law was also the subject of communication OL TUR 13/2020, sent on 26 August 2020 and to which a reply was received on 22 October 2020. We thank the Government for its reply to these communications.
ALLEGATIONS
In the last few years, a number of women human rights organisations have increasingly been the target of police raids, smear campaigns, judicial harassment and arbitrary detention and criminalisation. These frequently happened in the context of the often-violent intervention by security forces in annual marches held on the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8 March and of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November. Security forces have closed off roads and areas designated for the marches, arrested participants, including women human rights defenders, and in some cases, subjected them to ill-treatment and the criminalization of their peaceful activities, often by resorting to Türkiye’s Anti-Terror Law, particularly article 7, as well as articles 312 and 314 of the Turkish Penal Code.
Challenges to the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly
On 8 March 2022, police violently stopped women as they arrived at a ferry port in Istanbul to participate in an annual public event known as the Feminist Night March, held by women human rights defenders and LGBTI rights defenders on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Forty women human rights defenders were briefly detained, accused of violating Law no. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations, and charged with “resisting the enforcement of duty”. Their trial is ongoing, and the next hearing is set for 24 September 2025.
On 25 November 2022, police intervened in nine peaceful meetings and demonstrations across Türkiye and more than 300 women, including lawyers, journalists and women human rights defenders, were detained in Istanbul alone. They were released and no charges were brought against them.
On 8 March 2023, police arrested and handcuffed 28 people who had participated in the Feminist Night March. Five of them, including four women human rights defenders, were interrogated and then released.
On 11 October 2023, the four women human rights defenders who were briefly detained during the Feminist Night March were charged with “resisting in order to prevent a public official from performing their duty”, based on the Turkish Penal Code, and with “participating in an unlawful assembly and demonstration” and “refusing to disperse despite warnings”, on the basis of Law no. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations. Their trial is ongoing in the 10th Criminal Court of First Instance of Istanbul, and if convicted, they may face up to three years in prison.
In many cases, the women detained during and after the public demonstrations held on 8 March and 25 November since 2022 were allegedly kept in poorly ventilated police vehicles for up to 24 hours. They were reportedly not provided with food or water and had no access to their lawyers.
Ahead of 8 March 2024, a ban ordered by the Istanbul authorities on all demonstrations marking International Women’s Day in downtown Istanbul was overturned by the Istanbul Regional Court of Appeals. However, the decision was not fully implemented and demonstrators continued to face forceful police interventions.
On 7 March 2025, the Istanbul authorities announced a ban for the next day on all protests in downtown Istanbul Taksim area.
On 8 March 2025, police barricades were erected in the area, two subway stations were shut, and police were deployed along main roads and side streets. Around 20,000 demonstrators, mostly women rights defenders and LGBTI defenders, gathered near Taksim Square and, at the end of the march, around 1 km away, they read out a statement. As the police dispersed the protest, they blocked the way, letting out people in single file. Around 200 participants, including human rights defenders, were encircled by police and prevented from leaving. Police arrested 112 of them, handcuffed them, reportedly subjected them to sexist insults and threats of sexual violence, and transferred them to the Istanbul Security Directorate. The detainees were reportedly denied food and water, as well as access to their lawyers for seven hours. They were accused of violating Law no. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations, and questioned about the slogans they had been chanting, in particular if they had used the Kurdish language slogan “Jin, Jîyan, Azadî” (“Woman, Life, Freedom”). They were released after ten hours.
Following demonstrations against the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul on 19 March 2025, the social media accounts on X of numerous civil society organizations, including women’s rights groups, were reportedly suspended without any legal process. Among them, were the We Will Stop Femicide Platform and Feminist Gündem.
Dissolution, closure lawsuits targeting human rights organizations
In the past years, two prominent human rights organisations were faced with dissolution claims.
The We Will Stop Femicide Platform was the subject of a lawsuit in 2018 by the Istanbul Governorship Directorate of Associations, and in 2021 by the Istanbul Prosecution Intellectual and Property Rights Investigation Bureau on grounds that the organisation showed “illegal and immoral activities”, based on the Law on Associations.
On 8 December 2021, the Istanbul 13th Court of First Instance accepted the claim to dissolve the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, and the first hearing was held on 1 June 2022.
On 13 September 2023, the court rejected the dissolution claim. The prosecutor did not appeal the decision and the human rights organization, to date, operates normally.
The Tarlabaşi Community Centre (TCC) was the subject of a lawsuit filed on 15 October 2021 by the Istanbul governorate at the Istanbul Peace Civil Court, requesting the “declaration of its non-existence”, based on article 87.1 of the Turkish Civil Code, on grounds that the establishment of the organization was a part of a university project that had ended. TCC responded that its charter includes other unrelated activities, which had not been completed.
On 7 February 2022, the prosecution started another case before the Istanbul Court of First Instance for the dissolution of TCC on grounds of “breaching law and morality”, based on article 89 of the Turkish Civil Code, stating that “the association objectives are not compatible with the legislation and ethics”, and on the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations, claiming that TCC had become “actively against morality and law”.
On 21 February 2022, the court ordered the suspension of TCC’s activities pending investigation into its dissolution, which began one month later. TCC had to lay off its staff due to the suspension.
On 6 April 2022, the court lifted the suspension of TCC’s activities, and the organization rehired its staff.
Between March 2022 and March 2024, TCC and its members underwent a series of judicial proceedings and were subjected to other types of harassment, including investigations into two of its chairpersons; the start of a criminal case against one of its chairpersons; a series of interventions by the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Family and Social Policies in the two cases of “non-existence” and of dissolution; and a smear campaign by pro-government individuals and media outlets.
On 18 May 2022, the Istanbul Court of First Instance ordered expert inquiries into the two cases brought against TCC regarding its “non-existence” and dissolution. On 10 March 2023, the expert issued a report into the “non-existence” case, the findings of which were in favour of TCC. The reports regarding the dissolution case, submitted on 6 February 2023 and 14 October 2023, allegedly did not address relevant matters related to TCC’s case specifically. The court reportedly did not request a third expert opinion and instead decided to treat the criminal proceedings as a prejudicial matter.
On 14 May 2024, the Istanbul 8th Civil Court of Peace dismissed the case of “non-existence” on grounds that although some of the activities of TCC had ceased with the end of the university project, others had not. On 12 September 2024, the Istanbul Governorate appealed the decision, and the case remains pending at the appellate court. The next hearing is expected to be on 29 September 2025.
On 8 October 2024, the local Beyoğlu municipality, with approval of the Istanbul Governorate, sealed the TCC office on grounds of “unauthorized education activities”, based on article 3 of the Private Education Institutions Law. At the time of writing, TCC has no ongoing activities, despite no final closure decision having been taken. The TCC has appealed the sealing decision.
Arrest of Kurdish women human rights defenders and other types of harassment and intimidation
Since 2020, Kurdish women’s rights defenders have been detained in different cities, many of them during and after the 8 March and 25 November demonstrations. The repeated raids and arrests were based on Türkiye’s Anti-Terror Law, which includes measures that could limit fundamental freedoms, including the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and can impact the right to fair trial and the prohibition of arbitrary detention.
On 22 May 2020, prosecution authorities in Diyarbakır launched an investigation into members of the Rosa Women’s Association, based on the allegation that the human rights organization had ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization in Türkiye. The authorities later divided the investigation into several cases against individual members of the association. On 7 June 2020, police arrested more members of Rosa Women’s Association, who were also accused of connections to “an armed terrorist group.” A number of them were released while others were convicted of “membership in a terrorist organization”.
On 16 March 2022, police in Diyarbakır raided the homes of activists and arrested a number of women, including three members of the Rosa Women’s Association. They were interrogated by police at the Diyarbakır Provincial Security Directorate’s Anti-Terrorism Department regarding their role in the International Women’s Day march on 8 March 2022 and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 September 2021.
Several women were reportedly ill-treated while in police custody, including through the forced taking of blood samples, and a 24-hour ban on lawyer visits was imposed, during which statements were reportedly taken under psychological pressure. They were also asked about the banners and slogans used during the demonstrations as well as the use of slogans in Kurdish language “Jin Jiyan Azadi” (“Woman, Life, Freedom”).
In February 2023, following a devastating earthquake in Southern and Central Türkiye, the Rosa Women’s Association was the target of a smear campaign as a result of its voluntary activities with women and children affected by the natural disaster. A member of parliament, specifically of the Human Rights Inquiry Committee, accused the organization of being in the field “with a hidden agenda” aiming to “target children and youth” with its LGBTI rights activism, and of “corrupting young generations”.
In January 2024, a number of women’s rights activists were detained in a police operation against Women’s Time Association. They were interrogated about the activities of the association as part of a counter-terrorism investigation into the organisation. They were not allowed legal counsel for 24 hours, after which they were released without charge. One of them, Ms. Dilek Başalan, the Chairperson of the organization, has been subjected to judiciary control, including a weekly signature requirement at the Beyoğlu-Kasımpaşa police station, and a travel ban.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our concern about the criminalisation and harassment of women human rights defenders for exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly. We are alarmed by the above-mentioned restrictions to the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association and freedom of expression, and the chilling effect these will have on human rights defenders who wish to express themselves and demonstrate peacefully in Türkiye. We are further concerned by reports of resulting arbitrary detentions and apparently unjustified criminal charges.
We express further concern at the continued forceful interference by the police during the events described above, as well as the allegedly restricted access to lawyers during detention, an essential component of due process.
We are deeply worried about the apparent misuse of the Anti-Terror Law, particularly article 7, and the use of article 314 and 312 of the Turkish Penal Code, which carry long-term prison sentences, to categorize the above-mentioned human fights defenders and human rights organisations as members of terrorist organisations. We emphasize that counter-terrorism legislation with penal sanctions should not be misused against individuals peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association and peaceful assembly, including to suppress peaceful minority groups and their members (general comment No. 34). Measures to combat terrorism and preserve national security should not hinder the work and safety of individuals, groups and organs of society engaged in promoting and defending human rights (A/HRC/RES/22/6, para. 10(a)). In this regard, we reiterate concerns raised in communication OL TUR 13/2020 regarding vague and overbroad language contained in the Anti-Terror Law No. 3713 and the Turkish Penal Code that do not satisfy the requirement of legality under article 15 of the ICCPR and create significant risk of their misapplication to arbitrarily curtail the rights to freedom of expression, opinion, peaceful assembly and association, and freedom from arbitrary detention.
