Solidarity With OTHERS published its annual human rights report in April 2026, examining developments across Türkiye during 2025 and concluding that restrictive practices had become increasingly embedded in the country’s legal, administrative and judicial institutions.
The report, Institutionalized Repression: Human Rights in Turkey 2025, covers 15 areas, including the right to life, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, freedom of expression and assembly, judicial independence, minority rights, prison conditions, torture, migration, women’s rights and transnational repression.
Its findings draw on cases recorded in the organisation’s Turkey Rights Monitor database and sources cited in the report’s footnotes. The authors state that the incidents presented are illustrative rather than exhaustive and do not include every case recorded during the reporting period.
According to the report, the principal development during 2025 was not the emergence of entirely new forms of repression, but the continuation and further institutionalisation of patterns documented in previous years. It identifies the broad application of anti-terrorism legislation, pressure on political opponents and civil society, restrictions on public debate and concerns about judicial independence as central features of the year.
Anti-terrorism cases and judicial independence
The report says mass operations against people accused of links to the Gülen movement continued throughout 2025. It documents investigations involving former civil servants, military personnel, teachers, students and private citizens, often based on alleged use of the encrypted messaging application ByLock, public payphone records, social media activity or financial transactions.
Citing a statement by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, the publication says 1,601 people were arrested during 2025 in investigations concerning alleged Gülen links, while a further 1,524 were placed under judicial control. Judicial control allows a person to remain outside prison while being subject to measures such as reporting requirements or restrictions on travel.
The report argues that some prosecutions continued to rely on evidence addressed by the European Court of Human Rights in Yüksel Yalçınkaya v. Türkiye. In that judgment, the Court found violations of the European Convention on Human Rights in a conviction based decisively on alleged ByLock use and criticised the failure to establish individual criminal responsibility.
According to the authors, Turkish courts continued to use similar evidence despite that judgment and subsequent European Court rulings. The report cites official data indicating that more than three million people had been investigated for terrorism-related offences since the attempted coup of July 2016, with more than half a million convictions recorded. It notes that thousands of related applications remained pending before the European Court.
The publication also examines investigations involving opposition-led municipalities, particularly those governed by the Republican People’s Party. It describes the detention or prosecution of mayors, municipal employees and political figures, including proceedings concerning Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
The authors say these cases, together with the reported re-arrest of some people following prosecutorial objections to their release, raised questions about consistency and judicial independence. They also point to Türkiye’s continued non-implementation of European Court judgments concerning Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş as part of wider concerns about compliance with the European human rights system.
Detention, civic space and vulnerable groups
Prison overcrowding is identified as another central concern. The report says the prison population exceeded 430,000 by the end of 2025 and cites human rights organisations reporting that facilities were operating at more than 40 per cent above their designed capacity.
The publication describes limited access to healthcare, overcrowded cells, restrictions on communication and family contact, and prolonged isolation in high-security facilities. It also notes that hundreds of children under six continued to live in prison with their mothers and reports cases involving pregnant women, older prisoners and people with serious medical conditions.
Allegations of torture and ill-treatment were reported in police custody, prisons, during transfers and at demonstrations. The authors say complaints frequently resulted in dismissals or limited disciplinary action rather than criminal accountability. They call attention to allegations involving beatings, excessive force and inadequate access to lawyers or independent medical examinations.
The report further documents deaths in detention or following alleged failures to provide timely medical care. Among the cases cited are those of lawyer and human rights defender Süleyman Yıldırım and detainee Mehmet Çataklı. It also describes deaths connected with law-enforcement action, unsafe employment and the vulnerability of migrant and child workers. These incidents are presented as reported cases raising questions about state responsibility and duties of care, rather than as judicially established findings.
On freedom of assembly, the report describes bans, police intervention and prosecutions affecting demonstrations by students, workers, women’s rights activists and opposition supporters. Protests following proceedings against Ekrem İmamoğlu were among those affected. Pride events also continued to face prohibitions, while at least one LGBTQ+ organisation was dissolved through court proceedings during the year.
Journalists, academics, artists and social media users faced investigations or sanctions over speech, according to the publication. It says the authorities continued to use anti-terrorism provisions, defamation laws and the offence of insulting the president, alongside access restrictions, platform controls and sanctions imposed by the Radio and Television Supreme Council.
The report also addresses discrimination affecting Kurdish people, Alevis, Christians and LGBTQ+ communities. It notes continuing demands for equal legal recognition of Alevi places of worship, administrative difficulties affecting Christian institutions and restrictions on Kurdish political, linguistic and cultural activity.
Refugees and migrants faced risks including deportation, alleged pressure to sign “voluntary return” documents, poor conditions in removal centres and exploitation in informal employment. The report raises particular concerns about the possible return of Uyghurs to places where they could face persecution, and explains that the principle of non-refoulement prohibits returning people to a country where they face a serious risk of persecution, torture or comparable harm.
Women’s rights organisations continued to document gender-based violence, killings of women and disputed deaths, while raising concerns about failures to provide effective protection. The publication also records legal pressure on women’s rights activists and continuing criticism of Türkiye’s 2021 withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.
Beyond Türkiye’s borders, the report says the authorities continued to pursue critics through extradition requests, international arrest mechanisms, surveillance and other diplomatic or legal measures. Although it found that reported cross-border renditions were less prominent than in earlier years, it concluded that transnational pressure remained an important part of the state’s approach to perceived opponents.
The authors conclude that meaningful improvement would require compliance with international court judgments, stronger judicial independence, revision of laws restricting expression and association, and more effective oversight of law enforcement and detention facilities. These are the report’s conclusions and proposed areas for reform, rather than findings or orders issued by a court or international institution.