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Turkey rejects criticism of its handling of student protest
Turkey has rejected international criticism of its crackdown on protests by students opposing the appointment of a government loyalist to head Istanbulâs top university
By SUZAN FRASER Associated Press
February 4, 2021, 5:29 PM
⢠3 min read
The Associated Press
Police officers detain supporters of Bogazici University students following a protest in Istanbul, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. For weeks, students and faculty members of Bogazici University have been protesting Turkey s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan s Jan. 1 appointment as a rector of Melih Bulu, an academic who once ran for parliament as a candidate for Erdogan s party. Some of the protests have erupted into clashes between police and demonstrators and hundreds of people have been detained, some taken away following raids of their homes. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
ANKARA: The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday ordered Turkey to immediately release jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas.
In their ruling, the chamber’s judges said the 47-year-old’s human rights had been violated and his pre-trial detention for years served as a cover for narrowing pluralism in the country.
The court found that Turkey had interfered with the freedom of expression of the former leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) by lifting his parliamentary immunity and violated his right to be elected for parliament.
Demirtas, who has been in prison on terror-related charges since November 2016, was a two-time presidential candidate against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and co-chaired the HDP between 2014 and 2018.
Friday, 18 December, 2020 - 10:30
Soldiers stand at the entrance of a courthouse before the trial of 475 defendants, including generals and fighter jet pilots, in Sincan, Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020. A Turkish court sentenced several military and civilian personnel at an air base to life prison sentences on Thursday, proclaiming them guilty of involvement in a failed coup attempt in 2016, the state-run news agency reported. (AP Photo) Asharq Al-Awsat
A Turkish court on Friday ordered civil society leader Osman Kavala to remain in jail pending trial on charges that rights groups say are part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan s bid to stifle dissent.