Nurcan Kaya
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2020-128-001
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2020
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: 38.963745
Longitude: 35.243322
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Turkey
- From Region
- UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic
- Dates of prior UN action
- 9 December 2019
- Type of record
- Named individual
- Gender
- Female
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Individual's/organization's activity
minority rights defender in Turkey, who had cooperated with the UN
- Type of rights defended
- Caste/Ethnic minorities' rights/Racism
- Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
The mandate holders regretted the Court’s decision to impose an international travel ban on Ms. Kaya, which prevented her from participating in international events, including those organized by the UN human rights mechanisms (TUR 11/2019). On 9 October 2019, Ms. Kaya had posted on social media a criticism of the Turkish military campaign in Syria. On 27 October 2019, Ms. Kaya was apprehended and detained for several hours by the Turkish police at Istanbul airport, as she was about to board her flight to Tunis to participate as a panellist in an international conference organized by the Special Rapporteur on minority issues. She was also prevented from being a panellist at the November 2019 Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva.
- Engagement with UN body
- UN Human Rights Council: Minorities forum
- UN Special Procedures: thematic
- Dates of engagement
- October 2019; November 2019
- Type of attempted engagement
- Participation in meeting on UN premises
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- 27 October 2019; November 2019
- Location of mentioned reprisals
- Istanbul airport
- Reprisal information
The mandate holders regretted the Court’s decision to impose an international travel ban on Ms. Kaya, which prevented her from participating in international events, including those organized by the UN human rights mechanisms (TUR 11/2019). On 9 October 2019, Ms. Kaya had posted on social media a criticism of the Turkish military campaign in Syria. On 27 October 2019, Ms. Kaya was apprehended and detained for several hours by the Turkish police at Istanbul airport, as she was about to board her flight to Tunis to participate as a panellist in an international conference organized by the Special Rapporteur on minority issues. She was also prevented from being a panellist at the November 2019 Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva.
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Detention/Imprisonment: Release within a day
- Travel restriction
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- State actors
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- No
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- No
- Government response dates
- 5 February 2020; 13 July 2020
- Government response content
Government responded, 98 stating that no individual or group is subject to investigation or judicial prosecution for legal activities. The First Police Court of Istanbul initiated a judicial investigation concerning Ms. Kaya for a crime of “incitement to hatred and hostility” in connection to a Tweet with hostile language about a military operation by Turkey in Syria. On 13 July 2020, the Government responded to the note verbale sent in connection to the present report, indicating that the travel ban for Ms. Kaya was lifted on 13 January 2020. It noted that on 8 June 2020, the case was adjudicated and Ms. Nurcan will no longer be prosecuted, as there is no criminal behaviour in her action. Ms. Kaya’s application to the Constitutional Court, dated 9 December 2019, is still under review.
- Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
- No
- Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
- No
- Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
- No
- How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
- 0