Turkey: Urgent action needed

International pressure on the Turkish government is rising since the arrest of the Chair of Amnesty International Turkey, Taner Kılıç. He has been detained on bogus charges of terrorism since 6 June.

Education International (EI) supports Amnesty International in demanding that the charges against him must be dropped and he must be released immediately and unconditionally.

Taner Kılıç, a longstanding human rights defender, was detained from his home on 6 June at 6.30am and taken into police custody. On 9 June, he was brought before a prosecutor and charged with membership of the “Fethullahist Terrorist Organization”. He was remanded in detention pending trial. Fethullah Gülen, is a Turkish cleric and former Justice and Development Party (AK Party) ally. For more information, please read Amnesty International’s report.

Taner Kılıç is one of thousands, including political activists, lawyers, journalists and others critical of government policy in Turkey who have been subject to criminal prosecutions on trumped up terrorism charges following the coup attempt of July 2016. In the past months, EI has condemned on many occasions this ‘witch-hunt’ that has also targeted tens of thousands of education employees across the country, including members of the education union EĞITIM SEN.

Please write immediately in Turkish, English or your own language:

Calling on the Minister of Justice to drop the charges against Taner Kılıç;
Urging him to ensure that Taner Kılıç is immediately and unconditionally released from pre-trial detention.