Fransa Dışişleri Bakanı Catherine Colonna 5-6 Eylül tarihlerinde Ankara ve Atina’yı kapsayan bir gezi gerçekleştirdi. Bakan Colonna’nın ziyaretinin gündem maddeleri arasında Rusya’ya yönelik uluslararası yaptırımların delinmesinde Türkiye’nin rolü ve Yunanistan’la yaşanan gerilimin sonlandırılması öne çıktı. Fransız Bakanın gerek Ankara gerek Atina ziyaretinin dikkat çekmeyen gündemi ise “Avrupa Siyasi Topluluğu" projesine Türkiye’nin katılımıydı.

Bugünlerde Türk vatandaşları, Avrupa Birliği’nin (AB) Schengen vize başvurularını reddetmesinden çokça şikayet ediyor. Sosyal medya, AB'nin başkonsolosluklarının vize başvurularını nasıl reddettiğine dair paylaşımlarla dolu. Birçok medya kuruluşu, vize alamaması nedeniyle Türk vatandaşlarının nasıl iş imkanı kaçırdığı, festivallere katılamadığı veya yaz tatiline gidemediğine dair haberler yayınlamaya başladı.

Nowadays, Turkish citizens loudly complain about the EU refusing their Schengen visa applications. Social media is replete with posts on their own experience of how EU consulates in Turkey rejected their applications. Several media outlets are increasingly covering the issue, sharing the stories of Turkish citizens who missed a job opportunity, a festival, or a summer vacation.

The issue of Syrian refugees is one of the leading problems in Turkey, according to supporters of every major political party in the country. The Turkish government, which faces a tight election prospect within a year, has been making statements to show that they are aware of the problem and are handling the issue of refugees. To this end, the negotiations between Turkey and Syria that have been underway for quite some time have apparently reached a certain point of development.

On his way back from Russia to Turkey on August 5, Erdogan announced that Russian President Putin personally invited him to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, which will be held in Uzbekistan in September. He said he was planning to attend the summit to meet the leaders. Although Erdoğan expressed on several occasions his intentions to use the SCO as an important counterbalance against the West in the past, Turkey never actually took part in any SCO meeting before.

It was a busy week in Ankara in terms of high-level diplomatic visits. President Erdoğan received Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Turkey on Wednesday. This was for the first time in years when a high-level Saudi leader paid a visit to Turkey. US Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo also arrived on Wednesday in Ankara to meet Turkish officials in order to warn them about the dire consequences of helping Russia to get around the Western sanctions. On Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid, who is about to become Israel's Prime Minister in the upcoming days with the collapse of the Israeli government.

This report aims to elicit and analyze the outrageous acts and/or omissions of the Turkish authorities against individuals –whom they claim are affiliated with, connected to, or members of the Gülen Group– within the legal purview of crime against humanity.

It has been five years since the failed coup attempt in Turkey and no one has any clear idea yet what actually happened that night. While the complete narrative and evidence about the failed coup have yet to be clarified, the scope of the reaction by the Turkish government to the coup attempt was quite horrifying.

In the past year, through our various publications, analyses and podcasts, instituDE has strived to shed light on Turkey; its domestic politics, economy, foreign policy and human rights situation. We have worked to provide valuable information and comments on Turkey for the foreign observers as well as the Turkish public. We put effort into raising awareness on the human rights violations and authoritarian practices in Turkey.