Türkiye Country Report: December 2025
- Genocide Watch
- 15 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The systemic oppression of Kurdish people in Turkiye dates back to the creation of the Turkish Republic. The Kurds have faced mass murders, deportations, wrongful arrests for expressing their identity, and political repression in the form of detaining democratically-elected members of the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM).
Turkiye’s political scene has taken a dramatic anti-democratic turn following the 2016 coup attempt. Civil society has been significantly constrained by limitations on freedom of speech, arbitrary arrests of opposition leaders on manufactured terrorism and corruption charges, and violent crackdowns on protestors.
On May 12, 2025, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan, announced the group’s decision to disband; this announcement came three months after his initial call for the group to disarm. However, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has continued his anti-Kurdish campaign, despite the ceasefire and the apparent end to the conflict that has exacted a toll of 40,000 lives. Authorities have wrongfully arrested. Kurdish writers and advocates of the Kurdish language on falsified charges of domestic terrorism, conducted extensive raids in major cities targeting Kurdish journalists and DEM party members, attempted to intimidate Kurds living abroad, and continued their military actions despite the ceasefire.
On March 19, 2025, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and President Erdoğan’s biggest political rival, was arrested on trumped-up charges of corruption and terrorism. Since his detention, the government has engaged in arbitrary arrests and violent crackdowns on protesters on an unprecedented scale.
As reported by Amnesty International, police have used excessive force to disperse peaceful protesters with tear gas, water cannons, and kinetic impact projectiles. The authorities have broken international human rights law by firing at protesters’ upper bodies and heads at close range. Beatings and threats of sexual violence were reported by the victims. Around 2,000 people were detained during the protests.
The government also engaged in a campaign of censorship and misinformation, targeting human rights activists, journalists, and media outlets. Accusations of terrorism and links to the PKK were directed at over 100 politicians and officials. Thirty-seven people were detained over social media posts, an arrest warrant was issued for the owner of HalkTV, BBC correspondent Mark Lowen was arrested and deported, and several radio and TV stations were threatened with fines and revocations of their broadcasting licenses if they were to report on the protests.
On June 20, 2025, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, made a visit to Turkiye in an attempt to normalize diplomatic ties. The meeting follows Pashinyan’s recent decision to abandon the country’s efforts for international recognition of the Armenian genocide. The decision to exchange the pursuit of recognition of the Armenian genocide for political favors sets a dangerous precedent in international relations. The memory of genocide and its victims must never be reduced to political tools to be used at will.
Genocide Watch considers Turkiye to be at Stage 1: Classification, Stage 3: Discrimination, Stage 5: Organization, Stage 6: Polarization, Stage 8: Persecution, and Stage 10: Denial.
Genocide Watch recommends:
The United Nations should create a dedicated U.N. special envoy tasked with facilitating dialogue, ensuring confidence-building measures are being employed, monitoring adherence to the ceasefire, and monitoring compliance with human rights law.
The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues should be appointed and tasked with investigating the lack of minority rights in Turkiye.
Prosecute police who engaged in beatings and threatened sexual violence against protesters.
INGOs should pressure the international bodies, such as the U.N., to officially recognize the Armenian genocide.
