Council of Europe Youth Delegate Enes Hocaoğulları Imprisoned!
Council of Europe Youth Delegate Enes Hocaoğulları Imprisoned!
- 05/08/2025
- ÜniKuir
LGBTI+ activist Hocaoğulları was imprisoned for his speech at the CoE on police torture and strip searches in the protests following March19 in Turkey
Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Youth Delegate Enes Hocaoğulları was detained at Esenboğa Airport, Ankara, on 5th of August, and imprisoned, following the court hearings on the same day.
In the protests following the imprisonment of Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19, university students and youth in Turkey became the main carriers of the street protests. Hocaoğulları’s imprisonment is consistent with the government’s politics against democracy and human rights.
"My friends were subjected to strip searches"
Hocaoğulları addressed the police torture and strip searches in the street protests following March 19 in his speech at the Council of Europe. (Here is the link for his speech "Young people in Turkey are now saying enough"):
"I was there from the first day when police forces applied disproportionate violence with tear gas, plastic bullets and water cannons against citizens exercising their right to peaceful assembly. I was there when my peers were detained and subjected to strip searches." |
Enes's speech circulated not only across international media accounts but also was widely covered in Turkey among citizens concerned about human rights.
To regain our freedoms, we say enough!
The investigation that ended with Hocaoğulları's imprisonment was initiated by the Terrorism Bureau of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, on charges of "publicly disseminating misleading information". The corresponding article broadly targets freedom of expression in Turkey.
In Hocaoğulları’s words, enough..
Hocaoğulları’s imprisonment is only the most recent instance (following the imprisonment of Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19) of the oppression targetting young people’s democratic rights to protest, to march in pride, and to oppose. Hundreds of students in universities across Turkey–METU, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul Technical University–have been placed under investigations, detained, and imprisoned since. Many were subjected to strip searches and torture during detention.
We stand against the imprisonment of our friend, LGBTI+ activist Hocaoğulları.
