A Nation Living in Fear: Turkey’s Human Rights Crisis Deepens

For the first time in modern Turkish history, fear of being arrested or detained at dawn has become one of the top three anxieties of its citizens. This chilling reality emerges from a new human rights report prepared by CHP Diyarbakır MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu, covering June through August 2025. The finding is as symbolic as it is damning: in a democracy, people are supposed to fear unemployment or economic hardship, not whether security forces will knock on their doors in the middle of the night. Yet under the ruling government, arbitrary detention is now an everyday worry.

Human Rights Violations Escalate

The report paints a harrowing picture of a country where rights are not only eroded but systematically crushed. In just three months, 681 violations of the right to life were recorded. Of these, 560 were workplace killings—a term that exposes the brutality of preventable “accidents” treated as routine. Another 85 were femicides, including 16 children, highlighting both institutional neglect and social collapse. Six prisoners also died in custody due to illness or dire conditions—an indictment of a justice system incapable of safeguarding the lives under its control.

Torture Returns as a Dark Reality

Perhaps most damning is the sheer volume of torture cases: 395 in total, with 155 taking place inside prisons. Even more disturbing, eight of the victims were children. Torture, supposedly eradicated decades ago, has returned as a tool of intimidation and control. Its normalization under the current political order marks a descent into authoritarianism where cruelty becomes an instrument of governance.

Freedom of Expression Under Siege

Journalists, artists, and politicians are being detained not for crimes but for tweets, songs, or public statements. Tanrıkulu’s report underscores how freedom of expression, the bedrock of any democracy, has been transformed into a punishable offense. People are dragged from their homes in dawn raids for what they write or say, as if Turkey has slipped back into the darkest chapters of its past. This is not rule of law—it is rule by fear.

The Right to Organize Crushed

The report also documents 228 legal cases filed against mayors, MPs, and party leaders in a mere three months. Peaceful assembly fares no better: 362 individuals were detained during protests and demonstrations. The message is clear—organization and dissent are treated not as democratic rights but as threats to be eliminated.

Equal Opportunity Oppression

In his concluding remarks, Tanrıkulu accused the ruling AKP government of establishing what he called a grotesque form of equality: “zulümde ve zalimlikte eşitlik” — equality in persecution and cruelty. His words strike at the core of a government that has built a system where no identity, no region, and no group is spared from oppression. What should have been equal protection under the law has been perverted into equal exposure to state repression.

A Harsh Verdict on Governance

This report is more than a collection of statistics; it is an indictment of an entire governing philosophy. A state that instills fear in its citizens has abandoned the essence of democracy. A state that tolerates hundreds of workplace deaths in three months has surrendered to corporate greed. A state that imprisons people for their words has lost its moral compass. And a state that turns torture into routine has crossed into barbarism.

The Cost of Silence

What makes the findings even more tragic is the lack of accountability. Instead of addressing these violations, the government dismisses criticism as treason or foreign interference. But numbers do not lie. Hundreds dead, hundreds tortured, thousands prosecuted—this is not a smear campaign, it is the lived reality of Turkey’s citizens. The silence from those in power is complicity; the persistence of these abuses is policy.

Turkey’s Democracy on the Brink

Every dawn raid, every torture case, every silenced voice is a reminder that Turkey’s democracy is not just eroding—it is collapsing. The government’s insistence on crushing dissent does not demonstrate strength, but fragility. Fear is now a governing principle, and fear, once seeded, corrodes the very fabric of society. Unless there is accountability and reform, Turkey risks becoming a country where the rule of law is a hollow phrase and the shadow of repression defines everyday life.