Taner Kılıç

Taner Kılıç (born 1969) is a Turkish civil rights activist who is one of the founding members of the Turkey section of the human rights organisation Amnesty International[1] and its president since 2014.[2] Kılıç was detained by Turkish authorities for alleged terrorist activities on 6 June 2017,[3] during the 2016–17 purges in Turkey.

Taner Kılıç
Born1969 (age 53–54)[1]
NationalityTurkish
EducationDokuz Eylül University
Known forfounding of Amnesty International Turkey;[2] arrested 6 June 2017[3]
TitlePresident of Amnesty International Turkey[2]
Term2014–[2]
SuccessorIncumbent

He remained in detention[4] until 15 August 2018.[5] On 3 July 2020, he was sentenced to six years in prison.[6] Amnesty condemned the verdict as a "travesty of justice".[7]

Education and career

Kılıç studied at Dokuz Eylül University, graduating from its law school in 1991, and practised as a lawyer since 1993.[1] He cofounded the Association for Solidarity with Refugees (Mültecilerle Dayanışma Derneği) and was the head of its board from 2008 to 2014.[1] As of May 2016, he was a member of the Immigration and Asylum Commission of the Izmir Bar Association and of the Refugee Rights Study Group of the Turkish Bars Association.[1]

Amnesty International

Kılıç is one of the founding members of Amnesty International Turkey,[1] of which he became president in 2014.[2]

Arrest during 2016–17 purges

Kılıç was detained by Turkish authorities on 6 June 2017 and charged with use of the smartphone program ByLock[8] and membership of a terrorist organisation.[3] One of Turkey's supreme courts declared in September 2017 that having ByLock installed on the phone of an accused person was sufficient to establish that person's membership of the Gülen movement.[8] Amnesty denied Kılıç downloaded ByLock and said the only evidence presented for this claim was that according to the prosecutor the app was on his phone in August 2014. almost three years before his arrest.[9] Twenty two other lawyers were detained together with Kılıç.[3] These detentions took place during the second year of the 2016–17 purges in Turkey, during which 40,000 public employees were arrested and 120,000 were dismissed or suspended from their jobs.[10] On 26 October 2017, Amnesty International Turkey's director, İdil Eser, was released from prison in Turkey, while an Izmir court ordered that Kılıç remain in detention.[11]

The Los Angeles Times commented that the Turkish president Erdoğan, in power since 2014, had earlier been supported by Amnesty International when he was imprisoned for a poem he wrote in 1998.[12]

On 31 January 2018, an Istanbul court ordered that Kılıç be conditionally released. The prosecutor in the case appealed, and on 1 February, the court accepted the appeal, ordering that Kılıç remain in detention for the full length of his trial.[4]

References
  1. "Taner Kılıç". International Community and Refugees: Responsibilities, Possibilities and Violations of Human Rights. 13 May 2016. Archived from the original on 2 May 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  2. "Taner Kılıç - HRD & Chair - Amnesty International Turkey". Front Line Defenders. 2017. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  3. "Turkey charges Amnesty chief Taner Kilic with coup links". BBC. 10 June 2017. Archived from the original on 25 July 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  4. "Amnesty International's Turkey chair Taner Kılıç rearrested after release ruling". Hürriyet Daily News. 1 February 2018. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  5. Council of Europe (CoE): Release of Taner Kiliç, Amnesty International
  6. "Turkey convicts 4 human rights activists on terror charges". Associated Press. 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  7. "Turkey: Amnesty Chair convicted in 'travesty of justice'". www.amnesty.org.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  8. "ByLock can be considered sole evidence of Gülen network membership: Supreme Court". Hürriyet Daily News. 26 September 2017. Archived from the original on 9 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  9. correspondent, Owen Bowcott Legal affairs (11 September 2017). "Turks detained for using encrypted app 'had human rights breached'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  10. Pamuk, Humeyra; Gurses, Ercan (29 April 2017). "Turkey fires 3,900 in second post-referendum purge". Thomson Reuters. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  11. "Amnesty Turkey chair Taner Kilic remanded in custody". Al Jazeera English. 26 October 2017. Archived from the original on 20 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  12. Farooq, Umar (22 November 2017). "Who are the 11 human rights activists going on trial in Turkey?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 25 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.


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