By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider
Human rights activists and Turkish citizens who have been expatriated have gathered from across Europe to convene in Strasbourg today in order to urge the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as well as the Council of Europe to take action against Turkey for failing to implement which affect thousands of people who are victims of the country’s post-coup crackdown.
The protest is organised by the Peaceful Actions Platform and they are supported by a total of 17 civil society organisations and initiatives and is currently taking place at Council of Europe as they are positioned to supervise the implementation of European court judgements and is seated by 46 members called the Committee of Ministers.
The protest aims to focus on Turkey’s refusal to adhere to the rulings regarding terrorist convict, Yuksel Yalcinkaya, who was also formerly a teacher. Yalcinkaya is accused of allegedly being linked to the faith-based Gulen movement.
The rally itself aims to highlight the Gulen Movement in its entirety as it has been the central target of Turkey’s crackdown as they failed to execute a coup in July 2016.
The Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has consistently targeted members of this movement, which was established and inspired by the teachings of Fethullah Gulen, and has been probed for corruption since December 2013 and has implicated members and his family.
He dismissively labels the probes as being “Gulenist Conspiracy” and labelled the movement a “terrorist organisation” in May 2016 and accused Gulen of orchestrating a coup which intensified the crackdown.
The movement establishes itself as a civic initiative with their main focuses being education, charity and dialogue and has dismissed any claims of orchestrating a coup or any other forms of terrorist activity.
More than 126,000 people have been apprehended and convicted for alleged links to the Gulen Movement over the span of a decade and 11,085 people are still in prison. Currently legal proceedings are being held for 24,000 people and 58,000 people are still under investigation since 2016.
The Turkish government proceeded to call a state of emergency in 2018 and remained in effect until July of that year. During the state of Emergency, the state had purged institutions which were not implemented under standard judiciary or parliamentary measures.
This probing of state institutions resulted in 130,000 civil servants which includes judges and prosecutors losing their jobs due to being linked to the movement.
In May 2026, the Grand Chamber of ECtHR in the case regarding, Yasak v. Turkey, had found that Turkey is in violation of “punishment without law” as well perpetrating inhuman and harsh treatment.
The March included a delivery of a letter to the Council of Europe, victim’s statements, as well as video messages from politicians and journalists across Europe.
“As a Turkish lawyer living in South Africa, I support the Strasbourg Justice Gathering because it represents a peaceful and lawful call for justice, accountability and respect for human rights” said Enes Gungoren.
“The people gathering in Strasbourg come from diverse backgrounds. They include individuals associated with the Gulen movement, journalist, academics, lawyers, judges, civil servants, business people, politicians and ordinary citizens who believe they have been affected by human rights violations and erosion of the rule of law in Türkiye” he continued.