{"id":142208,"date":"2026-08-07T18:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T18:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/142208\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T18:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T18:02:13","slug":"turkish-government-using-ai-tool-to-predict-alleged-terrorist-group-links","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/142208\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish government using AI tool to predict alleged \u2018terrorist group\u2019 links"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Turkey\u2019s justice ministry is deploying artificial intelligence to scrutinize legal documents for associations with groups designated as terrorists by Ankara, a practice that experts fear will reinforce the judiciary\u2019s documented pattern of serious rights violations, Turkish Minute<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

The ministry refers to this initiative as the Chief Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office Organization Prediction Project. Created by the ministry\u2019s Directorate General of Information Technology, the software analyzes data in Turkey\u2019s National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP) and evaluates it against records of groups designated by Turkey as terrorists.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Hatice Y\u0131ld\u0131z questioned the use of the system in a post on X on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u00d6rg\u00fct tahmin projesi yap\u0131lm\u0131\u015f.
Savc\u0131l\u0131k makam\u0131 soru\u015fturma dosyas\u0131ndaki bilgileri y\u00fckleyecekmi\u015f, yapay zeka \u00f6rg\u00fct\u00fc bulacakm\u0131\u015f, bu sayede insan hatas\u0131n\u0131n \u00f6n\u00fcne ge\u00e7ilecekmi\u015f.
\u0130nan\u0131l\u0131r gibi de\u011fil.
Savc\u0131 okudu\u011fu dosyay\u0131 anlam\u0131yor mu ?
\u00d6rg\u00fct metre mi bu ? pic.twitter.com\/SL5Npz7x7G<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Av.Hatice YILDIZ (@avhaticeyldz) August 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cA project to predict the [terrorist] organization has been developed. The prosecutor\u2019s office will upload the information in the investigation file and AI will identify the organization, supposedly preventing human error,\u201d Y\u0131ld\u0131z wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes the prosecutor not understand the files they read? What is this, some kind of [terrorist] affiliation detector?\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Justice Ministry Information Technology Director General Servet G\u00fcl presented the system as a tool for correcting data entry errors in files held by public prosecutor\u2019s offices in April 2025. He said it automatically matched newly entered information with existing terrorist organization records.<\/p>\n

G\u00fcl said the purpose was to improve judicial statistics, reports requested by international monitors such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and data management in prosecution files.<\/p>\n

The ministry\u2019s June 2026 description says the system analyzes the contents of a case file, predicts a possible organization link and assists judges and prosecutors in their decision making.<\/p>\n

Seven of the ministry\u2019s nine AI projects were being used nationwide by April 2025, G\u00fcl told parliament. The ministry\u2019s June 2026 announcement said the organization prediction tool was available to all judges and prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Ali Y\u0131ld\u0131z, a human rights lawyer based in Belgium, warned that the system could reproduce legal assumptions embedded in past terrorism investigations and court rulings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMachine-learning systems derive their predictions from historical data,\u201d Y\u0131ld\u0131z told Turkish Minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere that data reflects legal interpretations that the European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR] has already held to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, the resulting model risks perpetuating \u2014 and potentially reinforcing \u2014 those very interpretations,\u201d Y\u0131ld\u0131z said.<\/p>\n

The ECtHR Grand Chamber ruled in the\u00a0case<\/a>\u00a0of Y\u00fcksel Yal\u00e7\u0131nkaya that Turkish courts had created an almost automatic presumption of guilt by treating the use of the ByLock messaging application as proof of terrorist organization membership. In its May 2026 judgment in the case of \u015eaban Yasak, the court found that Turkish courts had failed to assess through concrete evidence whether the defendant knew of the organization\u2019s aims and intended to take part in them.<\/p>\n

\u201cA system trained on years of Turkish terrorism investigations and prosecutions, for example, may replicate the same generalized indicators and presumptions of organizational membership that the Grand Chamber condemned in Yal\u00e7\u0131nkaya and Yasak while cloaking those flawed assumptions in the appearance of objective, algorithmic neutrality,\u201d Y\u0131ld\u0131z said.<\/p>\n

The Council of Europe\u2019s European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice says AI used in judicial systems should respect fundamental rights, prevent discrimination, use secure and verified data, permit outside audits and remain under the control of informed users. It also calls for data processing methods to be accessible and understandable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ministry has disclosed virtually no information about the system\u2019s training data, performance metrics, false-positive rate, or the safeguards implemented to detect and mitigate bias. It has likewise failed to explain whether the model generates reasons for its predictions, whether those predictions are retained for independent audit, or whether defendants will be informed if an AI-generated assessment influenced the processing or evaluation of their case,\u201d lawyer Y\u0131ld\u0131z stated.<\/p>\n

The concerns about the system come against the backdrop of a judiciary reshaped under President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, particularly since a 2013 corruption investigation targeted senior members of his government. Erdo\u011fan accused the prosecutors, judges and police involved in the investigation of acting on behalf of the G\u00fclen movement, a faith-based group critical of his government.<\/p>\n

Until 2016 Erdo\u011fan sought to reshape the judiciary by appointing loyalists to key positions. Following a coup attempt in July 2016, the government launched an extensive crackdown, largely targeting the president\u2019s opponents.<\/p>\n

More than 4,000 judges and prosecutors were disbarred in the aftermath of the coup attempt over alleged ties to the G\u00fclen movement, which the government accuses of orchestrating the abortive putsch. The movement denies any involvement.<\/p>\n

The mass purge is widely believed to have created a chilling effect across Turkey\u2019s judiciary, pressuring remaining members to align with government priorities and to pursue politically motivated investigations and prosecutions.<\/p>\n