{"id":81246,"date":"2026-05-13T04:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/81246\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T04:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:28:16","slug":"turkish-union-leader-acquitted-released-after-57-days-in-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/81246\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish union leader acquitted, released after 57 days in jail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A Turkish court on Tuesday acquitted labor union leader Mehmet T\u00fcrkmen of spreading misleading information and ordered his release after 57 days in pretrial detention, Turkish Minute <\/a>reported.<\/p>\n

T\u00fcrkmen, president of the United Textile, Weaving and Leather Workers\u2019 Union (B\u0130RTEK-SEN), had been\u00a0jailed<\/a>\u00a0since March 16 over remarks he made during a protest by workers at the S\u0131rma Hal\u0131 carpet factory in the southeastern province of Gaziantep.<\/p>\n

The Gaziantep 38th Criminal Court of First Instance ruled at the first hearing that T\u00fcrkmen be acquitted of \u201cpublicly disseminating misleading information,\u201d a charge introduced into the Turkish Penal Code in 2022 and frequently criticized by rights groups and journalists as a tool to restrict public criticism.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor requested T\u00fcrkmen\u2019s conviction, while T\u00fcrkmen and his lawyers sought acquittal.<\/p>\n

The court acquitted him and ordered his release.<\/p>\n

T\u00fcrkmen told the court the case had been filed following a complaint by the factory owner and said he was being punished for defending workers\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI became guilty because I asked for accountability for a severed arm,\u201d T\u00fcrkmen said in his defense, referring to a speech in which he cited a 47-year-old worker who lost both arms in a workplace accident at the \u015eireci textile factory in December 2025 and said no one had been held accountable.<\/p>\n

The protest involved around 400 S\u0131rma Hal\u0131 workers who stopped work over delayed wages and the lack of pay raises.<\/p>\n

The factory is owned by Hanifi \u015eireci, a businessman known for his close ties to Turkey\u2019s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).<\/p>\n

T\u00fcrkmen was initially accused of \u201cinciting hatred and hostility among the public\u201d over his remarks at the workers\u2019 protest, but the charge was later changed to \u201cpublicly disseminating misleading information\u201d when he was referred to court, according to media reports.<\/p>\n

The indictment accused him of making statements that were allegedly false and capable of disturbing public order and sought a prison sentence of one to three years as well as a ban on holding union office.<\/p>\n

T\u00fcrkmen\u2019s lawyers had previously sought his release after the indictment was completed, arguing that the grounds for his continued detention no longer existed, but the Gaziantep court rejected the request, as did a higher criminal court on appeal.<\/p>\n

Before Tuesday\u2019s hearing, T\u00fcrkmen\u2019s mother, Ay\u015fe T\u00fcrkmen, called for her son\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is my son\u2019s crime? Was he arrested because he defended the rights of workers who lost arms and hands?\u201d she said. \u201cI came to take my son home. I will not leave empty-handed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several politicians and union representatives attended the hearing.<\/p>\n

T\u00fcrkmen had previously been detained during labor protests in Gaziantep\u2019s Ba\u015fp\u0131nar industrial zone in February 2025 and spent more than a month in jail before being released under house arrest, which was later lifted.<\/p>\n

Labor rights advocates say workplace accidents, unpaid wages and pressure on union organizing remain persistent problems in Turkey\u2019s industrial sector, while critics accuse the government of using broad criminal charges to intimidate labor activists and discourage collective action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Turkish court on Tuesday acquitted labor union leader Mehmet T\u00fcrkmen of spreading misleading information and ordered his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[43198,312,427,23323,43199,18505,43200,43201,131,132,155,43202],"class_list":{"0":"post-81246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-ayse-turkmen","9":"tag-human-rights","10":"tag-justice","11":"tag-mehmet-turkmen","12":"tag-pretrial-detention","13":"tag-publicly-disseminating-misleading-information","14":"tag-sireci-textile-factory","15":"tag-sirma-hali","16":"tag-stockholm","17":"tag-sweden","18":"tag-turkey","19":"tag-weaving-and-leather-workers-union-birtek-sen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116565384024368286","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}