Orhan Kemal Cengiz
Orhan Kemal Cengiz is a human rights defender, lawyer and journalist. He is a founding member of several human rights organisations, including the Human Rights Agenda Association and the Civil Society Development Center, which work towards the protection of freedom of expression, the prevention of torture, the promotion of economic, social, cultural and minority rights, as well as the provision of support to Turkish non-governmental organisations. Orhan Kemal Cengiz is also a famous journalist who has written extensively on human rights related topics, from the Kurdish issue to the Armenian Genocide. Currently, Orhan Kemal Cengiz serves as a defence counsel in the case of Kurdish lawyer Mr. Tahir Elci who advocated for the peaceful resolution of the long-standing Kurdish-Turkish conflict but was shot dead in Diyarbakir in the south-east of Turkey on 28 November 2015.
Human rights defenders in Turkey have been subjected to harassment, threats, surveillance, violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly, judicial harassment including criminal prosecution, violent attacks, prolonged arbitrary detention and ill-treatment. They become target for their work on denouncing impunity for serious human rights violations, defending sexual rights, investigating on ultra-nationalist networks, advocating for labour rights or defending the right to conscientious objection.
