Eren Keskin

Eren Keskin (born April 24, 1959 in Bursa, Turkey) is a lawyer and human rights activist in Turkey. She is the vice-president of the Turkish Human Rights Association (İHD) and a former president of its Istanbul branch. She co-founded the project "Legal Aid For Women Who Were Raped Or Otherwise Sexually Abused by National Security Forces”, to expose abuses happening to women in Turkish prisons.[1] She has been arrested, imprisoned, and the object of numerous lawsuits in relation to her human rights activities.

In 1995 she was imprisoned for her activities and was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.[2] In 2002 she was accused by Turkey's State Security of "aiding and abetting" the PKK because of her advocacy for Kurds to use their native language in Turkey.[3] In March 2006 a Turkish court sentenced her to 10 months’ imprisonment for insulting the country's military. The sentence was then converted to a fine of 6000 New Turkish Liras, which Keskin refused to pay.[4] From 2013 to 2016 Keskin was the editor in chief of the newspaper Özgür Gündem has been sentenced to a total of 7 years and 6 months together.[5] In March 2018 she has been sentenced to 5 years and 3 months imprisonment for insulting the president and another 2 years and 3 months for "degrading Turkishness, the Republic, institutions and organs of the state" according to the Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.[6]

Awards

In 2004 she received the Aachen Peace Award "for her courageous efforts and activities for human rights." In 2005 she was awarded the Esslingen-based Theodor Haecker Prize for Civic Courage and Political Integrity. [7] In 2018 she received the Helsinki Civil Society Award from the Netherlands Helsinki Committee[8] for her work based on, and contributing to the legacy of the Helsinki Principles. In 2019 Keskin was a finalist of the Martin Ennals Awards, where she was honoured for her exceptional and relentless fight for fundamental freedoms and rights in Turkey. Due to her travel ban, she was not able to attend the award ceremony on the 13 February 2019.[9]

References
  1. "Biography of Eren Keskin". Culture of peace. 2005. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
  2. "Turkey: Death threats/Fear for safety Eren Keskin and Osman Baydemir". Amnesty International. 2001-04-10. Archived from the original on 2009-08-09. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-04-04. Retrieved 2009-11-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Mouradian, Khatchig (2006-04-05). "Against all odds, an Interview with Eren Keskin". Znet. Archived from the original on 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
  5. "Turkey: Ms. Eren Keskin's kafkaesque judicial harassment". FIDH. 20 June 2018.
  6. "Eren Keskin and Reyhan Çapan Sentenced to 7.5 Years in Prison". Bianet. 30 March 2018.
  7. "Interview with Eren Keskin". Quantara. 2005. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
  8. "Helsinki Civil Society Award 2018 Goes to Eren Keskin - Netherlands Helsinki Committee". Netherlands Helsinki Committee. 2018-03-14. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  9. Saturday; May 2019, 11; Award, 12:15 pm Press Release: Martin Ennals. "Martin Ennals Award Finalist Eren Keskin honoured | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 2019-05-24.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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