ERIN KESKIN
Eren Keskin (born 24 April 1959, Bursa, Turkey) is a lawyer and prominent human rights activist in Turkey. She is the Co-Chair of the Human Rights Association (İHD). She is also the founder of the Legal Aid Bureau against Sexual Harassment and Rape in Custody.
Under the influence of her family, she grew up with a sympathy for leftist politics. Studying at the Faculty of Law of Istanbul University, she fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a lawyer, and began taking on political cases.
For more than thirty years, Keskin has struggled for fundamental rights and freedoms in Turkey, especially for the Kurds, women and the LGBTI+ community. Keskin has played a significant role in the establishment, activation, and strengthening of civil society structures in Turkey. In the early days of her career as a lawyer, she got involved with the Human Rights Association (İHD). For years, Keskin served as the president of the Association’s Istanbul branch, before becoming İHD’s vice-president and now the Co-Chair.
Keskin is also founding member of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV), the most prominent human rights organisation in Turkey on rehabilitation and treatment of torture survivors. She is also one of founders of TOHAV (Foundation for Society and Legal Studies) which was created in 1994 to investigate human rights violations in the country.
In 1995, Keskin was convicted for using the word “Kurdistan” in a newspaper article, and spent 6 months in prison. During her time in prison, she met many women who were systematically subjected to strip searches, sexual assault, and rape in detention. In 1997, together with Jutta Hermans, she co-founded the project “Legal Aid For Women Who Were Raped Or Otherwise Sexually Abused by National Security Forces”, to expose abuses of women in detention. Within twenty years, hundreds of women sought the assistance of the office, which continues to operate today. Currently her work includes legal work at the “Legal Assistance Office against Sexual Abuse and Rape in Detention”, which she founded.
She has been the object of numerous lawsuits in relation to her human rights activities. Keskin has been arrested, attacked and threatened for her legitimate and peaceful work in the defense of human rights. She was assaulted in 1994, and again in 2001. She was targeted by the mainstream press and state authorities for publically raising incidents of sexual violence. A Turkish columnist publically threatened her with rape. The İstanbul Bar Association withdrew her licence to practice for one year in 2003 for using ‘Kurdistan’ in a newspaper column.
Within the context of the worsening human rights situation in Turkey, notably since the coup attempt in July 2016, Keskin is once again at the centre of intimidation attempts. As part of a solidarity campaign to support Özgür Gündem newspaper, whose editorial staff was imprisoned, Eren Keskin held the title of “editor-in-chief” of the newspaper from 2013 to 2016, when it was closed by the authorities. She has been convicted and sentenced to 12.5 years in jail for having published articles deemed to have “degraded” the Turkish nation and “insulted” the Turkish president. She is currently free pending the appeal, but she has been banned from traveling.
Despite all, bravely and uncompromisingly, she continues to defend human rights in Turkey, standing by the victims via the institutions and initiatives and efforts that she manages and takes part in. She continues to stand for equal rights and freedoms for all, sometimes under the most difficult and life-threatening conditions. She continues to work on political cases mainly related to the freedom of expression and thought. She also works on cases related to sexual violence, torture, ethnic identity, racism, discrimination in the context of LGBTI+, and women rights as well as enforced disappearances, unidentified murders, deaths in custody. While being subject to death threats, physical attacks and hate speech because of her criticism of the government, she undertakes all the risks and brings human rights violations onto the agenda, for the people of Turkey and the world.
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. In 2018 she received the Helsinki Civil Society Award from the Netherlands Helsinki Committee 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.
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