Examples of fabricated charges in Turkey The following acts have been primarily used by the Turkish government as pretexts for the arrest and detention of alleged members of the Movement although they are not defined as crimes in the law. The list is not exhaustive but is indicative of a larger problem in the abuse of the criminal justice system by the Turkish government and represents a clear breach of Turkey’s obligations under international conventions. The Turkish government remains deliberately ambiguous when repeatedly asked about what criteria and evidence it has used to round up tens of thousands of people based on their alleged affiliation with the Gulen Movement. But, based on arrest and detention warrants, indictments and court trials, the criteria below, which have no basis in the law and do constitute criminal activity at all, appear to be driving the mass dismissals, arrests and escalating persecution in Turkey.
