Police have engaged in widespread physical abuse, sexual harassment and degrading treatment of young people detained during mass demonstrations sparked by the jailing of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, lawyers representing the detainees told Turkish media.
In a series of detailed testimonies and legal records shared by opposition lawmakers and defense attorneys, allegations have emerged of routine beatings, verbal abuse, arbitrary detentions, overcrowded holding conditions and in at least one case, sexual harassment of a female university student by a male officer.
The most serious allegation was made by a young woman detained in İstanbul’s Saraçhane neighborhood, who said in an official statement that she was pulled by her hair, dragged on the ground, groped by a male officer and urinated on herself in fear. She said a female officer eventually intervened, stopping the assault. Her full testimony was shared by Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Sezgin Tanrıkulu, who confirmed the details had been recorded in interrogation records and presented to the Penal Court of Peace. The judge, however, took no action, Tanrıkulu said.
“I have the police statement and the interrogation record in hand,” Tanrıkulu wrote on social media. “A young female student has clearly described how she was harassed and mistreated. The judiciary has remained silent.”
The young woman also reported that after her arrest, she was forced to undergo a superficial medical exam in the presence of a police officer and was discouraged from reporting her abuse. Her lawyer recorded the entire incident in formal statements submitted to the court.
Additional accounts gathered by the İstanbul Bar Association reveal a broader pattern. Attorney Halil Enes Kavak said students in police custody were “severely beaten,” with visible injuries including bruises, swollen faces and ear trauma. He described the detentions as indiscriminate and punitive in nature.
“In Saraçhane, none of the youths detained were without signs of physical violence,” Kavak told the Sözcü newspaper. “Many had been dragged, kicked, punched and struck with helmets. Some were not even part of the protests — they weren’t fleeing, weren’t resisting. These were arbitrary roundups.”
He added that several detainees were held incommunicado for up to 48 hours, prompting families to file missing persons reports. Holding cells were described as “overcrowded and airless,” with some detainees kept underground on 7th underground floor while still soaked in pepper spray from the protests.
“They were kept for four days in suffocating conditions without proper ventilation,” Kavak said. “This turned into a form of punishment. Whether released, jailed or still in custody, all of them still reek of pepper spray.”
The Women’s Assembly of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) also condemned the treatment of female detainees, calling it “a deliberate attack on women’s bodies” and “a reflection of the male-dominated, sexist and authoritarian policies of the state.”
The party said in a statement that young women arrested during protests were subjected to strip-searches, physical abuse and targeted harassment, and demanded the immediate release of all detainees and the criminal prosecution of those responsible for the abuse.
The Ministry of Justice has not commented on the allegations, though Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya previously defended the police response to protests, stating that “public order must be preserved.” As of March 28, more than 1,800 people had been detained across Turkey in connection with the demonstrations, according to official figures.