Turkish authorities detain Yonca Şık, Böll Foundation coordinator, on espionage accusation

Detention and accusation

Turkish authorities detained Yonca Şık, the Turkey programme coordinator of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, on 10 November on an espionage accusation. DW reports that she was taken from her home, given a health check, and then brought to the Istanbul courthouse in Çağlayan to give a statement. Her daughter, who is also her lawyer, told BBC Türkçe that the accusation is political or military espionage. Şık is married to Ahmet Şık, an Istanbul MP for the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) who is also a journalist, and the party announced her detention on its X account. In its statement, the party said:

“It is understood that Minister Gürlek has instructed the judiciary and police forces under his command to take action.”

Reactions from parliament and the party

Sera Kadıgil, a TİP MP for Istanbul, wrote on X that on 9 November she had told Justice Minister Akın Gürlek in parliament that relatives of Ahmet Şık were being threatened. After the detention she wrote that the threat was now being carried out, and she asked whether the government intended to silence MPs it could not jail by detaining their spouses and associates.

“Today they decided to carry out their threat.”

Erkan Baş, the TİP chairman, held a press conference in parliament after the detention. He tied the detention to Ahmet Şık's investigations into funding claims, which Baş said the MP had brought to public attention, and he claimed the MP was being silenced through his wife. Baş also said Yonca Şık had been detained only because she is Ahmet Şık's wife, and that the MP had undergone heavy heart surgery ten days earlier.

“Bu bir milletvekilinin çalışmalarını engelleme girişimidir”

Questioning and the foundation's position

Her lawyer told N-tv that the questioning at the Istanbul court covered Yonca Şık's work for the foundation, how the foundation operates, its activities and the payments she had received. It also focused on the foundation's cooperation with the LGBTQ association Kaos GL. The lawyer said her client had presented her work transparently and explained how the foundation works, and she called the proceeding concerning and disquieting. The lawyer also said that on 10 November she learned an exit ban against Ahmet Şık was in place. The Heinrich Böll Foundation rejects the accusation that it funded associations unlawfully. According to DW, the foundation is known for its closeness to Germany's Green party, and its Istanbul office has been active since 1994 on climate change, human rights and refugee rights.

Backdrop of the September raids

In September Turkey carried out nationwide raids, including on LGBTQ associations, in which numerous people were detained. The judiciary accuses those detained of, among other things, obscenity and prostitution. Justice Minister Akın Gürlek told Anadolu that a review of the associations' financial reports had found large sums transferred from public institutions abroad. Pro-government broadcasters cited official audit reports from the Istanbul governorate, which they said showed the associations had not acted in line with their founding purposes. One association named in those reports had been supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, most recently in 2023, and the foundation rejects the claim that it financed associations unlawfully.