Turkey’s top court confirms abduction, torture in case involving Turkish intelligence and foreign ministry

Levent Kenez/Stockholm

In a ruling dated March 25, 2025, the Turkish Constitutional Court found that authorities had violated the procedural safeguards of the prohibition of ill-treatment in the case of Zabit Kişi, who was abducted from Kazakhstan and secretly detained in Turkey. The court unanimously ruled that Kişi was denied an effective investigation into his allegations of unlawful abduction, prolonged incommunicado detention and severe torture, implicating both the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the Turkish Foreign Ministry in a serious violation of domestic and international legal standards.

Kişi, convicted on charges of alleged affiliation with the Gülen movement, a group critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was abducted on September 30, 2017, at Almaty Airport in Kazakhstan. He and another individual, E.K., were forcibly taken by plainclothes officers identifying themselves as working for MİT. According to Kişi’s account, he was beaten, forcibly boarded onto an unmarked military-style aircraft and transported to Turkey without any legal extradition process.

Upon arrival Kişi was held incommunicado by MİT for 108 days in a windowless, three-square-meter container. During this period, he was denied all contact with the outside world and was subjected to what he later described as systematic torture. He alleged that his ribs were fractured as a result of repeated beatings, electric shocks were administered to his body and his toes were deliberately crushed. In addition to physical torture, he was psychologically abused with death threats and threats against his family. Kişi also described an attempted sexual assault using a hard object. Under such duress, he said he was coerced into giving confessions, which were recorded on video.

Zabit Kişi’s letter from prison reveals details of brutal torture after his abduction:

When he resurfaced at the Ankara Courthouse on January 18, 2018, Kişi had lost 30 kilograms and was visibly traumatized. The Ankara Police Department claimed in official records that Kişi had “voluntarily” appeared that same day to cooperate with authorities under the repentance laws, contradicting his detailed accounts of abduction and abuse. This conflicting narrative was a key factor cited by the Constitutional Court in its ruling, which criticized the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for failing to seriously investigate the discrepancies.

An initial investigation was opened into the allegations, but prosecutors closed the case on November 17, 2020, more than three years later, saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing. They cited early medical reports that claimed there were “no signs of battery or coercion” and dismissed Kişi’s statements as “unsubstantiated.” The official record indicating he had willingly turned himself in was also used as a justification.

The Constitutional Court, however, rejected this reasoning. It ruled that the prosecutor’s office had failed to properly examine whether Kişi had been forcibly removed from Kazakhstan. Critical evidence, including airport surveillance footage from Almaty and Ankara’s Etimesgut Military Airport, passenger manifests, customs logs and testimony from flight personnel, was never collected. The court also pointed out that Kişi’s passport bore no legal entry stamp into Turkey — an omission that was never investigated.

Additionally, the court emphasized that the medical examinations claiming there were no signs of abuse had not met international or national standards. Kişi had consistently objected to the validity of those reports, stating that the medical checks were conducted hastily, in the presence of law enforcement and without proper privacy. Subsequent medical evaluations in Kandıra and Kocaeli State Hospitals, which documented trauma near the ribs and nerve compression in his elbow, were ignored by the prosecutor’s office. These findings could have corroborated Kişi’s claims of beatings, electric shocks and prolonged physical abuse. Despite their importance, no independent forensic medical analysis was commissioned.

Ruling by the Constitutional Court on the case of Zabit Kişi:

The court further criticized the prosecution for not taking formal testimony from Kişi or E.K., the key eyewitness to the abduction. Officials who had drafted the contradictory police report claiming Kişi’s “voluntary surrender” were also not questioned. The conditions under which Kişi was allegedly dropped off — blindfolded in the parking lot of the Ankara Courthouse — were never investigated. No attempt was made to examine surrounding CCTV footage or clarify who delivered him.

The Constitutional Court concluded that Turkish authorities had failed to fulfill their positive obligation to investigate credible claims of torture and enforced disappearance. The prolonged inaction and the absence of even the most basic investigatory steps amounted to a clear violation of Article 17 of the Turkish Constitution, which prohibits ill-treatment without exception.

As a result, the court ordered a new, effective investigation and awarded Kişi 190,000 Turkish lira ($4,800) in non-pecuniary damages. The ruling explicitly stated that the investigation must be thorough, impartial and conducted with urgency.

However, in a controversial decision, the court rejected Kişi’s separate complaint regarding unlawful detention by public officials, citing a failure to exhaust legal remedies. The court argued that Kişi had directly filed a constitutional complaint without first pursuing available administrative or judicial channels.

Reacting to the decision, legal expert Ufuk Yeşil criticized the Constitutional Court’s limited scope. “Once again, the court did not surprise us and only recognized a violation of the procedural aspect of the ban on ill-treatment,” he wrote on X. “What more needs to happen — what additional forms of torture must be inflicted — for the court to acknowledge a substantive violation in such a case?”

The decision sheds light on a broader pattern of extraterritorial abductions carried out by Turkish intelligence in the post-2016 period, often in coordination with the foreign ministry. In Kişi’s case official documents from the Turkish Foreign Ministry cited a note from Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry stating that Kişi was “handed over to the Turkish side” and deported “in line with court rulings.” The Constitutional Court questioned the authenticity and legal basis of such a transfer, especially given the absence of passport stamps and the nature of the operation. Yet, these serious indicators of violations of international law were never addressed by the investigating authorities.

Ankara prosecutor Gürhan Murat Tekin concealed the illegal detention by MİT, falsely reporting that the victim appeared voluntarily on the courthouse steps at night:

Nordic Monitor previously published an extensive report detailing the abduction, illegal detention and torture of Kişi based on official court records, personal testimony and supporting documents. Kişi is one of 121 alleged Gülen movement members abducted abroad and forcibly returned to Turkey in what rights groups and the United Nations have labeled illegal renditions.

The Constitutional Court, which has generally aligned with the Erdogan administration in cases involving government critics, acknowledged with this ruling that the allegations in Kişi’s case are so grave and credible that they warrant a serious and thorough investigation.