The Turkish authorities must lift all restrictions on a planned May Day solidarity demonstration in Istanbul’s Taksim Square and allow people to gather peacefully in accordance with a ruling by Türkiye’s Constitutional Court, Amnesty International said.
The organization is also calling on law enforcement officials to respect, protect and facilitate people’s right to peaceful assembly and not use force against peaceful protesters. Some trade unions and other civil society organizations have pledged to gather in Taksim Square despite preparations to restrict the square with metal barriers and several social media posts by the Istanbul governor Davut Gül in recent days declaring that the area remains off-limits. On 29 and 30 April, dozens of individuals were detained from their homes in advance of May Day, in what was reported as a pre-emptive action in relation to their plans to assemble in Taksim Square.
“The restrictions on May Day celebrations in Taksim Square are based on entirely spurious security and public order grounds and fly in the face of the 2023 Constitutional Court ruling. The restrictions must be urgently lifted,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, Dinushika Dissanayake.
“Taksim Square is a place of huge symbolic significance for the Turkish trade union and workers movements and others who have gathered in protest and in celebration. For more than a decade, the Turkish authorities have unlawfully restricted people’s right to peaceful assembly and criminalized peaceful protests that take place in the square. It is vital that this year, May Day celebrations are able to proceed.”
The ban on May Day rallies in Taksim Square dates back to 2013, when, on multiple occasions, the police violently prevented trade unions, their supporters and other organizations from gathering.
In December 2023, Türkiye’s Constitutional Court ruled that the right to freedom of peaceful assembly of DİSK (the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Trade Unions), during the May Day celebrations in Taksim Square in 2014 and 2015 had been violated by the bans and forceful dispersals of protesters by law enforcement officials. In 2013, a European Court of Human Rights ruling had also found violation of the right to peaceful assembly by the state for the restrictions on the May Day rally in Taksim Square in 2008.
“The binding decisions of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights must be respected by the authorities.,” said Dinushika Dissanayake.
“The Turkish authorities, including law enforcement officials, must ensure that they fulfil their duty to enable peaceful assemblies to take place. They must also take all necessary steps to protect participants’ enjoyment of their rights.”
Background
On 20 April 2025, the Governor of Istanbul Davut Gül stated on social media platform X: “for the foreseeable future, no collective actions have been permitted in Taksim Square and Istiklal Avenue on security grounds”.
In 2024 the authorities attempted to justify the ban by claiming that Taksim’s location and the heavy traffic would make it difficult to ensure the protection of rights and freedoms and also referred to risks of “terror attacks”.
In 2009, the government declared 1 May an official public holiday and, for the first time in 32 years, some workers and their organizations were allowed to gather peacefully in Taksim Square. The area was closed to demonstrations again in 2013 for supposed security concerns.
The Constitutional Court ruled in 2023 that preventing May Day celebrations at Taksim Square constituted a violation of the constitutional right to organize public meetings and demonstrations, as safeguarded by Article 34 of the Constitution.
On 14 May, Amnesty International will publish tits findings into unnecessary and excessive use of force against peaceful protesters during demonstrations that followed the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul in March 2025.