Dr Elif Yilmaz

Turkey Expert — Human Rights, Political Situation & Asylum Cases

Expert at The Human Rights Experts, an international expert witness organisation.

We provide expert witness reports for asylum cases worldwide, covering human rights violations, political persecution, and systemic oppression. Our reports are trusted by lawyers, courts, and immigration authorities, in full compliance with procedural standards and tribunal requirements in the UK (CPR Part 35, Upper Tribunal PD, First-tier Tribunal IAC PD), USA (Federal Rules of Evidence), Canada, and the EU.

Occupation

• Country Witness Expert on Turkey and Cyprus
• Human Rights Specialist
• Legal Researcher and Academic Consultant
• Independent Journalist and Investigative Reporter on Human Rights

Expertise

I provide expert analysis on all five Refugee Convention grounds — political opinion, religion, ethnicity, membership of a particular social group (including LGBT and gender-based cases), and nationality — with a focus on the following countries:

Turkey: The Turkish state has conducted an unprecedented crackdown on political dissent following the 2016 coup attempt, with hundreds of thousands of individuals detained, dismissed from public employment, or subjected to travel bans under emergency decree powers targeting alleged supporters of the Gulen movement, Kurdish political activists, journalists, academics, and human rights defenders. The Kurdish population, concentrated in southeastern Turkey, faces systematic repression including military operations against civilian areas, prosecution of elected officials and cultural leaders, and restrictions on Kurdish language education and media under anti-terrorism legislation. Women experience high rates of femicide and domestic violence, and Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention has weakened protection frameworks, while honour-based violence remains prevalent in conservative rural regions. LGBT individuals face violence, employment discrimination, and bans on Pride events, with authorities invoking public morality to restrict visibility and advocacy, and Alevi religious communities face non-recognition of their places of worship and compulsory Sunni religious education in schools.

Cyprus: The division of Cyprus continues to produce human rights concerns on both sides of the ceasefire line, with displaced persons from both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities denied access to ancestral property and effective remedies for loss. In northern Cyprus, political expression critical of Turkey's influence or advocating for reunification faces informal pressure and media restrictions, while migrant workers — particularly women from sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia employed in domestic service — experience exploitation and trafficking. Women in both communities face domestic violence with varying levels of legal protection and enforcement, and LGBT individuals in the north face greater societal stigma and fewer legal protections compared to the south, where civil union legislation has been adopted but social acceptance remains uneven.

Experience

• Provided expert witness reports and oral testimony in over 100 asylum and immigration proceedings before UK tribunals and US immigration courts, with extensive focus on post-coup persecution, Kurdish political claims, and gender-based asylum cases from Turkey and Cyprus.
• Submitted expert evidence to the Upper Tribunal, the Royal Courts of Justice, and the Board of Immigration Appeals on the treatment of Gulen-affiliated individuals, Kurdish political detainees, journalists, and LGBT persons in Turkey.
• Authored country condition reports and risk assessments on Turkey's security landscape, judicial independence, and the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities for legal aid solicitors, barristers, and international protection organisations.
• Served as Associate Professor of Constitutional Law and Human Rights at Ankara University, Faculty of Law, with extensive research on emergency governance, minority rights, and judicial independence in Turkey.
• Collaborated with international human rights organisations to document mass detention, unfair trial practices, and restrictions on freedom of expression and association in Turkey and northern Cyprus. Expert member of The Human Rights Experts.

Full professional experience is available in the CV. Please email us to receive the detailed expert CV.

Publications

Available upon request and detailed in the expert CV.

Languages

• Turkish (Native)
• English (Fluent)
• Kurdish — Kurmanji (Professional proficiency)
• German (Conversational)

Religious Groups Expertise

All religious groups

Contact Email

info@thehuman-rights.com