Turkey’s increasing reliance on AI-powered surveillance, particularly facial recognition technology, to monitor and crack down on protests is raising significant human rights concerns. This technological shift, evident in recent mass detentions following demonstrations, highlights a growing authoritarian trend where digital tools are used to suppress dissent and erode fundamental freedoms, prompting widespread criticism from human rights organizations and legal experts.
AI Surveillance Escalates in Turkey
Turkey is rapidly expanding its AI-driven security infrastructure, with Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya publicly endorsing the widespread deployment of facial recognition technology. This includes plans to equip all police officers with body cameras featuring facial recognition by the end of 2025 and to integrate corporate cameras into the nationwide City Security Management System (KGYS).
- Significant Investments: Publicly available documents reveal substantial investments in AI-powered facial recognition capabilities. In September 2024, Turkey’s General Directorate of Security initiated a major expansion, purchasing 3,500 facial recognition cameras and related equipment for deployment across 30 provinces, totaling 73.2 million Turkish liras (approximately $2.6 million).
- Massive Scale-Up: Further tenders, including one for 13,000 facial recognition cameras in March 2025, indicate a massive scale-up of AI-powered surveillance infrastructure.
- Advanced Capabilities: Cameras like the Chinese-made Hikvision, observed at protests, are capable of detecting up to 120 faces simultaneously, raising concerns about the government’s ability to identify and track individuals in real-time.
Impact on Protesters and Legal Challenges
The new surveillance methods have profoundly impacted protesters, leading to mass detentions and prosecutions based on photographic evidence. Individuals like Onur, a young protester, were arrested after being identified in photographs holding banners, despite not engaging in violent acts.
- Evidence Admissibility: Lawyers argue that evidence obtained through these surveillance methods, particularly without proper court orders, should be inadmissible. The Istanbul Bar Association contends that police recordings should only be used for identifying suspects and collecting evidence of criminal acts, not for arbitrary punishment.
- Constitutional Safeguards: While Turkey’s constitution guarantees the right to privacy, protection of personal data, and a fair trial, broad exceptions for national security and crime prevention in the Personal Data Protection Law create loopholes for unchecked surveillance.
- Intimidation Tactics: The arbitrary nature of arrests and the use of surveillance are seen as intimidation tactics. As one lawyer noted, "The purpose is not to find evidence of a crime, the purpose is to intimidate. If you walk on the street, you will be arrested. In Turkey today, walking is a crime."
Erosion of Rights and International Concerns
The lack of transparency regarding AI deployment and the absence of binding laws regulating its use in policing have drawn criticism from human rights organizations.
- Lack of Regulation: Despite Turkey’s national AI strategy mentioning ethical principles, there are currently no comprehensive legal frameworks to govern AI use in policing, leaving citizens vulnerable to potential abuses.
- International Parallels: Experts draw parallels to other countries where facial recognition is used to suppress protests, highlighting the global implications of such unchecked technological power.
- Call for Accountability: Legal experts emphasize the need for legislative and institutional reforms to ensure that surveillance technologies remain accountable to democratic principles and the rule of law, asserting that AI should serve justice, not undermine it.
This escalating use of AI in protest crackdowns signals a worrying trend for human rights and civil liberties in Turkey, transforming public spaces into zones of constant surveillance and eroding the right to peaceful assembly.
Sources
- Turkey’s AI-Powered Protest Crackdown – New Lines Magazine, New Lines Magazine.
