Öztürk Türkdoğan is a lawyer and the Co-Chair of the Human Rights Association (İHD). His work has made him a prominent figure in the human rights movement in Turkey. He was the Mediterranean regional representative of the “Wise People Delegation,” which was formed in 2013 to negotiate a resolution of the Kurdish issue.  He documented human rights violations once the conflict between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Turkish military re-erupted in 2015. In this documentation, he mainly focused on cities in southeast Turkey that had 24-hour curfews.

Gençay Gürsoy (1939) graduated from Istanbul University’s Medical Faculty, with a specialization in neurology, in 1963. He worked in the same faculty as a specialist, associate professor and professor. He led the establishment of a fully equipped neuroradiology laboratory in the same school in 1980. He also studied and conducted research on neurology abroad for 4,5 years. Following the 12 September 1980 coup d’état, he was expelled from his position and was not able to work at any public institution from 1983 onwards.

Taner Kılıç is a lawyer, a human rights defender, and the honorary president of Amnesty International Turkey. As a prominent figure in the human rights movement in Turkey, he works on refugee rights and is one of the first legal experts who has drawn attention to the conditions of refugees in Turkey. Kılıç is also a founder and the former chair of the Association for Solidarity with Refugees (Mülteci-Der).

Writer-journalist Nadire Mater plays a prominent part in freedom of opinion and speech in Turkey. Mater serves as the Chair of the Board of the Interpress Service (IPS) Communication Foundation, which supports rights-based journalism practices. She is also the project advisor of the Independent Communication Network (BIA) and continues to work for the online media platform bianet.org. Mater is among 38 people who have stood trial for supporting the Editors-in-Chief on Watch Campaign for the now shut down newspaper Özgür Gündem Daily.

Mücella Yapıcı is a member of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) and is one of the executives of the İstanbul Büyükkent branch of the Chamber of Architects. She is also a representative of the Taksim Solidarity Platform, which was established in 2012 in the legal battle against projects that threaten the Taksim Square and the Taksim Gezi Park. Yapıcı is one of the defendants in the Gezi Park case where 16 rights defenders stand trial and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Businessperson Osman Kavala is a civil society leader in Turkey. He stepped into the world of business in 1982. He has pioneered efforts to promote democracy, human rights, and multiculturalism in Turkey through his companies and civil society organizations. Following the solidarity actions he initiated after the 1999 Istanbul Earthquake, he dedicated himself to work in the field of civil society. 

Lawyer Eren Keskin is the Co-Chair of the Human Rights Association, founder of the “Legal Assistance Office Against Sexual Harassment and Rape in Detention,” and an honorary member of the Paris Bar Council. She has received numerous international awards for her peace and human rights efforts and was the recipient of the 2019 Martin Ennals Award in May. 

Raci Bilici worked as the president at the IHD (Human Rights Association) Diyarbakır branch between 2012 and 2018. From 2016 he was also Vice President to the IHD headquarters. Bilici is especially known for reporting and documenting human rights violations in Diyarbakır.

Forensic physician Şebnem Korur Fincancı, who has spent years struggling for human rights, is the Chair of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV). She is one of the founders of the foundation and the Turkish Penal Code Association. Fincancı was also elected as the Central Council President at the 72nd Elected Grand Congress of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) held on September 27, 2020. 

Zana Aksu is the former president of the IHD (Human Rights Association) branch in Siirt, a town in Southeast Turkey. He is also editor-in-chief of a local news website called Siirt’ten Öte, which was closed down by the government. He is known for drawing attention to the mass graves after periods of conflict, as well as reporting on the many human rights violations in the Siirt region.

Aksu is a conscientious objector to military service. He has been detained many times and has been levied administrative fines and a suspended sentence.