Young Justice Initiative is an independent advocacy movement — built by lawyers, families, journalists, and human rights defenders — demanding justice for the cadets imprisoned in the aftermath of July 15, 2016.
For nearly a decade, hundreds of young men — most barely out of adolescence on the night of July 15, 2016 — have lived inside Turkish prisons under sentences that, by law, can never end. They were students. They followed orders. They had no knowledge of a coup attempt. They had no opportunity to refuse.
Yet they were tried as if they had planned everything. Convicted in mass trials. Sentenced to die in prison cells. Forgotten by a world that moved on too quickly.
We were created to refuse that forgetting. To take the legal record built over nine years — by the United Nations, the European Court of Human Rights, by independent jurists and journalists — and place it where the world cannot look away. Until every cadet has a fair trial. Until every name is remembered. Until justice, however delayed, arrives.
We document the legal and human evidence of the post-July 15 cadet trials, advocate for their fair retrial under international standards, and amplify the voices of the imprisoned, their families, and the institutions that have already ruled in their favor. Our mission is the rule of law.
We envision a future in which no young person can be condemned by association, no court can render mass verdicts in violation of due process, and no government can imprison children of its own military for a crime they did not commit. Our vision is accountability without exception.
We do not work alone. We carry the mandate of three UN rulings, two ECHR judgments, and countless families, lawyers, and lawmakers who have refused to accept the official narrative. We will continue until every cadet receives a fair retrial. Our mandate is to brake the silence.
We hold ourselves to standards higher than what the system that condemned the cadets ever applied to itself. These principles are not aspirational — they are the conditions of our existence.
We ground every claim in documented fact: court records, expert testimony, and verified sources. Emotion may move readers, but only evidence moves courts.
We accept no funding, alliance, or affiliation from any party to this case, any government, or any actor with a stake in its outcome. Our independence is our credibility.
Every figure, quote, and ruling we cite carries a public source. Our footnotes are not decoration — they are the work itself.
We name the imprisoned only with their families' consent. We publish no image, no detail, no story that survivors would not choose to share themselves.
We seek the rule of law, not retribution. We condemn the injustice without condemning the people. Our words pursue justice — never revenge.
We correct errors publicly and quickly. When we are wrong, we say so. When others are wrong about us, we respond with facts.
From international legal documentation to grassroots awareness — every action we take serves a single end: justice for the cadets.
We build and maintain a comprehensive archive of court rulings, expert opinions, UN findings, and ECHR judgments related to the cadet cases — making them accessible to lawyers, journalists, and international institutions.
We engage international media, lawmakers, and human rights organizations to keep this case visible. We translate complex legal proceedings into accessible language that the public — and the world — can act on.
We connect families of imprisoned cadets with legal aid, psychological support, and a community of others who walk the same road. No family should carry this weight alone.
We submit case files to UN bodies, the Council of Europe, parliamentary committees, and rapporteurs. We brief diplomats. We work with international NGOs. We make sure this case lives where it must — on every desk that has power to act.
Young Justice Initiative is not a single office, a single director, or a single country. We are a distributed coalition — lawyers in Istanbul and Strasbourg, journalists in Berlin and London, academics in five universities, and families on three continents — connected by a shared refusal to let this case disappear.
Our coordinating team operates independently from any government or political organization. Decisions are made collectively. Statements are reviewed by our legal advisory board. Funding flows through transparent channels and is reported publicly.
We refuse funding, instruction, or editorial influence from any government, political party, faction, or affiliated organization. Our supporters fund us as individuals — not as institutions seeking influence.
If we ever became financially dependent on a single source, our credibility on this case would collapse. Our credibility is the cadets' only remaining defense. We protect it as if their lives depended on it. Because they do.
Every source we cite is published. Every statistic we share is traceable. Every funding source we receive will be disclosed in our annual transparency report.
When we are wrong, we correct ourselves publicly and quickly. When we are uncertain, we say so. When evidence contradicts our previous positions, we update them — because accuracy outranks consistency.
Whether you are a lawyer, a journalist, a researcher, a family member, or simply a citizen who believes in due process — there is a place for you here. Justice is built by many hands.
