<https://stockholmcf.org/turkey-uses-facial-recognition-to-spy-on-millions-re...> The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has added a facial recognition system to its law enforcement arsenal that helps it investigate millions of unsuspecting people on terrorism allegations, Nordic Monitor reported <https://nordicmonitor.com/2021/09/turkey-uses-facial-recognition-to-spy-on-m...>, citing police documents. According to an 11-page document dated September 15, 2020, a police department in Turkey’s western province of Aydın used facial recognition software to identify people who had protested a raid on a newspaper in İstanbul that was critical of the government. It was noted in the document that facial recognition software had recently been put into use and helped police identify the people who took part in the demonstration against the crackdown on freedom of the press. A separate communiqué signed by police chief Mehmet Yıldırım revealed that photographs obtained from a man named Zeki Ak showed people protesting in a public space against the police raid on Zaman, at one time Turkey’s most highly circulated mainstream newspaper before a government takeover in March 2016. Yıldırım informed the Aydın Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office that identification of the people who participated in the rally was complete and sent the 11-page report to initiate a criminal investigation into the people.