We, the undersigned representatives of Time to Talk debate centres from across Europe, were shocked to learn about the detention of Osman Kavala, the chairperson of Anadolu Kültür and the founder of our fellow Time to Talk member, DEPO Istanbul.
Osman Kavala is a key figure within Turkish culture and civil society, a committed European and democrat and a central figure who inspires and enables cultural exchange throughout Turkey and with other European countries. Collaborating with some of the important cultural organisations that he has founded in Turkey, we have witnessed the power of his commitment to democracy, pluralism, freedom of speech, peace and human rights as well as his devotion to intercultural dialogue, cultural heritage and the arts.
On the 18th October 2017, Osman Kavala was detained. On November 1st, after 14 days in custody, he was charged with having ties to terrorist organisations and with attempting to overthrow the constitutional order in Turkey. According to Turkish media reports, he is accused of being the “leader and organiser” of the Gezi protests as well as of having had contact with a U.S.-based expert on Turkey, who the Turkish state appears to believe to have been amongst those behind plotting the coup attempt of summer 2016.
Such accusations are entirely absurd and grotesque. We urge European media and politicians to follow the Osman Kavala case closely and to request full transparency in its processing. We insist on and hope to see a prompt release of Osman Kavala by the Turkish authorities – for the sake of Turkey and its people.
Dessy Gavrilova, Founder and Executive Chair
European Network of Houses for Debate, Time to Talk, Vienna
Marta Šimečkova, Director
Central European Forum, Bratislava
Judit Carrera, Head of Debates Programme
Elisabet Gaula, Debates Coordinator
Centre for Contemporary Culture (CCCB), Barcelona
Borka Pavićević, Director
Centre for Cultural Decontamination, Belgrade
Yoeri Albrecht, Director
De Balie, Amsterdam
Sabine Beppler- Spahl, Chair of the Board
Freiblickinstitut e. V., Berlin
Rachael Jolley, Editor
Index on Censorship, London
Claire Fox, Director
Institute of Ideas, London
The team
Krytyka Polityczna, Warsaw
The team
Kultura Liberalna, Warsaw
Kristina Hristova, Executive Director
The Red House Centre for Culture and Debate, Sofia
Sergey Lukashevsky, Director
Sakharov Centre, Moscow
and Member
Moscow Helsinki Group, Moscow
Vasyl Cherepanyn, Head
Visual Culture Research Centre, Kyiv[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1510242474854-81957f7a-c6c6-5″ taxonomies=”55″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
On 19 October, when police officers detained Osman Kavala, a left-wing Turkish human rights activist and businessman who funds a variety of cultural and civil society activities, I was set to catch a plane en route to Armenia to attend a conference. The news was extremely bothersome as I, having held a civil society job for two years, knew all too well what his detention entailed. As Andrew Finkel, an executive of the Independent Platform for Journalism (P24) commented, his detention and later arrest was “a chilling signal to those working in the civil society community”.
I never knew Kavala personally, but always respected him for allowing civil society organisations to use his centrally-located Cezayir Restaurant for events and gatherings, usually at a minimal charge. I tried not to think about what I understood to be a new low in Turkey’s recent descent into authoritarianism and had managed to completely forget about it by the time I had reached the beautiful mountain resort of Arghevan. Yet my fellow conference attendees were quick to remind me of what had happened at home earlier in the day. Several people greeted me saying they had heard the news; that they were extremely concerned about their friend Osman. “He has more friends in Armenia than he has in Turkey,” Armen Ohanyan, an Armenian writer, told me.
This, of course, owes to Kavala’s commitment to Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. He has been committed to improving the troubled relations between the two neighbours stemming from a number of factors, but mainly from Turkey’s unwillingness to recognise the Armenian Genocide. However, repairing ties was not the only area where Kavala worked. Anadolu Kültür, a foundation he established, has carried out many cultural projects including restoration of minority heritage. He has also been an active supporter of children’s, women’s and LGBT rights. The foundation was recently involved in a project for integrating Syrian refugees into Turkish society.
Dozens of articles from his friends followed his arrest and from them we learn that, unlike most of Turkey’s elite, this wealthy businessman not only talked about the most problematic affairs of his country but actively put time and effort into resolving them. He remained committed to pursuing that goal until it was too much for the government. Perhaps he was not a saint or some modern-day sage who devoted his life to others, but he was a good man; a “good citizen” as the son-in-law of a general, who was imprisoned in a past crackdown led by prosecutors who were part of the Fethullah Gülen network which today the Turkish government accuses of being behind the 2016 coup attempt, called him.
Ironically, Kavala was arrested two weeks after his detention by an Istanbul court on the basis of a prosecutor’s allegation that he was linked with the “parallel structure” FETÖ/PDY — or the Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation — the name Turkish authorities give to Gülen network.
The prosecution accuses Kavala of “attempting to overthrow the government” by supporting Turkey’s Gezi Park protests — massive peaceful anti-government demonstrations that took place in all provinces across the country four years ago. His arrest was not a surprise and president Erdogan called Kavala an “agent” and the “Soros of Turkey” in the few hours following his initial detention.
In a statement he made while in prison on 6 November 2017, Kavala said it was Erdogan’s statements that led to his arrest. “My arrest is part of the government’s attack on all opposition,” he told a visiting deputy.
The charges against him are bogus, as Sedat Ergin, the former editor-in-chief of the Hürriyet daily, explained at length in a column which was translated into English. On 9 November, prominent European diplomats and politicians, including Carl Bildt, Claus Offe and others, wrote to the Financial Times, of the ridiculousness of the chargesagainst him.
Whether there will be an unexpected yet helpful twist in the course of his proceedings as was the case of the eight human rights defenders who were released conditionallyhave yet to be seen. However, his treatment so far clearly shows that darker times are ahead for civil society.
On 8 November the Checks and Balances Network (DDA), an umbrella network for more than 100 civil society organisations, made a timid statement denouncing reports labeling it as a supporter of foreign agents, following news stories in the pro-government media which stated that the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded network is an arm of the CIA. Other civil society organisations that are involved in non-political activities are also extremely concerned.
What makes Kavala’s arrest so pervasive is that it sends the message that the government has not been satisfied by the level of the crackdown it has already imposed on civil society. A total of 1,125 associations and 41 foundations were shut down under cabinet decrees since the declaration of the post-coup attempt state of emergency. Civil society leaders, who might have spoken out on Kavala’s arrest or not, now understand that Erdoğan may resort to Putin-like measures, banning civil society activities entirely and labelling its representatives as “foreign agents”.
That fear echoed in the initial remarks of Kavala’s academic and activist wife Ayşe Buğra, who said in a statement she madeafter her husband’s arrest: ““With the arrest ruling we have not only lost Osman Kavala’s freedom but at the same time our hopes in democracy, peace and the rule of law.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1510241893657-0016a8b6-b819-2″ taxonomies=”7355″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Leading freedom of expression organisations have submitted third-party interventions in ten cases against jailed Turkish journalists to which the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has given priority status. The interventions offer detailed legal analyses of the principles at stake in the cases of the detained journalists.
The separate interventions include submissions from the Media Legal Defence Initiative, PEN International, ARTICLE 19, the Association of European Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, the European Federation of Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Index on Censorship, the International Federation of Journalists, the International Press Institute, the International Senior Lawyers Project and Reporters without Borders. The organisations worked with a group of British lawyers, including Eddie Craven of Matrix Chambers, in drafting the interventions.
The briefs urge the Court to hold that the detention of a journalist is “subject to the strictest scrutiny”, and that such measures in response to a journalist’s work can only be justified in “extreme and exceptional cases.” They underline that “the deliberate and arbitrary use of the criminal law to target journalists and other media for exercise of freedom of expression and opinion that may be critical of government for the ulterior purpose of punishing and preventing dissemination of critical opinions amounts to a violation” of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a state party.
“The extraordinary abuse of power by the Turkish state towards the detained journalists is symptomatic of a relentless crackdown on all dissenting voices since last July’s attempted coup. These journalists have been deprived of an independent and effective judicial system in their own country. These urgent cases before the ECtHR therefore are an opportunity to not only redress the injustice in these egregious instances but to give wider protection to the Turkish media and society as a whole,” said Sarah Clarke, PEN International.
“The volume of cases concerning detained Turkish journalists that are coming before the European Court are indicative of the dire state of press freedom in the country,” said Padraig Hughes, the Media Legal Defence Initiative’s Legal Director, “these cases offer the European Court an important opportunity to take a stand against the widespread deprivation of liberty of those who have been willing to criticise the Turkish Government, and to recognise that the real purpose behind these detentions is to deter journalists from speaking out in the future.”
“The number of Turkish cases on the Court’s docket should come as no surprise. While some journalists are released – such as Murat Aksoy and Atilla Tas this week – still others are detained. The revolving doors of Turkey’s jails just serves to underscore the arbitrariness of these detentions”; said Gabrielle Guillemin, Senior Legal Officer at ARTICLE 19. “With the independence of the Turkish judiciary under serious threat, the Court in Strasbourg is the last hope journalists have to obtain justice: these cases present the Court with a unique opportunity to protect freedom of expression in Turkey”; she added.
Turkey is currently the world’s largest prison for journalists, with over 150 currently in detention. Turkey has now been under a State of Emergency for 16 months, which has enabled an unprecedented repression of the free press and critical voices.
Third party interventions represent an additional tool to help promote and protect human rights at the European Court of Human Rights. They are an opportunity for civil society to assist the courts by providing an independent analysis of the human rights principles and standards at issue in a case, as well as any relevant international and comparative human rights law. The UN Special Rapporteur, David Kaye, and Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner, Nils Muiznieks, have also intervened on these critical cases.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Mapping Media Freedom” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator color=”black”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-times-circle” color=”black” background_style=”rounded” size=”xl” align=”right”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
Since 24 May 2014, Mapping Media Freedom’s team of correspondents and partners have recorded and verified 3,597 violations against journalists and media outlets.
Index campaigns to protect journalists and media freedom. You can help us by submitting reports to Mapping Media Freedom.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator color=”black”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Don’t lose your voice. Stay informed.” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator color=”black”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship is a nonprofit that campaigns for and defends free expression worldwide. We publish work by censored writers and artists, promote debate, and monitor threats to free speech. We believe that everyone should be free to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution – no matter what their views.
Join our mailing list (or follow us on Twitter or Facebook) and we’ll send you our weekly newsletter about our activities defending free speech. We won’t share your personal information with anyone outside Index.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][gravityform id=”20″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”false”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator color=”black”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”3″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1509113416127-927fc9f0-14f9-6″ taxonomies=”8862″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Journalists, writers and human rights defenders will appear before judges in several court hearings scheduled for the coming days.
P24 will be following the upcoming hearings from the courtrooms and live tweeting the developments. Here is a list of the upcoming hearings:
Oct. 24: First court hearing for journalists in e-mail leak case
Six journalists, three of whom have been imprisoned since late December, will have their first day in court on October 24.
Former Diken news portal editor Tunca Öğreten, news editor of the shuttered DİHA news agency Ömer Çelik and BirGün employee Mahir Kanaat, DİHA reporter Metin Yoksu, ETHA news agency Responsible Managing Editor Derya Okatan and Yolculuk daily publisher Eray Sargın were first arrested on December 25 in police raids in an investigation into publication of leaked e-mails of Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s energy minister. After a record 24 days in police custody, a criminal judgeship of peace ordered Çelik, Tunca and Kanaat jailed pending trial while releasing Okatan, Sargın and Yoksu, with a travel ban.
The journalists face terrorism related charges as well as the charge of “disrupting or preventing an IT system, amending or destroying data.”
The hearing will take place at the Istanbul 29th High Criminal Court at Istanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse.
Oct. 24: Murat Aksoy, Atilla Taş and others
The next hearing of a case where journalist Murat Aksoy, ex-singer and a columnist for the shuttered Meydan daily Atilla Taş, Türk Solu journal writer Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu and 26 others face coup and terrorism charges will be held on the same day at the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court.
Almost all of the defendants in the case are journalists from a variety of media outlets, some of which were closed down under the state of emergency. 23 of the 29 defendants are imprisoned awaiting further trial
The first hearing of the case where all of the 29 defendants face terrorism charges took place on March 27-31, at the end of which the court ruled to release 21 of the 26 defendants in pre-trial detention. But none was released after 13 defendants whose release was sought by the prosecutor were arrested as part of a new investigation – this time on coup charges – and eight others were detained upon a successful appeal from the prosecutor against their release. One of the 13 defendants who were arrested as part of the new coup investigation, Zaman editor Ali Akkuş, was released shortly after his arrest.
Two other journalists charged with coup, Bünyamin Köseli of Aksiyon weekly and Cihan Acar of Bugün newspaper, were released at the end of the first hearing on August 18.
The court also ruled to merge the coup trial with the earlier terrorism trial. The hearing on October 24 is the first session to take place after the two cases were merged.
Oct. 25: Human rights activists to appear in court
The ten human rights activists who were detained at a workshop on Istanbul’s Büyükada island in July will appear before a court for the first time on October 25.
Eight of the human rights defenders are still imprisoned. They will be tried along with Taner Kılıç, head of Amnesty International Turkey, who was detained earlier in another investigation.
The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. at the Çağlayan Courthouse. The Istanbul 35th High Criminal Court will hear the trial, but the session will take place in the courtroom for the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court.
The rights activists face up to 10 years in jail on charges of “helping an armed organization” while Kılıç faces up to 15 years for “membership in the FETÖ terrorist organization.”
Idil Eser, the Director of Amnesty Turkey; İlknur Üstün from the Women’s Coalition; Günal Kurşun from the Human Rights Agenda Association;Nalan Erkem from Citizens’ Assembly; Özlem Dalkıran, also from Citizens’ Assembly; Veli Acu, from Human Rights Agenda Association; Şeyhmus Özbekli, lawyer Nejat Taştan; Association for Monitoring Equal Rights digital strategy consultant Ali Gharavi; and trainer and writer Peter Steudtner were detained on July 5. Taştan and Özbekli were later released on probation.
Oct. 25: Case into publication of MGK documents
October 25 is also the date for the next hearing of a case where former Taraf journalist Mehmet Baransu, who has been imprisoned since March 2015, and the former responsible managing editor of the shuttered daily, Murat Şevki Çoban are on trial on charges of acquiring and publishing state secrets in relation with a news story that claimed the Fethullah Gülen network was blacklisted by the country’s top security body at a National Security Council (MGK) meeting in 2004.
Baransu faces up to 50 years and six months while Çoban faces up to 31 years in prison.
The session will be heard by the Istanbul Anadolu 10th High Criminal Court.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-times-circle” color=”black” background_style=”rounded” size=”xl” align=”right”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
Since 24 May 2014, Mapping Media Freedom’s team of correspondents have recorded and verified 3,597 violations against journalists and media outlets.
Index campaigns to protect journalists and media freedom. You can help us by submitting reports to Mapping Media Freedom.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Oct. 26: Özgür Gündem solidarity case
On October 26, 13 journalists and writers will appear before judges at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court in a case where they face terrorism related charges due to their role in a campaign of solidarity with the Özgür Gündem daily, which was later shuttered.
Journalists İhsan Çaralan, Fehim Işık, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Celal Başlangıç, Celalettin Can, Öncü Akgül, Hüseyin Aykol, Ömer Ağın, Dilşah Kocakaya, Mehmet Şirin Taşdemir, Veysel Kemer and Yüksel Oğuz, as well as the head of the press workers’ union DİSK Basın-İş, Faruk Eren, are defendants in the case.
Oct. 31: Fourth hearing in Cumhuriyet trial
On October 31, the fourth hearing of the Cumhuriyet trial will be held at the Istanbul 27th High Criminal Court.
A total of 20 defendants, including one Twitter user who is not a Cumhuriyet employee, are on trial in the case. Cumhuriyet Executive Board Chair Akın Atalay, Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, reporter Ahmet Şık and the employee of the newspaper’s accounting department Emre İper are currently imprisoned and so is the Twitter user, Ahmet Kemal Aydoğdu.
Oct. 31: Özgür Gündem main case
Again on October 31, the main Özgür Gündem trial will continue at the Istanbul 23rd High Criminal Court.
İnan Kızılkaya, the responsible managing editor of the shuttered daily who has been imprisoned for more than a year and Kemal Sancılı, the daily’s owner who has been in prison since January, writer Aslı Erdoğan, linguist Necmiye Alpay, journalist Bilir Kaya, publisher Ragıp Zarakolu, lawyer Eren Keskin and politician Filiz Koçali are the defendants in the case.
Nov. 1: Third hearing in Nedim Türfent’s trial
Another journalist who will appear in court in the coming days is Nedim Türfent, a reporter for the shuttered Dicle News Agency (DİHA).
Türfent, who has been imprisoned since May 13, is accused of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “terrorism propaganda.”
Türfent will appear before the judges at the Hakkâri 2. High Criminal Court for the third hearing of his case.
Nov. 2: First hearing in insult case against Perihan Mağden
Columnist Perihan Mağden will appear before a court in the first hearing of a trial where she is charged with “insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.”
The charge stems from an article published in April 2016 in which Mağden criticized a contestant in prime time TV show “Survivor” by likening him to President Erdoğan.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Don’t lose your voice. Stay informed.” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator color=”black”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship is a nonprofit that campaigns for and defends free expression worldwide. We publish work by censored writers and artists, promote debate, and monitor threats to free speech. We believe that everyone should be free to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution – no matter what their views.
Join our mailing list (or follow us on Twitter or Facebook) and we’ll send you our weekly newsletter about our activities defending free speech. We won’t share your personal information with anyone outside Index.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][gravityform id=”20″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”false”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator color=”black”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
