ISTANBUL, Dec 18, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Turkey’s jailed civil society leader
Osman Kavala appears Friday before an Istanbul court on charges that rights
groups say are part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s effort to stifle
dissent.
The 63-year-old social crusader’s trial date comes as the constitutional
court mulls whether his detention — ongoing without a conviction for more
than three years — is lawful.
US academic Henri Barkey is also being tried in absentia alongside Kavala
in a case linked to the 2016 failed coup attempt against Erdogan.
Rights groups view Kavala’s case as a bellwether on the state of freedom of
expression under Erdogan — a strong-willed leader who has ruled Turkey as
prime minister and president since 2003.
Erdogan branded Kavala the “red Soros of Turkey” a few days after he was
first detained upon landing in Istanbul’s old Ataturk airport in October
2017.
The Parisian-born businessman was a founding member of philanthropist
George Soros’s Open Society Foundation in Turkey and headed a group that
promoted cross-cultural ties via the arts.
Kavala has remained in prison despite being acquitted in February in
connection with 2013 protests about the planned demolition of an Istanbul
park that morphed into the first serious challenge to Erdogan’s rule.
He was re-arrested before he could leave the courtroom however, on fresh
charges of espionage and attempting to overthrow the constitutional order in
the failed 2016 coup.
The European Court of Human Rights first called for Kavala’s “immediate
release” in December 2019.
– Speculation about release –
His court appearance Friday, the first full day of hearings on the latest
charges, comes during a wave of speculation about a possible easing of
political and legal pressure on Erdogan’s longstanding foes.
Erdogan was forced to part ways last month with his powerful son-in-law —
once viewed as the president’s second in command — and appoint a more
market-friendly team to tackle Turkey’s growing economic problems.
He promised to launch judicial reforms at the same time to win back foreign
investors who have become discouraged about the current state of Turkey’s
rule of law.
The sudden change in tone prompted former deputy prime minister and Erdogan
ally Bulent Arinc to say in a televised interview that he was “shocked by the
fact that (Kavala) is still under arrest”.
But Erdogan distanced himself from the comments a few days later and Arinc
was forced to resign from the president’s advisory body as a result.
Kavala’s supporters are also pinning their hopes on a constitutional court
hearing of his appeal for an immediate release. It is unclear when a ruling
will be announced.
“I would not be surprised if the constitutional court decides to release
Kavala,” said human rights lawyer Kerem Altiparmak.
“The government’s strategy is based on saying: ‘I didn’t release him,
someone else did’.”
– US academic –
Kavala would be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of trying to
overthrow the constitutional order. The espionage charge carries an
additional 20 years in jail.
His case is being heard alongside that of Turkish-born US academic Barkey –
– a former member of the State Department Policy Planning Staff who lives in
the United States and is being tried in absentia.
The accusations against Barkey stem from a conference he organised about
Iran in a hotel on an island off Istanbul at the time of the 2016 coup
attempt.
The charge sheet alleges Barkey used the conference as cover to coordinate
the coup with Kavala.
The indictment also includes data from cell phone receivers placing him and
Kavala in the same neighbourhoods of Istanbul at the same time.
Human rights defenders point out that such data is irrelevant and had
already been ruled inadmissible by the constitutional court.
“His case is a good example of the lack of rule of law in Turkey,” Truth
Justice Memory Centre director Murat Celikkan told AFP.