Thursday October 21, 2021
Dispute with the West in the Kavala case
Erdogan threatens ambassadors to be expelled
Human rights activist Osman Kavala has been in a Turkish prison for four years without conviction. Ten western ambassadors demand his release. The Turkish head of state Erdogan doesn’t like that at all.
In the dispute over the imprisoned Turkish human rights activist Osman Kavala, the Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to expel ten western ambassadors, including the German one. Erdogan was quoted by several Turkish media as saying that he had told the Turkish foreign minister “that we cannot afford the luxury of hosting the ambassadors in our country.”
In a joint appeal on Monday, the ambassadors called for a “fair and rapid settlement” of the Kavala case. The sponsor of culture has been in prison for four years without conviction.
Osman Kavala (left), with his wife Ayse Bugra, are leaving a court in Istanbul in February.
(Photo: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS)
In their statement, the embassies wrote that the continued imprisonment of Kavala cast a “shadow over the respect for democracy, the rule of law and the transparency of the Turkish judicial system”. With reference to judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) they demanded the release of Kavala. The letter was published by embassies from Germany, the USA, France and the Netherlands, among others.
“Political and Military Espionage”
The Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu sharply criticized the statement on Tuesday. “It is not over until the Turkish judiciary says it is over,” said Soylu. The West could not intimidate Turkey or give her orders.
The human rights activist was arrested for the first time in 2013 for financing and organizing the Gezi protests in Istanbul, which are critical of the government. In February last year, a court acquitted him of the charge. Kavala was released from prison after two and a half years in prison. Kavala was arrested again in October 2017. Among other things, he is accused of “political and military espionage” in connection with the attempted coup in 2016.
The ECHR already called for Kavala’s release in 2019. Turkey has so far ignored the judgment, although as a member of the Council of Europe it is actually obliged to implement it. The Council of Europe is threatening the country with infringement proceedings if Kavala is not released by December.
The 64-year-old Kavala supports numerous civil society projects in Turkey and is the founder of the Anadolu Kültür organization, which works with the Goethe Institute and other German foundations, among others.