Author: Zaman Australia

Several schools formerly run by the Gülen movement in Albania have been the subject of growing government pressure in recent weeks in the form of police raids on their premises and inspections of their earlier financial records, Turkish Minute has learned.

Staff members from the Turgut Özal School in Tirana told Turkish Minute on condition of anonymity that the stepped-up pressure on the schools, which were transferred to Dutch company BF Cooperatief UA in 2017, is aimed at ensuring the transfer of the schools to Turkey’s Maarif Foundation as well as the extradition of Gülen-linked individuals in the country to Turkey.

Maarif was established by the Turkish government prior to a coup attempt on July 15, 2016 through legislation in the Turkish parliament, and after the abortive putsch, it targeted the closure of Gülen-linked educational institutions as part of Turkish foreign policy since the government accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating the failed coup and has launched a crackdown on the movement.

On Oct. 28 the campus of the Turgut Özal School was raided by Albanian police without any court order or warrant, and excessive force was used in the presence of students.

The raid made its way into the Albanian media, and a lawyer representing the school said in a statement to Albanian media outlets: “There have been some inspections that we deem illegal, and we have addressed them in a criminal complaint. The police entered by force, raided the premises and forcibly took tax invoices, the sales ledger, student registers and contracts with parents and students. …. Inspections cannot be carried out without respecting the code of criminal procedure.”

The lawyer also noted that the school had been subjected to a tax audit and that the results showed no irregularities.

The lawyer said the school had filed criminal complaints against 12 officers from the Albanian police force for the unlawful raid on the school.

The Albanian government has been criticized for its treatment of Turkish citizens who have been extradited or who are to be deported to Turkey. In January the EU reminded the Albanian government of its human rights obligations after they deported Harun Çelik, an alleged Gülen movement follower, to Turkey, despite him asking for political asylum.

Another Turkish citizen, Selami Şimşek, also an alleged Gülen follower, is currently fighting to overturn a decision to deport him as he says he faces unjust imprisonment if he is returned to Turkey.

The Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan enjoy close relations with Albania.

A memorial was erected in Tirana for the victims of the coup attempt in Turkey in 2016. The memorial has angered some nationalists in the country as it has nothing to do with Albania and is the only such memorial for July 15 coup victims outside Turkey. Nationalist circles in Albania claim that a similar memorial should be erected in Turkey as well in line with the principal of reciprocity for the Albanian victims of communism.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s state-run housing authority, TOKİ, in July signed an agreement with Albanian authorities for the construction of 522 houses in the city of Laç for the victims of a magnitude 5.6 earthquake that hit the country in September 2019.

The Turkish government has also launched an initiative in Tirana to plant 1,000 trees upon an order from Erdoğan.

“This was undertaken by President Erdoğan. At the same time, 11 million trees are being planted around the world. This has entered the Guinness Book of  Records,” said Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Wednesday as he took part in the tree planting ceremony at Farka Lake, according to Albanian news outlets.

More than half of the cases in which Turkey’s top court ruled that the defendant’s rights had been violated involved denial of the right to a fair trial, according to a report by an opposition deputy presented to the Ministry of Justice on Thursday.

Süleyman Bülbül, a deputy from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said he had compiled a comprehensive report on the current state of rights in the country and gave it to Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül on Thursday.

According to the Yurt daily, Bülbül’s report found that in 52 percent of rights violation verdicts by Turkey’s Constitutional Court (AYM), it decided that the lower court had violated the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

“The right to a fair trial is the most fundamental function of a judiciary. This principle, eroded by the AKP [Justice and Development Party] government in [recent] years, enables an independent and impartial judiciary,” Bülbül was quoted as saying.

The lawmaker added that the country’s courts have lost their independence and impartiality.

The report also criticizes the conduct of the AYM, which had found 90 percent of the 220,985 files submitted on rights violations inadmissible while finding merit in only 4 percent of the cases it reviewed.

This minuscule percentage, which means four in every 1,000 files result in a favorable ruling for the defendant, is clearly off the charts, according to Bülbül, who contrasts the outcome with the cases reviewed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

“Of 3,645 cases in which Turkey was a party, the ECtHR found at least one right of the plaintiff had been violated in 88.5 percent of the cases,” Bülbül noted.

Turkey is second only to Russia in the number of ECtHR applications filed against it, with 9,236 cases pending review by the European rights court.

‘Turkey’s judiciary is dysfunctional‘

A report by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Turkey published in September defines the situation of the judiciary in the country as “largely dysfunctional.”

Prompted by an increasing number of political asylum seekers from the country, with 10,800 Turks seeking protection in Germany in 2019, the German ministry report states that Turkish judges are under political sway.

Jurists who defy political influence are punished either by expulsion from the judiciary or banishment to a less desirable court, according to the report.

A widespread crackdown on government critics showcases this political influence, the report indicates.

As part of a massive government-led crackdown on dissent, Turkey has removed over 130,000 civil servants from their jobs and arrested or detained nearly 80,000 people in addition to prosecuting more than 511,000.

One of the co-owners of Islamic lender Bank Asya, which was closed down due to its links to the Gülen movement in the aftermath of a coup attempt in July 2016, has been detained in Ankara.

Kamil Yavuz M. was detained in a police operation in Ankara’s Çukurambar neighborhood on Monday. He is accused of membership in a terrorist organization as the Turkish government holds the Gülen movement responsible for the coup attempt and labels it as a terrorist organization.

The movement strongly denies any involvement in the failed coup.

Photos showed Yavuz M. being handcuffed from behind and forced into a police car.

The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) had taken over management of Bank Asya and assumed control of 63 percent of its privileged shares, enough to name the board, in February 2015. In the aftermath of the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, the government closed down Bank Asya on the grounds that it was linked to the Gülen movement.

Following the coup attempt, Turkish courts have prosecuted thousands of people over their accounts at the Gülen-linked bank, charging them either with membership in a terrorist organization or with aiding and abetting a terrorist organization.

Australian journalist Peter Greste who was jailed for more than a year in Egypt and Abdulhamid Biliciand, editor-in-chief of the highly popular Turkish newspaper Zaman, now living in exile, addressed the issue of press freedom, on ‘International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists’ marked on Monday 2 November 2020, facilitated by ABC Radio’s Andrew West and hosted by Mehmet Saral, President of Advocates For Dignity.

In the past decade, a significant number of journalists worldwide have endured harassment, intimidation, torture, arbitrary arrests and detention. According to the United Nations, approximately 1,200 journalists have been killed for reporting the news and bringing information to the public. Thus, 2 November has come to be known as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists – to bring light to the global conviction rate for violent crimes against journalists and media workers.

On this significant day, and in recognition of the many journalists that have suffered at the hands of oppressive regimes for performing their duty as society’s watchdogs, Advocates for Dignity held it’s fourth live Webinar; ‘Why the end of Press Freedom equals the end of Democracy: Stories of Egypt and Turkey’.

 

         

The webinar was opened by President of Advocates for Dignity, Mr Mehmet Saral, who stated that disintegration of press freedom inevitably presents dangers to the proper functioning of law and judicial systems. Professor Peter Greste, the UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communication at the University of Queensland, and Mr Abdulhamid Bilici, former editor-in-chief of Zaman Newspaper in Turkey, were the webinar’s special guests.

Former BBC journalist Professor Greste, became most famous while working for Al Jazeerah – the role which resulted in his imprisonment in Egypt for over 400 days. Greste began working in Egypt at the end of 2013, following the Egyptian revolution of 2011. At this time, widespread protests between rival political supporters were taking place and the Egyptian government had begun accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of being involved in acts of terrorism.

 

Greste described this as a part of the ‘Sisification of Egypt’ – the phenomenon by which any opponent of Sisi’s rule is arrested or imprisoned, and news organisations which present such views are shut down. “We are seeing this in many countries, the way in which national security has been used as an excuse to come after uncomfortable journalism,” he said.

“Being held in detention was a teachable moment for other journalists. They were using us as a very clear message, that it doesn’t matter whether you are a foreigner or a local, if you give a platform to the Brotherhood’s ideas, then you are going to be targeted,” he continued.

Asked by Zia Ahmad, Editor-in-Chief of AMUST to comment on former Australian PM, Kevin Rudd’s petition for a Royal Commission into the influence of Murdoch Media empire on Australian democracy, Peter Greste replied that indeed the high concentration of media in Australia is of great concern and needs to be addressed.

Similarly, Abdulhamid Bilici was forced to leave Turkey, the country of his birth, into exile in the United States after the Erdogan government overtook the Zaman newspaper on 5 March 2016.

Zaman was the largest newspaper in Turkey, which aimed to support the rise of democratic values in the country. It was affiliated with the Gulen movement by way of being established by individuals who had a relationship with the movement, but it did not champion the movement, nor was it used as a propaganda tool.

Bilici detailed the events of 5 March 2015, terming it ‘the last day of Zaman’s struggle against the Erdogan government.’ In the years prior, the newspaper reported on the Erdogan government in a positive light, as did many international media organisations, because Turkey was becoming a rising model of Muslim democracy during those years.

Bilici said, “2011-2012 was Turkey’s turning point into a one man regime which put Zaman into a difficult situation, as Erdogan did not like us being critical of his authoritarian policies and revealing the corruption that extended to his family members and fellow ministers.”

“We triggered Erdogan’s anger. This started by revoking our reporter’s press cards in Ankara, followed by calls to boycott our paper, cancelling advertisements, opening court cases against our reporters and columnists, and threatening to shut us down. If we accepted, I would not be in exile today and my reporters would not be in jail today,” he continued.

“On 4 March 2016, Erdogan appointed trustees to the board of Zaman. They arrived via police force while we protested. They occupied the newspaper and kicked us out. They fired me as the last editor and within 24 hours made the newspaper a propaganda machine, a mouthpiece for the government.

Two weeks after the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016, Bilici’s home was raided, as was the home of 54 other Zaman reporters and columnists – most of whom were arrested. Bilici stated that this story was not specific to Zaman. The Erdogan government had silenced other critical media outlets, news agencies & TV channels before Zaman in 2015.

There are currently more than 140 journalists imprisoned in Turkey, from various backgrounds, news agencies and networks. This is one of the highest figures of imprisoned journalists in the world.

“When the oppression against media began in 2013, we recognised that this was the beginning of oppression against all government opposition. We asked lawyers, people in the judiciary and business men to unite with us and defend democracy, because we couldn’t do it alone”, Biliici said.

“Unfortunately Turkish society was not able to come together to defend democracy and Erdogan destroyed political voices in the media, one by one. In the last 5 years, with the destruction of free media, and the creation of mouthpiece media for the government, he now controls 95% of Turkish media.”

 

Turkish courts have thus far handed down sentences to 4,154 defendants in 137 cases involving a failed coup in 2016, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency on Thursday.

A total of 289 cases have been launched against coup suspects, Anadolu said, adding that 279 of the cases have been concluded.

Out of the 4,154 defendants who were sentenced to prison, 1,315 were given aggravated life and 1,218 received life sentences, while 1,621 people were handed down prison sentences of varying lengths, the shortest being 14 months.

Apart from coup trials, thousands of others have been convicted of membership in or leading a terrorist group after they were detained over alleged ties to the Gülen movement.

The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement of masterminding the July 15, 2016 failed coup, although the movement denies any involvement.

A Mersin court that handed down a prison sentence of 19 years, six months to jailed investigative journalist Mehmet Baransu on three separate charges said in its reasoned decision that he had shared classified information with the public with “terror motives” and not for purposes of journalism.

Baransu, who has been behind bars since March 2015, received the sentence in the case against staff of the defunct Taraf newspaper who were accused of obtaining and publishing state documents and of having links to a terrorist group.

He was sentenced over his 2013 reporting for Taraf of an alleged customs fraud involving the import of genetically modified rice by a pro-government businessman, which he claimed was hushed up by then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

In July, the investigative journalist was sentenced to two years in prison for “violating privacy,” to four years for “disclosing classified information” and to 13 years, six months for “membership in an armed terrorist organization,” namely the Gülen movement.

President Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) accuse the faith-based movement inspired by US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen of masterminding a failed coup on July 15, 2016 and label it a “terrorist organization,” although the group strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.

Baransu was acquitted of “obtaining personal data” and “libel” in the same trial.

The Mersin 2nd High Criminal Court announced its reasoned decision on Wednesday, saying that Baransu “obtained classified information and documents from security units by means that could not be detected and shared them [with the public] in columns and tweets to create a public opinion in line with the plans of the organization.”

“The way he shared the information and the language he used [in his news reports] are beyond the boundaries of the right of the press to communicate,” the court further said in the decision.

The Taraf newspaper, shut down in 2016, gained prominence for its liberal stance and its extensive reporting on the operations of Turkey’s deep state, which is alleged to be a group of anti-democratic coalitions within the Turkish political system, including high-level figures from the Turkish military, security agencies and judiciary as well as the mafia.

Incarcerated in Silivri Prison in İstanbul, Baransu faces nearly a thousand years in jail as part of scores of other cases.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described Turkey as “the world’s biggest jailer of professional journalists” in its 2020 World Press Freedom Index, in which Turkey was ranked 154th among 180 countries in terms of press freedom.

A Kurdish member of the Turkish parliament is among 65 people including other Kurds and former public servants who have fled government persecution in Turkey to seek asylum in Greece, according to a report in the Greek City Times newspaper on Thursday.

The paper said a boat carrying asylum seekers from Turkey arrived in the Western Greek town of Katakolo in Ilia on Tuesday afternoon and that its passengers included former Turkish police officers, militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), academics, a member of the Turkish parliament and a journalist. The report did not reveal the name of the deputy or whether the person was a former or current MP.

According to the report, 20 of the police officers were followers of the Gülen movement, listed as a terrorist organization by the Turkish government, while 10 were members of the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the US.

A Kurdish journalist known only as Azad who was reportedly persecuted and imprisoned for three years in Turkey, said: “Prison is tough. The Turkish authorities have nothing to do with those in Greece. I want to leave for any country where I can communicate in English and be able to continue my life.”

Thousands of people including Gülen movement followers and Kurds had to flee Turkey in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, following which the Turkish government launched a massive crackdown on non-loyalist citizens under the pretext of an anti-coup fight.

The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement of masterminding the failed coup, while the movement strongly denies any involvement in the coup attempt.

At least 12 people died and 419 were injured in Turkey’s western province of Izmir in a magnitude 6.6 earthquake that struck between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Samos on Friday.

The tremor could be felt as far away as Istanbul and the Greek islands, where officials said some of the buildings and roads were damaged, with eight people suffering light injuries on the island of Samos.

According to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), the epicenter of the earthquake was some 17 kilometers (11 miles) off the coast of İzmir, at a depth of 16 kilometers.

Witnesses said people flooded into the streets in İzmir after the quake struck. At least 20 multi-story buildings had collapsed, with smoke rising into the sky, in several areas, according to the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) İzmir deputy Atilla Kaya.

Images posted on social media in the aftermath of the earthquake showed water rushing through the streets of Izmir from an apparent sea surge.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu also said other western Turkish provinces, including Uşak, Denizli, Manisa, Balıkesir, Aydın and Muğla, saw only slight damage to several buildings with no casualties reported.

Turkey is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. In August 1999 a 7.6 magnitude quake struck İzmit, southeast of Istanbul, claiming the lives of more than 17,000 people including hundreds in İstanbul. Since then, experts have warned that a major earthquake is expected to hit İstanbul.