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Author: Zaman Australia

  • Turkish Embassy in Prague spied on President Erdogan’s critics

    Judicial documents have confirmed that critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were spied on by Turkish diplomats in Czechia and were later the subject of a terrorism probe on fabricated charges conducted by a Turkish prosecutor.

    The documents revealed how the information collected by the embassy was later used in a criminal indictment of critics and their families still living in Turkey on charges of terrorism.

    According to a December 11, 2018 decision by prosecutor Birol Tufan, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched a separate investigation (file no. 2018/222852) into 10 Turkish nationals who were listed in espionage files dispatched by Turkish diplomats in Czechia without any concrete evidence of wrongdoing.

    The investigation was based on spying files kept at the Turkish Embassy in Prague in 2016 and 2017. Tufan included three Turkish nationals in the investigation, which was launched in December 2018 and focused on opponents living in Czechia despite the fact that they had already left the country before that date. Those files might have been conveyed to the foreign ministry by Ahmet Necati Bigalı, the then-Turkish ambassador in Prague between 2014-2019.

     

    Judicial documents dated December 11, 2018 exposed how the spying activities of the Turkish Embassy in Prague triggered a criminal investigation in Turkey. (The names and addresses of the Turkish nationals have been redacted for security reasons.):

    The documents once more confirmed that spying activities by Turkish diplomatic missions result in serious consequences in the Turkish judicial system.

    Turkish diplomatic and consular missions around the world have collected information on Turkish nationals in line with a systematic spying campaign launched after a coup attempt in July 2016, listed their names as if they were part of a terrorist organization and transmitted it to headquarters.

    As previously disclosed  by Nordic Monitor, the foreign ministry sent lists of profiled Turkish nationals in two CDs to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the national police and Turkey’s intelligence agency MIT on February 19, 2018 via an official document for further administrative or legal action, the punishment of their relatives back in Turkey and the seizure of their assets.

    Public prosecutor Adem Akıncı, who received the foreign ministry document on February 23, 2018, forwarded the classified CDs including information on 4,386 Erdoğan critics to the Organized Crimes Unit of the Ankara Police Department for further action. The police conveyed the results of its investigations to the public prosecutor.

    According to judicial documents released by the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court on January 16, 2019, the foreign ministry compiled a long list of foreign entities that were owned and/or operated by people who were seen as close to the Hizmet/Gülen movement in 92 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

    Turkish diplomatic missions continue systematic spying on Turkish government critics on foreign soil as confirmed by Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in February, 2020. Çavuşoğlu said Turkish diplomats assigned to embassies and consulates have officially been instructed by the government to conduct such activities abroad. “If you look at the definition of a diplomat, it is clear. … Intelligence gathering is the duty of diplomats,” Çavuşoğlu told Turkish journalists on February 16, 2020 following the Munich Security Conference, adding, “Intelligence gathering and information collection are a fact.”

    In a recent interview with The Globe and Mail, Turkish Ambassador to Canada Kerim Uras also admitted to spying on 15 Turkish-Canadians. “Any embassy would focus on the threats targeting their countries. That’s what every embassy does,” he told The Globe and Mail.

    It is clear that Turkish diplomatic missions violate the domestic laws of receiving states and the principles of international law by conducting unlawful information-gathering campaigns and sweeping intelligence operations. In the aftermath of the coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, some Western countries launched investigations into the spying activities on Turks and Turkish organizations overseas by Turkish Foreign Ministry personnel, representatives from relevant authorities, imams and intelligence officers accredited as diplomats.

    In 2018 the Swiss attorney general launched a criminal inquiry into spying on Switzerland’s Turkish community by Turkish diplomats. The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed that the accusations outlined in the criminal proceedings were not diplomatic tasks and that therefore the people concerned couldn’t avail themselves of immunity. Two of them had to leave Switzerland as a result of the investigation.

    In December 2016 Turkey had to recall Yusuf Acar, the religious affairs attaché at the Turkish Embassy in The Hague, after Dutch authorities accused him of gathering intelligence on the movement. Similarly, Belgian authorities rejected the visa applications of 12 Turkish imams seeking to work in the country in 2017. Recently, the government of the central German state of Hessen ended its cooperation with the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (Diyanet İşleri Türk İslam Birliği, or DITIB).

     

     

    Today, Turkey’s Prague embassy is run by Ambassador Egemen Bağış, a former EU minister and chief negotiator for EU accession. Bağış was one of four ministers forced to resign on December 25, 2013 after the revelation of two corruption investigations on December 17 and 25, in which the inner circle of then-Prime Minister and current President Erdoğan was implicated. Bağış’s crucial role in assisting an Iranian businessman evade US sanctions on Iran was exposed both in the December 2013 graft probes in Turkey and in a 2016 trial in New York federal court.Nordic Monitor

  • Prison inmate with advanced Parkinson’s has served his time but is not released

    Turkish authorities have failed to release a political prisoner with advanced Parkinson’s disease who has completed his mandatory time in prison, the Bold Medya news website reported.

    Bilal Şen, who was sentenced to six years, eight months in prison on trumped-up, terrorism-related charges, completed the legally required four-year prison term as of last week, making him eligible for release on probation according to Turkish legislation on the execution of sentences. However, the authorities are refusing to release him on the grounds that his sentence has not yet been finalized as it has yet not been upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeals.

    Şen, 47, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2013, a disease that generally occurs in elderly people. He was arrested on July 29, 2016 following a July 15, 2016 coup attempt in Turkey as part of a massive post-coup purge.

    His disease progressed rapidly in a prison in the Central Anatolian city of Kırşehir where he has been incarcerated. “When he was first put into prison, he was able to lead a normal life and take care of his personal needs on his own. Yet, his illness progressed rapidly because he could not get proper medical treatment in prison. It also has a lot to do with his psychological health deteriorating in prison,” his wife says.

    Şen now has difficulty walking. “He walks like a toddler. He cannot set his legs in motion, and when he somehow starts walking, he cannot stop himself on his own, making his body go forward and feet lag. He can only take a step by holding on to the walls. His disease also causes low blood pressure, making him prone to falling. He has in fact fallen three times, causing damage to his brain as evidenced by a medical report. The right side of his body has tremors, making him unable to use his right hand. His left side has begun to show similar symptoms. His tongue has tremors as well, disrupting his speech. His mouth contracts inward. His illness has advanced considerably. He now needs to be taken care of like a baby,” his wife states.

    He is not fit to stay in prison, according to his wife. “Patients with Parkinson’s are difficult to look after even at home. He needs intense and constant care. He cannot cut his nails, shave or even brush his teeth. His friends were helping him in prison in Kırşehir,” his wife recounts.

    He was sent five times to the Istanbul Council of Forensic Medicine for a medical examination to ascertain his fitness to stay in prison. “They issued a report declaring him fit to stay in prison each and every time he was sent there, instead of recommending his release on health grounds. At the first referral, a doctor asked, ‘Does it really matter to you if you’re in prison or out given your illness?’ He was really hurt by that. On one occasion a doctor who had previously examined him said in consternation, ‘Haven’t we released you by now?’”

    At his fifth referral one year ago in July 2019, he was transferred to the Metris Rehabilitation Prison in İstanbul where sick inmates are incarcerated. “He is alone in Metris. There is no one to help him there, making his situation psychologically and physically grimmer,” his wife laments.

    Arrested on July 29, 2016, Şen was sentenced in September 2018 to six years, eight months in prison over his connections to the faith-based Gülen movement, a dissident group that has long been targeted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

    The court based Şen’s conviction on his alleged connections to Gülenist institutions – membership in a trade union, sending his child to a school and having an account in a bank — all of which, according to the authorities, are pieces of evidence showing his membership in a terrorist organization, a circumstance disputed by international courts and organizations.

    A UN body recently found deprivation of liberty on similar grounds to be unlawful and arbitrary, declaring that none of the above-mentioned acts and activities in themselves could be construed as criminal acts, but rather as the peaceful exercise of rights granted under human rights treaties.

    President Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and declared an all-out war on it making adherence to the movement a crime by association, a process that gained momentum after the abortive coup on July 15, 2016, which President Erdoğan accuses Fethullah Gülen, a US-based cleric and the spiritual leader of the movement, of masterminding despite his categorical denial of any involvement.

    As part of the post-coup Gülenist purge, the Turkish government dismissed more than 150,000 civil servants from state jobs and investigated almost 600,000 people, detaining or arresting half of them on terrorism charges.

    Şen has spent four years in prison. He became eligible for release on probation last week as set forth by a Turkish law on the execution of sentences. Yet, the authorities refuse to free him on probation because his sentence is pending before the Supreme Court of Appeals.

    The Stockholm Center for Freedom has previously documented that Turkish authorities do not release many political prisoners who have served their time on similar grounds.stockholmcf

  • Turkish finance minister shrugs off lira’s slide, says economic contraction possible

    The competitiveness of Turkey’s lira is more important than the exchange rate level, Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said on Wednesday, shrugging off a slide in the currency to record lows last week, Reuters reported

    In an interview with broadcaster CNN Türk, Albayrak also said Turkey’s gross domestic product this year will show between 1 percent growth and 2 percent contraction, after the coronavirus pandemic hit the economy. Analysts expect the economy to contract.

    “The exchange rate goes down, it goes up. What is important is that Turkey manage and control all this volatility,” he said. “What is important is not the exchange rate, but whether it is competitive.”

    The lira hit a record low of 7.3650 against the dollar last week, a slide of 19 percent from its level at end-2019, making it among the worst performers in emerging markets.The central bank has since halted cheaper funding that had allowed primary dealers to borrow well below its policy rate in an effort to squeeze credit via backdoor channels and stabilize the currency.

    Albayrak, who is President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law, also said Turkey will miss its budget deficit target this year and that the deficit will likely be around 5-6 percent of gross domestic product.Economists expect Turkey’s economy to shrink this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, while further lira depreciation could drive up inflation and the current account deficit and worsen the contraction.

  • Coronavirus fears prompt Queensland to triple hospital emergency department capacity

    Queensland will triple its emergency department capacity and double its intensive care wards in hospitals as the state readies itself for the spread of coronavirus, chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young says.

    Health authorities will conduct a test of its emergency departments on Friday as Queensland readies itself for a spread of the virus.

    It comes as the Queensland Government buys up about $25 million worth of gloves and masks in preparation, as well as 110 extra ventilators for its hospitals.

    Dr Young said she expected a spread in Queensland in the coming weeks or months.

    “We may well see some outbreaks in one part of the state and the rest of the state be fine — we’ll manage that.

    “It’s when you get sustained transmission between person to person.”

    So far, Queensland has seen nine separate isolated cases of the virus from patients who contracted the disease overseas — all have recovered with the exception of one patient who remains in hospital.

    Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the new measures would be rolled out if the spread of coronavirus put a strain on the state’s current capacity.

    Ms Palaszczuk urged Queenslanders to listen to authorities as the situation develops.

    “We are planning and doing the preparation just as we would with any natural disaster.

    “We are doing everything we can to contain the virus here in Queensland and so far those measures are working very effectively,” she said.

    She has urged residents to wash their hands and maintain a distance of about 1.5 metres from anyone with cold and flu symptoms.

    “We are making sure that our state is as prepared as we possibly can be.”

  • Turkish police detain 6 members of Grup Yorum music band: report

    Turkish police on Wednesday detained six members of folk music band Grup Yorum as they were rehearsing for a concert in İstanbul’s Beykoz district, the Duvar English news website reported.

    The People’s Law Office said in a statement that the police also simultaneously raided the İdil Culture Center located in the city’s Okmeydanı neighborhood, which is run by a few of the group members and where the band often meets.

    The Interior Ministry had recently denied the group’s application to give a concert at the city’s Yenikapı Arena.

    Founded in 1985 in reaction to the 1980 military coup and subsequent military policies, Grup Yorum is known for its leftist stance and songs about political issues in Turkey.

    The group has always been vocal about human rights violations and freedoms in the country, prompting authorities to accuse them of being “members of terrorist groups.”

    Band member Helin Bölek died on April 3 after 288 days on a hunger strike, while İbrahim Gökçek died on May 7, only two days after ending a 323-day hunger strike.

    The musicians demanded that the bans on their band be lifted and that they be allowed to perform again, that their cultural center not be raided anymore and that their band members’ names be cleared of terror charges.stockholmcf

  • ‘Beyond The Water’ exhibits Turkish exodus to Greece

     A lecture and photography exhibition by Prof Alex Morel called ‘Beyond The Water’ – a visual documentary tracing the silent and terrifying exodus of Turkish dissidents to Greece seeking safety from persecution was showcased in Sydney on Friday 13 March 2020.

     

    Source: Alex Morel, Beyond the Water photography exhibition

    by Meryem Aydogan,Sydney

    The Erdogan Regime and its harsh, unlawful crackdown on members of the Hizmet movement and all others it considers political dissidents, has caught the attention of academics, journalists and artists globally.

    One such artist is photographer and visual arts professor at St John’s University, New York, A/Professor Alex Morel.

    Advocates for Dignity (AFD) along with Affinity Intercultural Foundation co-hosted the event attended by a large number of diverse people at the city offices of Affinity. The program was MC’d by former ABC radio national host, Mr John Cleary, who set the scene for the event.

    The welcoming speech was conducted by the Advocates for Dignity President, Mr Mehmet Saral, who said that the plight of the Turkish refugees who have been forced to flee to Greece, from the claws of the Erdogan government in Turkey, is a story that must be told.

    He further said that there are refugees associated with Hizmet from Turkey here in Australia as well and AFD are here to help these people settle in to Australia, to integrate and to help them achieve permanent residency, as they have no other country to go to. Mr Saral said that AFD will be the voice for them in Australia.

    Turkey is a country wherein freedom of speech is extremely restricted and where 319 journalists have been jailed, with close to 200 media outlets terminated by a series of arbitrary decisions taken by the Turkish authorities.

    Mr Saral also spoke of his week spent in Greece mid last year, where he visited the refugees and saw first hand the financial difficulties the refugees experienced and how some even contemplated committing suicide as they could not bear to raise their children on the streets.

    Thankfully, financial aid is now being given by the Red Cross and Turkish businessmen in Germany, enabling the survival of these families that have migrated to Greece.

    Prof Morel began his lecture with a brief of the situation, describing the fleeing families that he met as leaving behind everything but hope while crossing the Martiza, the river separating Greece from Turkey.

    He stated that across these waters, the families were met with the welcoming arms of their Greek neighbours, and the warm smiles of soldiers and others that were once thought of as their nation’s rivals.

    Though he considered the entirety of his experience with these Turkish families was eye-opening and extremely memorable, Prof Morel enlightened listeners with the stories that resonated with him the most; moments he expressed as ‘being made eternal through photography, for others to contemplate’.

    For security reasons, many of the individuals featured in the exhibition cannot be named. Instead, Prof Morel named all of the men in his photographs ‘Ümit’ (meaning hope), and all of the women ‘Sevinç’ (meaning happiness), explaining that these names were most fitting as each of them carried qualities of resilience, hope, happiness and determination despite their years of trauma.

    Prof Morel explained that his craft was drawn to studying families of the Hizmet movement because of the importance they gave to education, and their hope and their willingness to open their hearts and homes to all.

    “One thing I have noticed is the incredible patience and action of self reflection among the people within Hizmet, which is what has given the movement the ability to survive such difficulties”, he said.

    “It was amazing meeting all these families in Greece, and to see how, despite all the trauma and difficulties and hardships, they were full of hope. I always remember someone smiling.”

    Examples from Exhibits

    The birth of Irini:

    Source: Alex Morel – “Sevinc” and “Umit” holding their newborn daughter.

    A touching photograph that forms part of Prof Morel’s photo-exhibition is that of a man, ‘Ümit’, and a woman, ‘Sevinç’, in a hospital; the man holding in his arms a new born baby. Morel stated that this was the first family he had met in Greece.

    This couple were forced to leave Turkey as they had lost their jobs, were constantly receiving threats, and were facing the possibility of imprisonment for having associations with the Gulen Movement.

    When ‘Sevinç’, the wife, was 7 months pregnant to the couple’s third child, they decided they no choice but to flee Turkey with their two other young children. For two and a half days, the family walked through the woods close to the country’s borders, and were smuggled across the Martiza for a hefty price.

    As soon as they safetly made it to land, ‘Sevinç’ had to be rushed to the hospital as she had gone into labour. Having no command of the Greek language made the experience with the medical staff extremely difficult.

    To their surprise, a kind-hearted Greek native who happened to speak Turkish, rushed to their assistance, aiding them with their communications with the medical staff.

    Source: Alex Morel – Irini holding the newborn

    This woman’s name was Irini. She stayed with the couple during the birth of their daughter, and visited them frequently after birth, having become like a godmother of the newborn. To honour Irini’s incredible efforts in assisting them, the couple named their daughter after Irini. Ironically, Irini means peace.

    Prof Morel explained that stories of Greek natives opening their arms and hearts to such families were not unique, despite historic tensions between the nations of Turkey and Greece.

    The story of Spiderman:

    Source: Alex Morel – Ekrem holding up his Spiderman illustration

    Among Prof Morel’s exhibition was also a photograph of a young boy, holding to the camera a notebook in which he drew Spiderman.

    This young boy is Ekrem. He is seven years old, and had crossed the Maritza river on a cold winter night with his mother, father and two younger sisters.

    On the families journey towards the river, Ekrem walked silently for seven hours without uttering a single word, so that his family would not risk being caught by Turkish authorities. He didn’t let anybody carry him, as his father was carrying a heavy load of their belongings, and his mother was carrying his younger sister.

    When remembering him, Morel said ‘To me, that is the face of a superhero. If Spiderman took off his mask, he would reveal Ekrem’s face… I always think of him when I am preoccupied by my troubles and need to put things into perspective… What he did is the stuff of mythology to me.’

     

     

  • Expert from pro-Erdoğan organization in US joins Joe Biden campaign: report

    The campaign of Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for the US presidential election in November, has appointed Elvir Klempic, the former executive director of the Turkish Heritage Organization (THO), as the national affinity and ethnic engagement director, according to the Asbarez news website.

    THO is known for its close ties to the inner circle of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

    Leaked emails published by Wikileaks in late 2017 show that the organization was created in 2014, with the involvement of Erdoğan’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, who at the time was Turkey’s energy minister (currently finance minister) as a way to “camouflage” Turkey’s lobbying activities in the US.

    In the emails THO’s former president Halil Danışmaz details a “roadmap” to “circumvent tax and other impediments in the laws” by hiring journalists who could get access to “American political and bureaucratic circles,” including members of Congress. These journalists would then get paid to write and publish articles in American newspapers and on news sites essentially advocating for Erdoğan’s agenda and developing opinion in legislative circles.

    Danışmaz, who before becoming THO president was a board member of the Turkish American National Steering Committee, was questioned by the FBI along with other Turks over their operations in the US and ties to the Turkish government.

    He unceremoniously left THO and was replaced by Ali Çınar, who during an event in 2015 said “Armenian Genocide allegations are both racist and dishonest.”

    In a column in the Washington Examiner on July 21, Turkey analyst Michael Rubin commented on the Erdoğan government’s efforts to “infiltrate” the Biden campaign.

    “At the Turkish Heritage Organization, [Klempic] promoted the Erdogan regime’s talking points uncritically. A Bosnian website’s profile shows how his activities working on behalf of Democratic candidates and the Turkish Heritage Organization overlapped,” Rubin said.

  • Egypt declined Turkey’s repeated requests to extradite educator Ali Bayram, document reveals

    Egypt denied the extradition of dedicated educator Ali Bayram on dubious terrorism charges brought by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish Justice Ministry document revealed.

    Bayram, an educator who was deeply committed to improving the quality of education and founded several schools in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, passed away last month in Cairo, where he was living in exile. Bayram, a 70-year-old education volunteer who devoted his life to the education of young people, suffered a brain hemorrhage.

    After a coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, with news mounting of the jailing and torture of people affiliated with the Gülen movement, he had to flee the country and sought refuge in Egypt in order to escape a massive crackdown.

    According to the justice ministry document, obtained by Nordic Monitor, an extradition request for Bayram was filed on February 2, 2017 by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the justice ministry forwarded the request to the foreign ministry on July 3, 2017 to start an official extradition process.

    A justice ministry communication dated June 17, 2020, and signed by Abdullah Ömeroğlu, a judge and director general of international law and foreign relations at the justice ministry, revealed that the Turkish embassy in Cairo had to reiterate the extradition request since Egyptian authorities had declined the request via diplomatic channels. Ömeroğlu also informed the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office of Bayram’s demise in Cairo on June 2 in order to end the extradition process.

    Turkish Justice Ministry document confirming that Turkey repeatedly requested the extradition of educator Ali Bayram from Egypt:

     

     

     

     

     

    According to the justice ministry document, the request for the extradition of Bayram was based on an arrest warrant issued in absentia, under file No. 2016/238, by the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court for undermining the constitutional order, committing the crime of setting up or running an armed terrorist group. The document exposed the fact that Bayram was seen as “the leader of a terrorist organization” due to his contributions to schools and institutions affiliated with Fethullah Gülen, the US-based Turkish Muslim scholar who describes terrorism as “the foremost threat to human life” and condemns all kinds of extremist and radical acts.

    The Gülen movement is a group known for its investment in science, education and the promotion of interfaith and intercultural dialogue around the world. The movement is led by Gülen, an outspoken critic of the Turkish president for pervasive corruption in the government and Erdoğan’s support for jihadist groups in Syria. Erdoğan accuses the movement of being behind corruption investigations in 2013 and the coup attempt in July 2016, allegations the movement denies.

     

     

    In addition to Egypt, many other countries rejected Turkey’s politically motivated extradition requests for people who were forced to leave their homeland because of an ongoing witch hunt against critics in the aftermath of the coup attempt. In that regard the UN Committee Against Torture decided in June 2019 that the extradition of people who were thought to be members of the movement would constitute a violation of Article 3 of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

    More than a half million people were investigated in Turkey on similar charges following the abortive putsch. Based on profiling lists, people were arrested, investigated and even prosecuted. Their assets were seized, and family members and relatives were also the subject of criminal charges. Working as a teacher in Gülen-inspired schools or contributing to non-profit institutions affiliated with the movement abroad are considered to be acts of terrorism by the Erdoğan government.

    With the purge and/or imprisonment of 4,560 judges and prosecutors in the 2016-2017 period, the rule of law was effectively suspended and the Turkish judiciary was transformed into a tool of the government, which often abuses the criminal justice system to punish its critics and opponents on terrorism charges.

  • Mother of jailed ex-military cadet to launch ‘justice march’

    Melek Çetinkaya, the mother of a former military cadet who has been sentenced to life in prison for his alleged role in a 2016 failed coup in Turkey, has announced that she will start a “justice march” from Ankara to İstanbul’s notorious Silivri Prison, where her son is incarcerated.

    Çetinkaya has been struggling to convince officials that former military cadets like her son had nothing to do with the coup attempt and has staged a number of protests in front of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headquarters in Ankara.

    She told Deutsche Welle (DW) Turkish service on Monday that the former cadets were brought to İstanbul on the night of the coup, July 15, 2016, for an alleged terrorist attack, and that they had no idea about a military putsch.

    A total of 259 ex-cadets who were on İstanbul’s Bosporus Bridge that night were sentenced to life in prison. The same night two others were brutally killed by an angry mob near the bridge.

    “I feel in my bones that there’s no justice here, but I’ll still pursue to the end,” Çetinkaya told DW Turkish.

    Her son Furkan Çetinkaya is living in a severely overcrowded ward and is given an inadequate amount of food every day, Melek Çetinkaya added.

    “I know he’s innocent, but I can’t get him out of prison. If I thought, even for a second, that he was not innocent, I’d accept the court’s verdict,” she said.

    In 2017 Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, walked from Ankara to İstanbul, where a deputy from his party was imprisoned on terrorism charges.

    The deputy, Enis Berberoğlu, was eventually released.

  • Turkish court gives lengthy prison sentences to Akın İpek’s brother, mother

    A Turkish court on Thursday handed down lengthy sentences to Cafer Tekin İpek and Melek İpek, former board members of İpek Holding, which was seized by the government in 2015, on conviction of membership of the faith-based Gülen movement and tax evasion, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

    Cafer Tekin İpek, a brother of Akın İpek, the founder of İpek Holding who has been living in the UK since 2015, received nearly 80 years’ imprisonment, while Melek İpek, mother of Akın and Cafer, was given 12 years, 8 months in prison.

    The 13 remaining defendants were also given jail sentences ranging between two and almost 10 years.

    The court ordered that the defendants’ shares in the company be transferred to the Treasury and that the board of trustees continue to run the organization.

    The holding has been managed by a group of government-appointed trustees since 2015.

    Turkey accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt, although it strongly denies any involvement. Ankara also believes the movement had attempted to overthrow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government several times before the failed coup, most notably by conducting a corruption investigation into the close circle of then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2013.

    When the government decided to seize İpek Holding, Akın İpek was in the UK and decided not to return home.

    The Turkish government filed a formal extradition request for the senior İpek that was rejected by a UK court.