Category: Politics

A Turkish court on Monday ruled to continue the pre-trial detention of Selçuk Mızraklı, the former mayor of the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakır, who is standing trial for alleged membership in a terrorist organization, the Artı Gerçek news website reported.

Monday’s hearing was the second in Mızraklı’s trial in which he faces up to 15 years in prison.

During the hearing, his lawyer, Mehmet Emin Aktar, accused the prosecutor of acting upon evidence that does not comply with legal norms.

Mızraklı, who attended the hearing via the IT Voice and Image System (SEGBİS), reiterated his earlier claim that the case was politically motivated.

“In many countries, politically motivated prosecutions are remembered as dark stains on the countries’ history. You should not take the easy way out by conforming to the will of the political power. Everyone is responsible for this. You cannot say ‘I was misled’,” he said.

A group of observers who attended the hearing were prevented by police from making a public statement in front of the courthouse after the proceedings ended.

Mızraklı was elected Diyarbakır mayor on March 31, 2019. Along with several other Kurdish mayors, he was removed from office by Turkey’s Interior Ministry in August.

The one-and-a-half page indictment consists of the testimony of an informant as well as references to events and demonstrations Mızraklı attended as evidence of terrorism.

The Interior Ministry has removed 13 Kurdish mayors since the local elections last year, citing alleged links to terrorism. The controversial practice was also widely implemented during Turkey’s two-year-long state of emergency following an attempted coup in 2016, with the removal of scores of Kurdish mayors, many of whom also stood trial on terrorism-related charges after their ousting.

A Turkish court on Tuesday ruled to dissolve the incumbent management of the Bilim Sanat Vakfı (Science and Art Foundation), an organization affiliated with former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, and ordered the appointment of government trustees, the Turkish media reported.

The foundation, established in 1986 by Davutoğlu along with businessman Murat Ülker, a son of the founder of Turkey’s leading food producer Ülker, will appeal the verdict.

The General Directorate for Foundations has already sent three trustees to the foundation, according to the reports.

A former ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Davutoğlu quit the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), criticizing the one-man rule in his previous party.

Davutoğlu, with other former AKP members, on Dec. 13 established and became the first chairman of the Future Party (GP).

In December Turkey’s Higher Education Board (YÖK) decided to temporarily revoke the operating license of İstanbul Şehir University, another Davutoğlu-affiliated institution, and transfer its administration to Marmara University as a guarantor.

Turkish authorities on Sunday have seized the passport of veteran journalist Hasan Cemal, who faces terror charges, and banned him from leaving the country, T24 reported.

Police informed Cemal that his passport was revoked on Nov. 11 as he attempted to travel to Berlin. The journalist faces nine years in prison on charges of terrorist propaganda.

The prosecutor said Cemal had supported the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in a column he wrote for the T24 news website in 2015.

Cemal is known for his support for the resolution of the more than three-decade-long Kurdish conflict. He heavily criticised the government after it launched military operations in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast in 2015 following the collapse of a two-year peace process.

Tens of thousands of Turks had their passports seized with decree laws issued by the Turkish state during the country’s state of an emergency rule which came into effect after the 2016 coup attempt.

Since July 2016, Turkey has jailed 77,000 people including journalists, academics and human rights activists in a crackdown while more than 150,000 sacked or suspended from their jobs in the military, public and private sectors.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the new president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen discussed Turkey’s EU accession and the country’s Syrian refugee population in a phone call on Sunday.

The pair talked about the 2016 Ankara- EU agreement on Syrian refugees and  the voluntary return of Syrians to the safe zone being established in northern Syria during Leyen’s first day in office, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Turkey and EU in 2016 agreed on a deal aiming to cut the influx of Syrian refugees arriving in Greece. According to the deal, the EU promised the allocation of €3 billion in aid to Turkey to help migrants. The deal also included the end of visa restrictions applied to Turkish citizens when travelling to Europe as of June 2016, but the visa restrictions still remain.

Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels last month launched an offensive in northeast Syria, aming to rid the region of Kurdish forces and create a safe zone, where million of the country’s Syrian refugees plan to be resettled.Turkey is home to 3.6 million Syrian refugees.

Turkey’s intelligence agency took possession of a Kurdish politician’s German asylum file after a Turkish lawyer working for the German Embassy in Ankara was arrested, the Mezopotamya news agency reported on Monday.

Leyla Birlik, a former deputy for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was notified of the situation by Germany’s interior ministry, according to the report.

“They told me that my security was in jeopardy,” Birlik said, adding that the files of 69 asylum seekers were seized by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) after the lawyer’s arrest.

In mid-September, Turkey arrested a lawyer hired by the German Embassy.

German Ambassador Martin Erdmann denounced the arrest as “incomprehensible,” stating that the lawyer was working as a legal consultant “providing the embassy with support that is ordinary from an international perspective and undoubtedly not forbidden.”

According to Mezopotamya’s report, the lawyer was tasked with conducting legal database searches on Turkish nationals seeking asylum in Germany to ascertain whether they were target of investigations or arrest warrants.

Birlik said she refused German officials’ offer to provide her with security guards.

“Their goal is to intimidate those seeking asylum in Germany,” she said. “I believe we are safe enough among our people here.”

She said the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been pursuing hostage diplomacy with Germany and other Western countries.

“Germany needs to put an end to its silence and proceed with sanctions against Turkey,” Birlik said.

Turkish police on Monday detained four Kurdish mayors, including the chief executive of Turkey’s largest predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakır, after first removing them from office in a recent controversial move, according to Turkish media reports.

Former Diyarbakır Mayor Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı, who was fired by an Interior Ministry decision on Aug. 19, was detained at his home following a police raid on Monday morning. Mızraklı is from the ranks of the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

Kayapınar co-Mayor Keziban Yılmaz, Bismil co-Mayor Gülcan Özer and Kocaköy district co-Mayor Rojda Nazlıer, who had all previously been removed from office in Diyarbakır province, were also taken into custody on Monday.

On Aug.19 Mızraklı, Mardin Mayor Ahmet Türk and Van Mayor Bedia Özgökçe Ertan were sacked due to ongoing investigations into them, according to a statement from the Turkish Interior Ministry.

Although all the mayors were democratically elected in a nationwide local election held on March 31, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its leader and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accuse the HDP mayors of links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.

According to the report, more than 100,000 investigations were conducted by public prosecutors after the failed coup, and 19 trials are still pending.

Among the life sentences, 1,224 were for aggravated life with no chance of parole.

A total of 71 generals, 829 military officers, 173 noncommissioned officers, four police officers and 50 specialist sergeants were sentenced to aggravated life.

Turkey accuses the faith-based Gülen movement of orchestrating the 2016 coup, although it strongly denies any involvement.

Following the coup attempt more than 140,000 people were removed from state jobs, while in excess of 30,000 others are still in jail and some 600,000 people have been investigated on claims of terrorism due to alleged Gülen links. (turkishminute.com)

Syrian Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf’s family received her remains in pieces after she was executed on Saturday, Khalaf’s mother Souad Mohammed told Syrian news agency North Press.

“I moved a cloth that covered her chest and face and found nothing left of her body but a small piece from her jaw,” North Press quoted the mother as saying.

Syrian Future Party Co-chair Khalaf was executed by a Turkish-backed group on Saturday, her party said in a statement. A video emerged showing her body, which was celebrated by pro-government media in Turkey who later renounced the death.

The group that captured Khalaf called her mother, who heard them shouting in Arabic, Souad Mohammed told North Press. “My daughter was a civilian, she has never been a combatant. She was a political advocate, that is a human right guaranteed for every man and woman,” she added.

Immigration attorney Samira Ghaderi posted an autopsy report listing Khalaf’s injuries on social media.

“From the above we conclude that the woman was beaten with a solid body on the head … also beating by sharp objects on the posterior face of the legs … and dragged from her hair causing the hair to [rip out] … then she was hit by gunshot … After falling to the ground, she was hit by four shots from the back … not at close range,” the report concluded.ahvalnews

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Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said in an interview with Sky News that they were looking into the matter.

A spokesman for the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army, an umbrella group that includes various rebel factions, said its units had not made it as far as that area.

“We condemn in the strongest of terms any mistreatment and extrajudicial execution of civilians or prisoners, and are looking further into these circumstances,” a U.S. State Department spokesman told Reuters.

The Ankara 19th High Criminal Court on Monday ruled to release jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş pending trial, but he was not allowed to leave prison since he had been convicted in another case, the Artı Gerçek news website reported.

Although the prosecutor demanded a continuation of his detention, the ruling was made unanimously by the judges. The prosecutor later appealed the decision.

Demirtaş faces 142 years in prison on allegations of membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union, the US and Turkey.

In December a regional appeals court upheld a sentence of four years, eight months handed down to Demirtaş for disseminating terrorist propaganda.

Since the Kurdish politician has been in jail for more than three years, his lawyers can apply for parole, the Turkish media said.

The Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on Monday called for the release of their former co-chair Demirtaş.

On Sept. 18 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will hear a case against Turkey upon the application of Demirtaş’s lawyers.

Anti-Christian and anti-Jewish posters found hanging on billboards in Turkey’s central conservative province of Konya have sparked public outrage.

The billboards which belong to the Konya’s Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) municipality contain a verse from the Qur’an calling upon believers to abstain from befriending Christians and Jews.

“…Do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you – then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people,’’ the posters say, citing Quranic chapter five, verse 51.

Some Islamic scholars explain the verse, shared on the billboards without context, much like other verses of the Muslim holy book, was revealed in response to developments taking place during the time of Prophet Muhammad.

Officials from Turkey’s Christian and Jewish communities have not commented on the billboards.

Konya is known as Turkey’s most culturally conservative city where the ruling AKP won the March local elections with over 70 percent support.

Turkey, which is 98 percent Muslim, is home to between 200,000 to 320,000 Christians, and around 12,000 Jews.