Category: World

Ümit Gökhasan, a former police superintendent who was not released from prison until his cancer had spread to other parts of his body, has died, Bold Medya reported.

Gökhasan’s death was announced by his wife, Şükran Gökhasan, on her Twitter account. She told Bold Medya the details of his last moments. “My husband lost consciousness around 1 a.m., and he died shortly thereafter,” she said. “He suffered greatly.”

Gökhasan was arrested on March 8, 2017 on charges of links to the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, and was sentenced to six years, 11 months in prison. His case was awaiting review by the Supreme Court of Appeals.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-Prime Minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. Erdoğan intensified the crackdown on the movement following a coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the abortive putsch or any terrorist activity.

Following the abortive putsch, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency and carried out a massive purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight. Over 130,000 public servants, including 4,156 judges and prosecutors as well as 20,571 members of the armed forces were summarily removed from their jobs for alleged membership in or relationships with “terrorist organizations” by emergency decree-laws subject to neither judicial nor parliamentary scrutiny. Tens of thousands were jailed on terror-related charges.

Gökhasan was first diagnosed with stomach cancer in January 2020. He underwent surgery on February 13, 2020 in which his stomach and part of his esophagus were removed. He was sent back to prison two weeks later and began receiving chemotherapy.

His treatment was stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, after which the cancer spread to other parts of his body. His wife tried to make his problems heard by authorities, but to no avail.

The Afyon State Hospital in western Turkey issued a health report saying that Gökhasan could stay in prison and that there was no reason to postpone his sentence.

The prosecutor’s office denied Gökhasan’s release from prison based on the report. However, when the family objected, the hospital revised its decision and issued a report stating he was 80 percent disabled.

The prosecutor’s office issued his release based on the new report on August 7, but it was too late. Gökhasan’s condition took a turn for the worse last month as the cancer had spread to his lungs, spleen and bones.

Gökhasan was convicted of membership in a terrorist organization for depositing money in Bank Asya, a bank affiliated with the Gülen movement, and using the ByLock messaging app on his smartphone.

ByLock is an encrypted messaging app used in smartphones and was available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Turkish authorities claim that ByLock is a communication tool exclusively used by members of the Gülen movement to ensure the privacy of their conversations. The app was permanently shut down in March 2016, before the movement was declared a terrorist organization by the Turkish government.

In an opinion on the summary extradition of alleged members of the Gülen movement from Malaysia to Turkey, the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated that “such regular daily activities as having a bank account and using a communication application” could not be considered evidences of a crime by themselves.

The situation of seriously ill prisoners has been scrutinized by human rights activists and opposition politicians.

Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a prominent human rights activist and deputy from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), has depicted the deaths of critically ill prisoners in Turkey who are not released in time to receive proper medical treatment as acts of “murder” committed by the state.

“These deaths are acts of murder. The ruling party is the murderer, and state institutions along with the Ministry of Justice involved in this wickedness are accomplices to the crime,” he told the Kronos news website.

According to Gergerlioğlu, prison administrations, judicial bodies, deputies in parliament, the Ministry of Justice, and some doctors treat prisoners according to their “type of crime.” “Even doctors treat their patients according to the prisoners’ ideological leaning and affiliation. Their most basic rights are violated. They apply the so-called ‘enemy law.’ Doctors, hospitals, gendarmes, prison guards and lawyers all act as if they made a joint decision.”

According to Gergerlioğlu sick prisoners are released when the authorities realize they will die soon. “They don’t want to be held responsible if an inmate dies in prison. So they release them in great haste when they realize the prisoner will die soon. And they do indeed die a short time after their release. When I ask the Justice Ministry for the number of deaths in prison, they give very low figures. Very low because they don’t want prisoners to die in prison. They keep them until the very last moment, and when they realize they are going to die, they release them immediately.”

According to the Human Rights Association (IHD) there are currently 1,605 sick prisoners in Turkish prisons, 604 of whom are critically ill. Although most of the seriously ill patients have forensic and medical reports deeming them unfit to remain in prison, they are not released. Authorities refuse to release them on the grounds that they pose a potential danger to society. In the first eight months of 2020, five critically ill prisoners passed away because they were not released in time to receive proper medical treatment.

An İstanbul court on Monday sentenced jailed investigative journalist Mehmet Baransu, a former correspondent for the now-defunct Taraf newspaper, to 17 years, one month in prison for publishing leaked government documents, Turkish media reported.

The İstanbul 2nd High Criminal Court convicted Baransu of “disclosing information that must be kept confidential for reasons relating to the security or domestic and foreign political interests of the state through the press” in a news report published in Taraf on November 28, 2013 titled “The Decision to end Gülen was reached at the National Security Council [MGK] in 2004.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, a faith-based group highly critical of him, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-Prime Minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members.

Erdoğan intensified the crackdown on the movement following a coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that he accused Fethullah Gülen of masterminding. He locked up tens of thousands including many prosecutors, judges and police officers involved in the investigations as well as journalists who reported on them. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the abortive putsch or any terrorist activity.

MGK documents published by Baransu showed that, contrary to what Erdoğan claimed, the government had been targeting the Gülen movement long before 2013.

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.

Baransu was arrested in March 2015 for allegedly procuring and publishing secret state documents in connection with the disclosure of a war plan called the Egemen (Sovereign) Operation Plan.

A Mersin court handed down a prison sentence of 19 years, six months to Baransu in July on three separate charges with the claim that he had published classified information with “terror motives” and not for purposes of journalism. He was convicted of “violating privacy,” “disclosing classified information” and “membership in an armed terrorist organization” 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 Erdoğan.

According to Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) 2020 World Press Freedom Index in which Turkey was ranked 154th among 180 countries in terms of press freedom, Turkey is the world’s biggest jailer of professional journalists. The Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) has documented that 174 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey, while 167 wanted and are either in exile or remain at large. The Turkish government has seized nearly 200 media outlets including the country’s largest since 2015.

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

When the Christchurch terror attack happened, Zeena Ali was inspired to join the police to help her Muslim community.

And this week she will not only graduate as a police officer, but will become the first in New Zealand to don a police-issued hijab as part of her uniform.

Ali, 30, even worked with police to design a garment that is both functional for her new role and considerate of her religion.

She told the Herald the design process started even before she started at Police College, with her trialling various materials and styles and offering recommendations and improvements.

Further tweaks and changes were made before the recruit course started so she had the required gear – and she even has a version to wear for graduation.

Ali will be posted in the Tāmaki Makaurau area and is excited to get out on the beat.

“It feels great to be able to go out and show the New Zealand Police hijab as part of my uniform,” she said.

“I think that seeing it, more Muslim women will want to join as well.”

Ali remembers the moment she decided to shift her career from customer service to law enforcement.

“One of the security guards I worked with was going to join the police and she asked me to help her,” she said.

“As I started that process the Christchurch terror attack happened and that’s when I realised more Muslim women were needed in the police, to go and support people with things like this.

“If I had joined the police earlier I would have been down there to help.”

Ali was born in Fiji and moved to New Zealand with her family when she was a child.

She said she was proud to represent the Muslim community – particularly women – and hoped to inspire others to join the police and help broaden the demographic of the front line.

Having a police-branded hijab would mean women who may not have previously considered policing because they were not sure of how the role would incorporate their religion or culture.

“It’s great – the Police went out of their way to make sure the hijab I have on meets health and safety requirements as well as my own personal needs,” she explained.

“They worked closely with the Massey Design School, they came and visited me and we made tweaks to the hijab.

“I am proud to wear it and I hope other people out there will be proud of me as well.”

Ali said she appreciated police considering her personal needs – both at college and in her role going forward.

“At college they had a prayer room and halal meals,” she said.

“When I had to go swimming they were ok with me wearing long sleeves.”

Valuing diversity is one of the six core values for Police – alongside professionalism, respect, integrity, empathy and commitment to Māori and the Treaty of Waitangi.

“We recognise the value different perspectives and experiences bring to making us better at what we do,” Police said.

“We need people with a range of skills, backgrounds and experience levels – diversity is essential so that we can effectively serve the needs of New Zealand’s communities now and in the future.”

Police said there were certain qualities and skills they look for during the recruitment process as they worked to build a “high-performance culture, where different perspectives are valued”.

“By reflecting the communities we serve and appreciating different thinking, we aim to achieve better problem-solving and results.”

Ali’s wing, who graduate tomorrow, was “highly diverse” and female recruits outnumbered their male colleagues.

Of the graduates, 51.3 per cent were females – and 48.7 per cent of the graduates were ethnicities other than European.

Māori officers make up 25 per cent of the wing.

“I think it’s great,” Ali told the Herald.

“And we need more Muslim women to help in the community, most of them are too scared to talk to the police and would probably shut the front door if a man turned up to talk to them.

“If we have more women turning up, a more diverse front line, then we can reduce more crime.”

In 2008, Police introduced a turban into the uniform and Nelson Constable Jagmohan Malhi became the first officer to wear it on duty.

Until then he had to forgo the turban on duty, even though it is considered an important part of his Sikh faith. nzherald

Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu has revealed that two civil servants who were previously removed from their jobs as part of a massive purge launched by the Turkish government in the wake of a 2016 coup attempt have died under the tyranny of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Gergerlioğlu, also a member of parliament’s Human Rights Inquiry Committee, on Wednesday made a public statement in the parliament, focusing on human rights violations in Turkey that include political prisoners who have lost their lives due to criminal neglect of government authorities.

“Almost every day, I reveal the death of a purge victim in Turkey. I do not care about their religious beliefs, political views, dispositions or races. The only thing I care about is the fact that they fall victim to the tyranny [of the AKP] and they die in disappointment,” he said in a tweet on Wednesday.

Former police officer Ahmet Kaplan, who was serving the fifth year of his sentence of over seven years in the İskenderun T Type Prison, was diagnosed with lung cancer in October. He lost his life on Tuesday after cancer spread to his kidneys at the 4th stage.

Although he was sent to the İskenderun State Hospital from time to time for treatment, he was not allowed to stay there and his petitions demanding a release from prison due to his deteriorating health condition were not accepted by the prison authorities.

Forty-eight years old Kaplan, who was a father of two, was to be released under judicial supervision in four months.

“You have committed another murder! How many cases of criminal neglect have we seen so far? Ahmet Kaplan had advanced lung cancer. He died behind bars. He was released in a coffin. Shame on you,” Gergerlioğlu tweeted, addressing Turkey’s Justice Ministery on Wednesday.

Gülhan Çolakoğlu, a former chemistry teacher in Turkey, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2017, after the arrest of her husband Sefer Çolakoğlu, who was also a chemistry teacher, over coup-related charges in late 2016.

The 45-year-old teacher, who started receiving chemotherapy treatment in Turkey and underwent a total of five surgeries in over three years, lost her life on Wednesday as the cancer spread to her liver.

Çolakoğlu formerly received a sentence of six years and three months over links to the Gülen movement following the 2016 putsch bid and was banned from leaving the country, which prevented her from receiving the necessary treatment in Germany.

She scheduled an appointment at the Immun Onkologisches Zentrum, an oncology center in Cologne, in March but couldn’t receive treatment there because the authorities did not grant her a passport despite many petitions filed with the local and regional courts in her hometown Kayseri.

The HDP lawmaker slammed the ruling AKP government for leaving her to die in Turkey while they could have lifted her travel ban and allow her to receive treatment in Germany.

An indictment drafted by an İstanbul prosecutor seeks a prison sentence of up to 15 years for Erkan Akkuş, a former anchorman at the now-closed Bugün TV, on charges of terrorist organization membership.

Akkuş, for whom a detention warrant had been outstanding since a failed coup attempt in 2016, was detained in August in northern Kocaeli province after an anonymous tip was received by the local police.

He was subsequently arrested and put in pretrial detention in İstanbul’s notorious Silivri Prison, where thousands of people are jailed, mostly on politically motivated charges.

The journalist’s trial will be held at a high criminal court in İstanbul.

Turkey accuses the faith-based Gülen movement of orchestrating the failed coup on July 15, 2016, although the movement strongly denies any involvement.

The Turkish government has launched a large-scale crackdown against its followers since then, but the movement became a target of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after a 2013 police investigation that accused his close circle of corruption.

Bugün TV, a news channel owned by the İpek Medya Group, was seized by the government in November 2015 and turned into a pro-Erdoğan media outlet. It was shut down following the coup attempt.

Dozens of journalists have been arrested and received lengthy prison sentences over alleged Gülen links.

One of the leading jailers of journalists in the world, Turkey was ranked 154th out of 180 countries in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

A young woman with physical disabilities has been handed down a jail sentence of six years, three months on terrorism charges due to alleged links to the Gülen movement, accused by the Turkish government of masterminding a failed coup in 2016, Bold Medya reported on Wednesday.

The jail sentence was ordered for Fatma Cömert, 28, by the Aydın 2nd High Criminal in a development that shocked the young woman, who is wheelchair bound and was born with disabilities that prevent her from using her hands and legs properly.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) label the Gülen movement, inspired by US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, as a terrorist organization and immediately blamed the group for the failed coup that took place on July 15, 2016. The movement strongly denies any involvement in the failed putsch.

“I am a person who has to lie in bed all day. My mother takes care of all my needs. Why they have given me jail sentence [I simply can’t understand],” Cömert said, expressing frustration over the verdict.

An investigation was launched into Cömert in May 2019 on charges of terrorist organization membership due to her alleged links to the Gülen movement. In the first hearing of her trial in September 2019, the woman was told by the judge that she did not have to attend the other hearings because of her disability. The trial was concluded on Nov. 5 and she was sentenced to prison for using ByLock, a smart phone application that is believed to have been a secret communication tool among followers of the Gülen movement.

If the sentence is upheld by an appeals court, Cömert will have to go to prison. The woman said she hopes the higher court will overturn the Aydın court’s ruling since going to jail would be tantamount to death as she cannot continue living alone without the help of her family.

Cömert’s prison sentence attracted widespread criticism on social media, with many expressing outrage. Rebecca Harms, a former member of the European Parliament and an expert on Turkey, tweeted: “There are two many awful stories about the fate of people imprisoned in Turkey. The case of Fatma Cömert is especially terrible. What can be done?”

Harms was appealing to a group of European politicians and human rights organizations about Cömert’s case.

Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a member of the Turkish Parliament from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and a prominent human rights activist, asked in a tweet aimed at Turkey’s Justice Ministry, “What conscience would accept such a court ruling?” as he expressed shock about the prison sentence given to the disabled woman.

The UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated in October 2018 that detention, arrest and conviction based on ByLock use in Turkey violated of Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

As part of a massive government-led crackdown on the Gülen  movement, 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 over suspected links to the self-exiled preacher.

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.”