Category: World

Esra Yurt, a Turkish woman who was detained as part of an investigation into Turkey’s Gulen group, said in an interview that she had her feet burned with acid in police custody at the notorious Ankara Anti-Terror Branch (TEM).

Speaking to Turkish journalist Sevinç Özarslan in an exclusive interview on Friday, Yurt said she was detained by Turkish police in February 2017 over alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group, which the Turkish gov’t accuses of masterminding a coup attempt in July 15, 2016.

Spending some five days in custody in Ankara, the woman said that a police officer poured acid on her feet to force her to confess “membership in the group.”

“[The officer] asked us to put out either our hands or feet. I put out my feet. She rised my left foot and poured some liquid on it. It was very painful. I later learned that it was some sort of an acid. Some people had it on their hands, some others had it on their feet. They then send us back to our holding cell,” the woman said in the interview.

Yurt was reportedly released on pending trial after the 5-day-long custody. She later fled Turkey to seek asylum in a European country.

Resim öğretmeni Hatice Dönmez’in kaleminden Esra Yurt’un Ankara TEM’de yaşadığı işlence… Unutmayın, unutturmayın.

İşkence insanlık suçudur. https://t.co/4jcR5b6Fu7

— Sevinç Özarslan (@sevincozarslan) May 29, 2020

An investigation has been launched into a pro-government journalist who admitted to keeping a list of dissidents whom he claims he would kill in the event of a military coup, the Turkish media reported.

There has been an ongoing debate in the Turkish media over the prospect of a coup attempt, sparked after remarks made by prominent opposition official Canan Kaftancıoğlu suggesting that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s downfall was near.

Fatih Tezcan, a pro-Erdoğan journalist known for his provocative remarks, has joined the debate with threatening words.

“You say we’ll overthrow and execute Erdoğan. Then how will you save your wives and children from us? For every drop of Erdoğan’s blood, tons of blood would be spilled in this country,” Tezcan said in a YouTube video on Sunday.

Last week, the comments of another pro-Erdoğan writer, Sevda Noyan, sent shock waves across Turkey as she said she has a list of neighbors and would kill those who are anti-government or pro-coup in the event of a new coup attempt in the country.

Meanwhile, President Erdoğan and his close circle launched a social media campaign last week in response to comments about the instigation of a coup.

Erdoğan’s lawyer on May 6 filed a criminal complaint against journalist Ragıp Zarakolu for a column he wrote, accusing him of “instigating a military coup d’état,”

Zarakolu’s column, titled “No escape from ill fate,” was published in the Evrensel newspaper and on the Artı Gerçek news website last Tuesday, drawing comparisons between Erdoğan and former Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, who was hanged by a military junta after a takeover in 1960.

As a 2016 coup attempt played into the hands of Erdoğan in eliminating dissidents in state jobs and jailing thousands of government critics, observers are pointing to the dangers of “coup talk.”

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), responded to the government’s anti-coup remarks, saying that the opposition only had civilian, not military, backing.

“This is a false agenda. [The real agenda is that the government] can no longer lead the country. Millions of people are jobless,” he said on a TV show last week.

An angry mob of Turkish nationalists late on Sunday arrived at the grave of İbrahim Gökçek, a member of the Grup Yorum band who died after a 322-day hunger strike, threatening to vandalize the grave and burn the body of the musician.

“We don’t want the grave of a terrorist,” a man from the group said according to video footage.

Gökçek was accused of membership in a left-wing terrorist group along with other Grup Yorum musicians.

The band’s concerts are banned by the Turkish government, and a space owned by the band for cultural activities has been raided almost regularly by the police.

Helin Bölek, another group member, also died due to a hunger strike to protest the government’s crackdown on them.

Following Gökçek’s death, a youth branch official from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in Kayseri, the musician’s hometown, announced that he would burn the body if Turkish officials allowed the burial of Gökçek in the city.

The MHP expelled the official immediately after he released his statement.

“The police will be here for a while. Then they’ll leave. And when they do, we’ll exhume the body and burn it,” a man said in the footage.

İstanbul police on Sunday detained Mubariz Mansimov Gurbanoğlu, a prominent Turkish-Azeri businessman, as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement, the pro-government Hürriyet newspaper reported.

The financial crimes unit of the İstanbul police carried out a morning raid to detain Gurbanoğlu. The police also searched his residence, according to the report.

The Turkish government accuses the faith-based movement of staging an attempted coup in July 2016, although the movement strongly denies any involvement.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has rejected an appeal from the Turkish government of a ruling on jailed businessman Osman Kavala in December, declaring it final.

Kavala was accused of attempting to overthrow the government by orchestrating and financing the 2013 Gezi Park protests.

“In the absence of facts, information or evidence showing that Mr. Kavala had been involved in criminal activity, he could not reasonably be suspected of having attempted to overthrow the Government by force or violence,” the court had said, calling on authorities to facilitate his release.

It also had said in the ruling that it supported Kavala’s assertion that his detention was aimed at silencing him, adding that it was “likely to have a dissuasive effect on the work of human rights defenders.”

In mid-February, Kavala was acquitted of charges in the Gezi Park trial along with nine other defendants.

However, his detention since November 2017 did not end then, and he was rearrested on charges related to a 2016 coup attempt.

In March, an investigation accusing Kavala of espionage was launched by Turkish prosecutors.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the jailed businessman as the “Turkish Soros,” referring to Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros, who is a target of international conspiracies on organizing public protests.

Amnesty International has called on Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel to take initiative for the release of Turkish businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala, ahead of her meeting on Friday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul.

Kavala should be released, and Amnesty International honorary chairman Taner Kılıç should be acquitted, Amnesty International’s Senior Researcher on Turkey Strategy, Andrew Gardner told German news agency DPA.

“Concrete steps to end the repression against human rights defenders must be the focus of talks between Angela Merkel and the Turkish president,” Gardner said.

Osman Kavala is charged with attempting to overthrow the government and masterminding the Gezi Park protests of 2013, the biggest anti-government protests in Turkey’s history, and has been in prison since November 2017.

Kavala remains in prison despite a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling last month, after a Turkish court declined to release the philanthropist.

Kavala’s next hearing will be held on Jan. 28, along with 15 other prominent civil society figures.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades also called on Merkel to relay to Erdoğan a message to immediately stop Turkey’s illegal activities in Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone, news site Duvar reported.

Merkel and Erdoğan are expected to discuss the Eastern Mediterranean crisis and Turkey drilling for natural gas, as well as the crises in Libya and Syria.Osman Kavala

Cizrespor, a football team from the southeastern Kurdish city of Şırnak, has announced that it will withdraw from the 3rd division league due to discriminatory behavior on the part of referees during matches and the Turkish Football Federation’s discriminative approach to the team.

The official statement, tweeted on Sunday, has cited the “racist approach” of the referees during games.

In February 2019, Cizrespor footballers and managers were physically assaulted by an angry nationalist mob in Antalya.

Team Chairman Maruf Sefinç said the referees always favor the rival teams, even breaking the rules.

Diyarbakır’s Amedspor and its players have experienced similar discriminatory behavior in recent years.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday said that social media has become an uncontrolled platform where people are swindled, lynched and abused, describing it as a “garbage dump,” the pro-government Hürriyet newspaper reported.

“We need to strengthen our people’s ties to real life,” Erdoğan said during a speech at an opening ceremony.

“Keeping our electronic systems and data safe is just as important as the safety of our borders,” he said.

Erdoğan made the comments at the opening ceremony of the National Computer Emergency Response Center (USOM).

He said he believes the center will enhance Turkey’s preparedness against all kinds of cyber attacks.

A December 2019 report by the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) said Turkish authorities blocked access to a total of 288,310 websites between 2006 and October 2019.

The report also noted Turkey’s requests that Twitter remove content or block accounts. Ankara introduced 5,099 such requests between 2012 and 2018, leading all other countries and surpassing Russia’s 385 by far.turkishminute

A 81-year-old man who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease was detained by police in the Turkish province of İzmir on Monday due to his links to the Gülen movement, accused by the Turkish government of masterminding a failed coup in July 2016, the tr724 news website reported.

Yusuf Pekmezci was in hiding for three years due to a widespread crackdown launched by the Turkish government against the movement’s followers.

The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating the failed coup on July 15, 2016 and labels it a “terrorist organization,” although the movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.

Pro-government media outlets were running stories for a while targeting Pekmezci and presenting him as one of the leading figures of the movement based on interviews he gave earlier in which he talked about his love for the movement and Fethullah Gülen, a US-based Turkish cleric whose views inspired the movement.

In addition to Alzheimer’s, Pekmezci also suffers from high blood pressure and osteoporosis.

Pekmezci, who worked as a merchant in İzmir for years, is known for his philanthropy, which included giving scholarships to students in need and opening dormitories for students.

Following the coup attempt, the Turkish government launched a massive crackdown on followers of the movement under the pretext of an anti-coup fight as a result of which more than 130,000 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 allegations of terrorism.

Esra Uymaz Saral, a 27-year-old Turkish woman who was arrested in İzmir when she was four and-a-half-months pregnant, has reportedly suffered an anxiety attack in prison after authorities denied her medication that she needs, the Bold news website reported.

Saral had to be taken to a doctor’s office twice in the course of a single week, according to the report.

“She is on a specific medication that is relatively expensive. The government does not cover it. Prison officials said they would give her some other medication instead, but it has not yet arrived,” Saral’s lawyer said.

She also has myoma, a muscle tumor that renders the labor particularly risky, according to the report. However, Saral’s lawyer said that doctors refused to request her release, stating that there is no impending condition preventing stay in prison.

At least three other pregnant inmates are held in Şakran Prison in the western port city, namely Emine Büşra İbişoğlu and Serpil Özmermer, who are five months pregnant, and Elif Tuğral who is eight months pregnant.

The lawyer said these other inmates have stopped writing petitions as they have lost hope.

Saral had just completed her internship to become a lawyer. She studied law at Gediz University, which was shut down over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement in the aftermath of a failed coup in 2016.

The Turkish government accuses the movement of masterminding the coup, although it denies any involvement in it.

Turkish authorities have investigated over half a million people and imprisoned tens of thousands for alleged links to the group, including lawyers, doctors, judges, prosecutors and academics as well as people from other walks of life. (turkishminute.com)