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Prominent journalists, human rights activists and artists came together in the German capital of Berlin on Wednesday to hold a march in protest of the convictions of businessman and rights defender Osman Kavala and seven others in a controversial trial in Turkey, Deutsche Welle’s Turkish edition has reported.

The protest was attended by exiled Turkish journalist Can Dündar, Turkish-German journalist Deniz Yücel, writer and journalist Aslı Erdoğan, artist Zehra Doğan and human rights activist Peter Steudner, all of whom were jailed in Turkey in the past few years for their work, in addition to executive director of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Germany Christian Mihr and Amnesty International’s Germany representative Markus Beeko.

An İstanbul court on April 25 sentenced Kavala, who had been behind bars without a conviction for over four years, to aggravated life on charges of “attempting to topple the government,” while sentencing seven other defendants to 18 years each on charges of aiding the attempt due to their alleged role in the anti-government Gezi Park protests in 2013.

The protestors, holding photos of the Gezi Park trial defendants, marched past the Federal Chancellory building, the German Parliament, the Representation of the European Commission in Germany and the Turkish Embassy.

A replica of a prison cell from İstanbul’s notorious Silivri Prison, where most political prisoners are held, was loaded on a truck that accompanied the protestors during their march.

Writer Erdoğan, who took part in the protest in handcuffs, said Kavala was given a life sentence just because of his efforts to protect the trees in Gezi Park.

“There are currently tens of thousands of people in Turkey’s prisons now who were given jail sentences based on nonsense charges. And the prison conditions in Turkey remind one of the conditions during the Sept. 12 [1980 military coup]. I will carry these handcuffs until all the political prisoners, not only in Turkey but also around the world, are free,” said Erdoğan.

Journalist Dündar said the Turkish court has not only punished the eight defendants in the trial but millions of others who took part in the protest with a desire for a democratic Turkey.

The Gezi Park demonstrations, which took place in the summer of 2013 in reaction to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s attempt to destroy one of the few green spaces left in İstanbul, quickly turned into a nationwide protest against the authoritarian policies of then-prime minister and current president Erdoğan.

Eleven protestors died and thousands more were injured as they were brutally suppressed by the police on Erdoğan’s instructions.

Yücel called on the German government to take the necessary lesson from its “flawed” policy towards Russia, which has been waging a war on Ukraine since Feb. 24, and not to be a “collaborator” in crimes committed by autocrats.

RSF’s Mihr called on the German government to take more action for the maintenance of freedom of the press in Turkey and to pursue a foreign policy based on values, while Amnesty’s Beeko said the “dramatic, nonsense and arbitrary” court decisions targeting Kavala and other civil society leaders should be taken as an alarm that will wake up the German government and the European Union about the course of developments in Turkey.

A leading figure in Turkey’s civil society, 64-year-old Kavala was born in Paris, educated in the UK and ran a cultural center before being thrust to prominence. He was accused of financing protests against then-prime minister Erdoğan’s government during large-scale protests in 2013 and involvement in a failed military coup in 2016. The latest ruling only covered the case stemming from the 2013 unrest.

Kavala’s plight had soured relations between Ankara and Western nations, and a diplomatic crisis was triggered last year when Turkey threatened to expel 10 Western ambassadors, including the US envoy, after they demanded Kavala’s release.

The Ankara Bar Association has announced that they filed a complaint against the Ankara Police Department based on nine allegations of torture made by detainees held at detention centers in February and March, local media reported on Thursday.

The association on Thursday released a written statement titled “There’s no end to torture allegations in police units in Ankara” on their website, saying they had submitted complaints to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding nine such allegations.

According to the statement, four incidents of torture are claimed to have taken place in the narcotics unit, three in the Sincan District Police Department and two in the counterterrorism unit between Feb. 8 and March 25.

“We remind you that there are decisions made in both national courts and international jurisdictions regarding the need to ensure that public officials who commit crimes against humanity should not benefit from amnesty or the statute of limitations, with no exceptions, including in a state of war,” the lawyers said.

They also underlined that their actions would reveal the truth and that “the crime of torture, considered jus cogens in national and international jurisdictions, will not go unpunished.”

Jus cogens are a set of universal, superior and overriding legal principles, and the prohibition of torture is one of them.

The Ankara Bar Association attracted criticism for refusing to publish a report by the bar’s human rights committee on allegations of torture made by detainees held at a police detention center in Ankara back in January.

Several members of the committee, including its head, resigned in February in protest following the bar’s decision not to publish the January report.

The association’s president, Kemal Koranel, who refused to publish the January report, also resigned in late March, saying in a statement on social media that failing to express a dissenting opinion about the decision was a mistake.

The January report included allegations that people who were detained due to alleged links to the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, were subjected to torture at a police detention center in Ankara.

According to a report by the TR724 news website, 300 people were detained in January in police raids across Turkey as part of investigations overseen by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

After an abortive putsch in 2016, ill-treatment and torture became widespread and systematic in Turkish detention centers. Lack of condemnation from higher officials and a readiness to cover up allegations rather than investigate them have resulted in widespread impunity for the security forces.

Turkey was ranked 149th among 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2022 World Press Freedom Index, with the prominent press organization warning about rising authoritarianism in the country and declining media pluralism.

Turkey’s 2022 ranking on the RSF index is up from the 153rd last year; however, RSF Turkey representative Erol Önderoğlu, in remarks to Deutsche Welle’s Turkish edition, interpreted the minor change for the better not as a result of the improvement of freedom of the press in the country but as a result of the war fought by civil society and press organizations for more press freedom.

RSF released its “2022 World Press Freedom Index: a new era of polarisation” on Tuesday, which coincided with World Press Freedom Day. It assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries and territories.

“Authoritarianism is gaining ground in Turkey, challenging media pluralism. All possible means are used to undermine critics,” said the press organization.

RSF said since 90 percent of the national media is now under government control, the public has turned, during the past five years, to critical or independent media outlets of various political persuasions to learn about the impact of the economic and political crisis on the country. It cited local TV channels such as Fox TV, Halk TV, Tele1 and Sözcü and international news websites such as BBC Turkish, VOA Turkish and Deutsche Welle Turkish as examples.

According to RSF, as the 2023 election approaches, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “hyper-presidency” has stepped up its attacks on journalists in a bid to deflect attention from the country’s economic and democratic decline and to shore up its political base.

Through a referendum in April 2017 Turkey switched from a parliamentary system of governance to an executive presidential system that granted Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) sweeping powers and was criticized for removing constitutional checks and balances, thus leading to a further weakening of Turkish democracy.

“However, tactics such as near systematic censorship on the internet, frivolous lawsuits against critical media outlets or the misuse of the judicial system have, until now, enabled Erdoğan to restore his popularity rating, while he continues to be embroiled in a major case of corruption and political clientelism,” RSF says in the index.

Turkey is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in 2023.

According to the Turkish Journalists’ Association (TGC), there are currently 28 journalists behind bars in Turkey; however, other media organizations estimate the figure to be higher.

Legal framework

In its report RSF also said discriminatory practices against critical journalists and media outlets, such as stripping them of press passes, are commonplace in Turkey, while journalists face various obstacles to performing their jobs independently.

“Judges who do the government’s bidding are trying to limit democratic debate by censoring online articles tackling corruption and similarly sensitive topics. This makes it hard to publish quality reporting. Some journalists have nonetheless tried to remain faithful to their mission to report the news with complete independence, and they are demanding recognition of a ‘media ombudsman’.”

 Economic context

According to RSF, public and private sector companies allied with the AKP government endanger media pluralism by channeling ads and subsidies to media outlets that give them favorable coverage. The Press Advertising Council (BIK) uses the allocation of state advertising to put financial pressure on recalcitrant dailies, while the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) helps to weaken critical TV channels economically by imposing heavy fines. Some newspapers have had to reduce their number of pages because of the price of paper.

The husband of a critically ill woman serving a sentence for conviction of links to the Gülen movement said his wife did not have access to proper healthcare in prison, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing the Bold Medya news website.

Reaching out to Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, Semih Şentürk said his wife, Mehtap Şentürk, was wheel-chair bound and suffered from multiple sclerosis (MS) but that she was not provided proper treatment in prison. He asked that his wife be released or at least put under house arrest.

“My wife is [almost totally] disabled, and she cannot take care of herself because of her disease,” he said. “Every six months she needs a certain medication; however, the prison has neglected this.”

Mehtap Şentürk is too sick to stay in a normal cell; therefore, she is being kept in the prison infirmary. A hospital in Ankara issued a report saying she was fit to remain in prison in early March, although she is unable to use her arms and has to wear a diaper.

Mehtap Şentürk, a science teacher, was sent to Sincan Prison in Ankara after the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a prison sentence of seven years on charges of terrorist organization membership due to her links to the Gülen movement.

Semih Şentürk is also in prison on similar charges. He was sentenced to nine years, nine months in prison.

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 in 2016.

In an earlier tweet Gergerlioğlu called on authorities to do their best to ensure Şentürk‘s release from prison.

Turkish authorities have denied political prisoners, even those with critical illnesses, release from prison so they can at least seek proper treatment. Human rights activists and opposition politicians have frequently criticized authorities for not releasing critically ill prisoners.

Lawmaker Gergerlioğlu said ill prisoners were not released until they were at the point of no return. He claimed that prisoners did not have access to proper healthcare facilities such as hospitals and clinics.

A university student who was arrested for alleged links to the Gülen movement in a letter from prison said he had been robbed of his education and future opportunities and demanded his immediate release, the Stockholm Center Freedom reported.

In the letter that has been circulating on Twitter since Tuesday evening, 21-year-old Ibrahim Enes Gacar said he had been an honor student before his arrest. “Even the guards say I’m harmless and have a heart of gold. I ask you, have you ever seen a harmless terrorist?” he asked. “I will be the first terrorist in history to have a heart of gold.”

After his arrest Gacar was put in solitary confinement for two weeks under quarantine regulations. He said the cell was filthy and freezing cold and that he got sick during his stay there.

Gacar was a student at Turkey’s prestigious Boğaziçi University. In March 2020 he moved back with his family due the COVID-19 pandemic and did his studies online for eight months. He was arrested eight months after moving in with his family and has been in Istanbul’s Silivri Prison ever since.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, 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. He 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.

“I was 19 years old when I was arrested,” said Gacar. “I have been under arrest for nearly 500 days, and I need the public to know this.”

Gacar said he was arrested after a man known only as L.K. accused him of membership in the movement and that authorities had no other evidence against him.

Human rights advocates and Boğaziçi University student groups expressed their solidarity with Gacar on social media.

https://mobile.twitter.com/kadinkoalisyonu/status/1516541785534779396

According to a statement from the Turkish interior minister, a total of 319,587 people have been detained while 99,962 others have been jailed due to alleged links to the Gülen movement since the failed coup.

A Turkish court on Tuesday acquitted veteran journalist Hasan Cemal of charges of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in two tweets he posted in 2016 and 2020, the T24 news website reported.

Cemal faced eight years in prison if convicted.

The first tweet mentioned in the indictment was shared four days after a controversial coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016. In the tweet Cemal had said, “The criterion for being a democrat is not only to stand against a military coup. It is also to say no to a deepening ‘ERDOĞAN COUP’.”

The second tweet referenced in the indictment was a comment on an opinion piece by Professor Murat Belge titled “The Caliphate.” Sharing the link to the piece, Cemal had said, “If the caliphate is to return, I suppose the caliph will be Tayyip Erdoğan.”

In addition to a prison sentence of eight years, the prosecutor also demanded a suspension of Cemal’s right to vote and to run for public office, for the tweets.

Tried by the İstanbul 41st Criminal Court of First Instance, Cemal, who writes for the T24 news website, said the tweets did not contain any insults and that he was exercising his right to freedom of expression.

The court ruled that Cemal’s words included commentary and criticism but not insult.

Insulting the president is subject to criminal charges under the controversial Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), and thousands of people in the country are under investigation, with most of them facing the threat of imprisonment over alleged insults of Erdoğan.

Whoever insults the president can face up to four years in prison, a sentence that can be increased if the crime was committed through the mass media.

The insult cases generally stem from social media posts shared by Erdoğan opponents. The Turkish police and judiciary perceive even the most minor criticism of Erdoğan or his government as an insult.