PEN centres in fourteen countries today joined PEN International and Norwegian PEN in calling for the Turkish authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Osman Kavala and Yiğit Aksakoğlu and drop all charges against them and their 14 co-defendants including prominent figures in the Taksim resistance such as Mücella Yapıcı, Tayfun Kahraman and Can Atalay. All defendants face life imprisonment on the charge of ‘attempting to overthrow the government’ during the Gezi Park protests of 2013. Representatives of PEN International, Norwegian PEN and PEN Turkey will be monitoring the hearings at Silivri High Security Prison’s courthouse near Istanbul on 24 and 25 June, 2019.
‘We condemn the Turkish authorities’ efforts to
prosecute 16 civil society figures for their alleged role in the 2013 Gezi Park
protests. Such spurious charges, for which the defendants face life in prison
without the possibility of parole, should be dropped. The distinct lack of
evidence in this case underlines its deeply political nature and serves as a
stark reminder of the Turkish authorities’ readiness to silence dissenting
voices,’ said
Jennifer Clement, President of PEN
International.
A 657-page long indictment, released on 19 February 2019 and accepted
by Istanbul’s 30th High Criminal Court on 4 March 2019, accuses the defendants
of being responsible for crimes allegedly committed by protestors across Turkey
during May and June 2013 and reframes the overwhelmingly peaceful protests as a
conspiracy to overthrow the government. The indictment lists the plaintiffs as
the then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his entire cabinet at the time
and 746 other complainants. Evidence consists mainly of intercepted telephone
calls from the defendants, extensive
details of foreign travel over a number of years and social
media posts. The evidence further consists of surveillance camera photographs
of publisher and
civil society leader Osman Kavala
meeting various people. With the exception of the phone calls, the majority of
the evidence is dated after the protests took place.
Two of the defendants, Osman Kavala and rights-defender
Yiğit Aksakoğlu, have been held in pre-trial
detention in
Silivri prison since 1 November 2017 and 17 November 2018 respectively. Three
of the defendants – actor and director Memet Ali Alabora, actor Pınar Öğün and novelist and playwright
Meltem Arıkan – are notably accused of having provoked the Gezi park protests
with their play Mi Minör, staged in
December, 2012. All defendants have been charged with ‘attempting to overthrow
the government or partially or wholly preventing its functions’ under Article
312 of Turkey’s Criminal Code, the most severe sentence under Turkish law.
‘No evidence
contained in the indictment successfully links any of the accused to a
concerted effort to bring down the government, nor does it establish that any
of the defendants were aware of plots to do so. Not only have the rights of
liberty and security of Osman Kavala and Yiğit
Aksakoğlu been violated under Turkey’s constitution and the
European Convention on Human Rights, but said violations appear to infringe the
Convention’s Article 18, in that these detentions and the bringing of the case
overall has a purely political motivation,’ said Kjersti Løken Stavrum, President of Norwegian PEN.
‘Osman Kavala
has been arbitrarily deprived of his liberty for 20 months; Yiğit Aksakoğlu for
over seven months. Prominent figures in the Taksim resistance as well as writers,
actors and filmmakers are in the witness box. We call on the Turkish
authorities to release Osman Kavala and Yiğit Aksakoğlu immediately and unconditionally, to drop charges against
all defendants in this case and to urgently end their crackdown on civil
society,’ said Caroline Stockford,
Turkey Adviser to Norwegian PEN.
Additional
information
In May 2013 a peaceful protest against an urban
development plan was staged in Istanbul’s Taksim Gezi Park, one of the few
green spaces in the city. Local
protests quickly spread and turned into the biggest civil protest in Turkey’s
history, with over 3 million people taking to the streets across 81 cities.
Nine people lost their lives and thousands were injured, as police repeatedly
used aggressive tactics and excessive force against protestors. While thousands of people were arrested during
the course of the protests, most cases that went to trial ended in acquittal.
Four years later, however, the Turkish authorities began to arrest those they
suspected of organising the protests in an apparent attempt to secure public
support and solidify power.
Civil society leader, philanthropist,
publisher, and human rights defender Osman Kavala, who is accused of financing
the Gezi movement, was first
detained on 18 October 2017 at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport upon returning from
the city of Gaziantep, south-eastern Turkey. On 1 November 2017, a Court in
Istanbul ruled that he be remanded in Silivri Prison,
where he has been detained since. On 22 May 2019, Turkey’s Constitutional Court
rejected an application to end his continued pre-trial detention. His case is pending
before the European Court of Human Rights.
The
defendants, in alphabetical order of surnames, are:
Yiğit Aksakoğlu (Civil society professional) – held in pretrial detention
Memet Ali Alabora (Director, actor) – abroad
Hakan Altınay (Chair of Open Society Foundation) – in Turkey, subject of travel ban
Meltem Arıkan (Novelist, playwright) – abroad
Can Atalay (Lawyer and human rights defender) – in Turkey
Can Dündar (Journalist, author) – abroad
İnanç Ekmekci – abroad
Yiğit Ekmekçi (Chair of Anadolu Kültür) – in Turkey, subject of travel ban
Hikmet Germiyanoğlu (NGO consultant) – in Turkey
Tayfun Kahraman (Urban planner) – in Turkey
Osman Kavala (Director of Open Society Foundation) – in pretrial detention
Çiğdem Mater (Film producer) – in Turkey, subject of travel ban
Pınar Öğün (Actor) – abroad
Mine Özerden (Civil society and arts project coordinator) – in Turkey, subject of travel ban
Mücella Yapıcı (Architect and engineer) – in Turkey
Gökçe Yılmaz – in Turkey
You can also read our joint report with PEN International – ‘The Gezi protests: the impact on freedom of expression in Turkey’ here:
Signatories
Danish PEN
English PEN
French PEN
German PEN
Kurdish PEN
Norwegian PEN
PEN America
PEN Belgium/Flanders
PEN Canada
PEN International
PEN Netherlands
PEN Suisse Romand
PEN Turkey
Scottish PEN
Swedish PEN
Wales PEN Cymru
Media enquiries
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