Turkey: Activist Osman Kavala to stay in prison
February 21, 2022
A Turkish court on Monday said leading activist Osman Kavala must remain in prison, despite the Council of Europe (COE), of which Turkey is a member, launching disciplinary action over the failure to release him.
Kavala, 64, has been held without a conviction since October 2017 after being accused of financing anti-government protests in 2013 and being involved in a coup plot against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The next hearing in his case was set by the court for March 21.
Why is Kavala in prison?
Kavala, who, among other things, founded and chairs Anadolu Kultur, an Istanbul-based nonprofit arts and culture organization, was detained on October 18, 2017, on charges related to nationwide anti-government protests in 2013.
He was acquitted in 2020 but arrested again hours later on a charge of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order related to a 2016 coup attempt.
He was acquitted on that charge as well but detained on accusations of espionage in the same case. Critics say those charges were aimed at circumventing a 2019 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) calling for his release.
Why is Turkey facing disciplinary action from the Council of Europe?
The Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights organization, however, ruled this month that Turkey had failed to comply with the ECHR's call.
The COE has now referred the case back to the ECHR, which will examine if Turkey has acted in accordance with the court ruling.
When asked about this decision, Erdogan said that Turkey will not respect the COE if it does not respect Turkish courts. Erdogan has accused Kavala of working closely with George Soros, the billionaire financier and pro-democracy campaigner, to fund and organize anti-government protests nearly a decade ago.
Ankara has denounced the move by the council as "interference" in domestic court proceedings.
The COE's verdict could lead to action against Ankara from the committee of ministers, which could mean a suspension of Turkey's voting rights or even expulsion from the body, to which it has belonged since 1950.
Strained relations with West
The European Parliament's Turkey rapporteur, Nacho Sanchez Amor, rejected Ankara's criticism of the COE's move.
"This is not about any kind of interfering from abroad: This is about the Turkish constitution. The European Court of Human Rights is part of the judiciary system of Turkey," he told the AFP news agency.
Government critics say Turkey's standoff with the COE reflects the way human rights have been increasingly eroded under Erdogan's two-decade rule.
The Kavala case has been a major strain on ties between the West and Turkey, with EU accession talks, for example, stalled over such alleged violations of human rights.
tj/wd (Reuters, AFP)