Category: Uncategorized

December 17, 2020

Tomorrow, Friday 18 December 2020, marks the 1,144th day of detention for human rights defender Osman Kavala.

On the same day, the first hearing of his trial based on the October 2020 indictment (see recent developments section below) will take place: if convicted Mr. Kavala risks a life-long prison term.

Mr Kavala’s case is just one example which reveals the deep dysfunctionality and politicisation of Turkey’s legal system. The control of Legislative and Executive powers over the appointment of judges and prosecutors, contrary to international standards of judicial independence, means that human rights defenders and figures of independent civil society, including Mr Kavala, are kept behind bars indefinitely.

The October 2020 indictment against Mr Kavala lacks any causal relation between the information provided and the crimes with which Osman Kavala is charged. It also targets Anadolu Kultur, a non-profit cultural organisation founded by Mr Kavala. The public prosecutor has called Anadolu Kultur’s activities “divisive” and discriminatory because they focus on the cultural rights of minority groups in Turkey.

The 64-page indictment accuses Mr Kavala of “securing, for purposes of political or military espionage, information that should be kept confidential for reasons relating to the security or domestic or foreign policy interests of the state” without any credible evidence. Mr. Kavala also stands accused of “attempting through force and violence to overthrow the constitutional order of the Republic of Turkey or introduce a different order or prevent this order”. Under articles 328 and 309 of the Turkish Penal Code, these are punishable with up to 20 years imprisonment and life in prison without parole, respectively.

This new hearing takes place a year after the European Court of Human Rights issued its binding judgement which stated that Mr Kavala’s detention had an “ulterior purpose, namely to reduce him to silence as an NGO activist and human rights defender, to dissuade other persons from engaging in such activities and to paralyse civil society in the country”. Accordingly, the European court called for Mr Kavala’s immediate release, which Turkey has ignored. Tomorrow’s hearing demonstrates only one thing: the authorities’ flagrant travesty of the courts for political ends and their fundamental disregard for due process, human rights, fundamental freedoms, and respect for the rule of law.

We, the undersigned human rights organisations, believe that the only just outcome in the unfair prosecution against Mr. Kavala is his acquittal and call on the authorities to uphold its domestic and international commitments, and dismiss all charges against the human rights defender.

List of signatories

EuroMed Rights
Human Rights Association
Citizens’ Assembly
Civil Rights Defenders
Research Institute on Turkey
Turkish German Forum of Culture
IFoX Initiative for Freedom of Expression
AMER (Association for Monitoring Equal Rights)
Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA)
Truth Justice Memory Center
Civic Space Studies Association
P24
FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
OMCT (World Organisation Against Torture), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
POMED

Recent developments on Mr Kavala’s case

The trial beginning in Istanbul tomorrow, Friday 18 December 2020, was scheduled following a decision taken in October 2020 to issue an indictment against Mr Kavala. On 15 December 2020, the first chamber of the Constitutional Court, tasked of reviewing the constitutional legality of Mr Kavala’s continued detention, referred the case to the General Assembly of the Constitutional Court.

Early December 2020, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers issued a strongly worded resolution demanding the authorities to immediately release Mr Kavala who is held in pre-trial detention since 1 November 2017. The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers noted that Turkey had failed to challenge the presumption that Mr Kavala’s detention is a continuation of the violations found by the European Court of Human Rights. They denounced the inaction from the Turkey’s Constitutional Court.

Despite the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling and the threat posed by the current pandemic worldwide, Turkey’s authorities disregarded its international obligations as well as the health risk of keeping Mr Kavala in prison (aged 63, over 3 years in prison). This decision openly infringes on the United Nations Human Rights Committee stance on the failure of a state in taking positive steps towards the prevention of the spread of contagious diseases in prison would amount to a violation of Article 6 (right to life) and Article 9 (right to liberty) of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Research Institute on Turkey joins 42 other organizations in a statement concerning the killing of human rights lawyer Tahir Elçi on 28 November 2015 and the lack of effective investigation into his death. Providing a detailed analysis of the shortcomings of the investigation and prosecution into the incident and underlining Turkey’s international human rights obligations, the organizations call on the Turkish authorities to ensure that:

1. The case against 3 police officers is heard by an independent, impartial, and competent court that is capable of establishing the facts and truth around the killing of Tahir Elçi;

2. All future hearings comply with international standards regarding the right to a fair trial, in which the victims’ rights are also recognized;

3. The hostile attitude from the Diyarbakır 10th Heavy Penal Court towards the Elçi family and their lawyers and the court’s persistent refusal to follow the rules of procedure and principles of both domestic and international law are not repeated in future hearings;

4. The lawyers for the Elçi family are given reasonable opportunities to be heard and to make their applications in relation to the procedure and the evidence;

5. Where submissions are refused, reasons for refusal are given in accordance with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights;

6. Following a fair judicial procedure, those who are responsible for Mr. Elçi’s killing are held accountable and serve sentences appropriate to the gravity of the crime committed; and

7. Mr. Elçi’s family is provided with appropriate redress for the violations they and their loved one have suffered in accordance with the international obligations of Turkey and the Minnesota Protocol.

The full statement is available in English here, and Turkish here.

The statement has been signed by the following organizations: Amsterdam Bar Association (the Netherlands), Article 19, Article 21 (Italy), Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (the United Kingdom), Cartoonists Rights Network International, Council of Bars and Law Societies in Europe (CCBE), Danish PEN, the European Association of Lawyers (AEA-EAL), European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH), the European Bars Federation (FBE) and FBE Human Rights Commission, European Criminal Bar Association (ECBA), Fair Trial Watch (the Netherlands), Gelderland Bar Association (the Netherlands), Geneva Bar Association (Switzerland), German Bar Association (DAV) (Germany), Giuristi Democratici (Italy), the Group of International Legal Intervention (GIGI), the Hague Bar Association (the Netherlands), Human Rights in Practice (the Netherlands), the Institute for the Rule of Law of the International Association of Lawyers (UIA-IROL), the International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL), the International Observatory of Human Rights (IOHR), Index on Censorship, International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), the joint Presidents of the Local Bar Associations of the Netherlands, the Law Society of England and Wales (the United Kingdom), Lawyers for Lawyers (the Netherlands), Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (Canada), Limburg Bar Association (the Netherlands), Midden-Nederland Bar Association (the Netherlands), the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (South Africa), National Forensic Union M. G. A. (Italy), National Lawyers Guild International Committee (the United States of America), Netherlands Helsinki Committee (the Netherlands), Noord-Holland Bar Association (the Netherlands), Noord-Nederland Bar Association (the Netherlands), Oost-Brabant Bar Association (the Netherlands), Overijssel Bar Association (the Netherlands), Research Institute on Turkey (the United States of America), Rotterdam Bar Association (the Netherlands), Swiss Democratic Lawyers (Switzerland), Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project (the United Kingdom), and Zeeland-West-Brabant Bar Association (the Netherlands).

April 30, 2020

In days when Turkey and the world is struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are experiencing extraordinary times with thousands of people are losing their lives every day. Amid such crisis, the respect for human rights, the work of rights defenders and their existence are of utmost importance in terms of facilitating solidarity among citizens.

The Directorate of Religious Affairs had used discriminatory statements against LGBTI+ and those who are HIV positive during its Friday Sermon on April 24, 2020. The Directorate clearly conducted hate speech and targeted the individuals and groups associated. At a time when society as a whole is under risk of the pandemic, the main duty of the state respecting the rule of law is to protect the rights of all its citizens.

The Directorate of Religious Affairs is targeting a certain sector of the society while violating the Constitution, laws and international conventions that Turkey is signatory to. This is unacceptable. Moreover, targeting and investigating rights organizations that condemn the statements which undermine basic human rights and the rule of law is a clear manifestation of the accelerating pressure and harassment on the civil space in the last couple of years in Turkey. The main precaution should be fighting against hate speech and discrimination, not judicial and administrative harassment against those who remind public institutions of their responsibilities. It is against the rule of law that the branches of judiciary that are defined impartial did not take action after state officials targeted those who criticized these discriminative and hostile statements.

Turkish Constitution’s Article 136 defines the scope of the duty of the Directorate of Religious Affairs clearly. According to this clause; “Directorate of Religious Affairs, within the general governance and under the principles of secularism, carry out its duties defined within the specific law by staying out of all political views and thoughts and by aiming for national solidarity and integration.”

It is clear that the sermon in question does not comply with the abovementioned framework of the Directorate’s duties.

After the sermon on April 24, 2020, it was expected that the Ministry of Religious Affairs would be reminded of the scope of its duty and an investigation would be launched against those who do not comply with it. Instead, an investigation was launched against bar associations, lawyers and citizens who condemned the statement targeting the LGBTI+ with false information and hate speech. This attitude covers up the actual crime and its investigation while providing an environment that encourages hate speech.

Ankara and Diyarbakir Bar Associations condemned the discriminating statement that harbored hate speech. We, the rights defenders, see the investigations launched against Ankara and Diyarbakir Bar Associations for “insulting the religious values of a section of a society” per Turkish Penal Code’s Article 216/3 as a new cycle of increased attacks against human rights defenders.

The Council of Europe’s Istanbul Agreement, which Turkey is a signatory, prohibits discrimination against sexual orientation and sexual identity under its Article 3. Furthermore, the European Court of Human Rights, as the decision-making body of European Convention of Human Rights, has ruled in the past that it prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The raison d’être of human rights organizations is to stand up against the targeting of citizens based on their sexual orientations and against policies and statements that criminalize them and to struggle against these attitudes.

We stand in solidarity with the LGBTI+ organizations and rights defenders that are threatened and face investigations. We demand an immediate halt on targeting the citizens and an end on these unlawful investigations. We base our demands first and foremost on the Turkish Constitution and on the international agreements that Turkey is a signatory of.

As human rights defenders, we are worried about the social impacts of the abovementioned sermon because we have repeatedly observed how hate speech conducted by state officials transition into hateful practices and moreover into hate crimes which heavily ended with impunity. The tradition of not launching an administrative or judicial investigation against officials making statements with hate speech followed suit after the aforementioned sermon. In the light of impunity and the public concerns, rights organizations shared their statements and criticism with the public and exercised their responsibility of correcting false information dispersed by the state.

The mentality of hatred that identifies a section of the society with sickness will make the struggle against the pandemic unsuccessful and ineffective when we are losing tens of people daily. In addition to the hardship we are going through, in order for the hate speeches to end targeting LGBTI+ rights defenders and organizations, an investigation should be initiated against those individuals and institutions. Scientific and correct information within the frame of human rights law should be shared with the public immediately.

Solidarity Network for Human Rights Defenders – Turkey

Association for Monitoring Equal Rights, Citizens’ Assembly Turkey, Civic Space Studies Association, Civil Rights Defenders, Foundation for Society and Legal Studies, Human Rights Association İstanbul Branch, Human Rights Agenda Association, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, Kaos GL, Life Memory Freedom Association, Media and Law Studies Association, SPoD LGBTI+, Punto24 Association for Independent Journalism, Research Institute on Turkey,  Truth Justice Memory Center, Turkish-German Forum of Culture

Solidarity Network for Human Rights Defenders – Turkey is a network of human rights organisations which insists that defending human rights is a universal right. The Network is committed to strengthen solidarity and communication among its members and to challenge all forms of repression and harassment against human rights defenders

We, the undersigned freedom of expression and human rights organisations, strongly condemn last night’s guilty verdicts for staff and journalists of Cumhuriyet newspaper and note the harsh sentences for the defendants. The verdict further demonstrates that Turkey’s justice system and the rule of law is failing: this was a trial where the ‘crime’ was journalism and the only ‘evidence’ was journalistic activities.

While three Cumhuriyet staff were acquitted, all the remaining journalists and executives were handed sentences of between 2 years, 6 months and 8 years, 1 month. Time already served in pretrial detention will likely be taken into consideration, however all will still have jail terms to serve, and those with the harshest sentences would still have to serve approximately 5 years. Travel bans have been placed on all defendants, barring the three that were acquitted, in a further attempt to silence them in the international arena.

Several of our organisations have been present to monitor and record the proceedings since the first hearing in July 2017. The political nature of the trial was clear from the outset and continued throughout the trial. The initial indictment charged the defendants with a mixture of terrorism and employment related offenses. However, the evidence presented did not stand the test of proof beyond reasonable doubt of internationally recognizable crimes. The prosecution presented alleged changes to the editorial policy of the paper and the content of articles as ‘evidence’ of support for armed terrorist groups. Furthermore, despite 17 months of proceedings, no credible evidence was produced by the prosecution during the trial.

The indictment, the pre-trial detention and the trial proceedings violated the human rights of the defendants, including the right to freedom of expression, the right to liberty and security and the right to a fair trial. Furthermore, the symbolic nature of this trial against Turkey’s most prominent opposition newspaper undoubtedly has a chilling effect on the right to free expression much more broadly in Turkey and restricts the rights of the population to access information and diverse views.

“We observed violations of the right to a fair trial throughout the hearings. Despite the defence lawyers arguing that the basic requirements for a fair trial, such as an evidence-based indictment, were lacking these arbitrary sentences were handed down in order to attempt to intimidate one of the last remaining bastions of the independent press in Turkey,” said Turkey Advocacy Coordinator, Caroline Stockford.

The defence team repeatedly relied on the rights enshrined in the Turkish Constitution, as well as the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, demonstrating the importance of European human rights law to Turkey’s domestic legal system.

“‘Journalism is not a crime’ was declared again and again by the defendants and their lawyers and yet, despite the accusations containing no element of crime, the defendants served a collective total of 9.5 years in pretrial detention, and were found guilty at the end of an unfair trial,” said Jennifer Clement, President of PEN International.

Speedy rulings on legal cases of Turkish journalists, which include the Cumhuriyet cases of Murat Sabuncu and others and staff writer Ahmet Şık cases, pending before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are crucial. This is not only to redress the rights violations of the many journalists still languishing in detention, but also to defend the independence and impartiality of the judiciary itself in Turkey. The Cumhuriyet case and other prominent trials against journalists clearly demonstrate that the rule of law is totally compromised in Turkey then there is little hope for fair or speedy domestic judicial recourse for any defendant.

“The short three hours of deliberation by the judicial panel did not give the impression that the case was taken seriously. The 17 months during which there have been 7 hearings of this utterly groundless trial have damaged independent journalism in Turkey at a time when over 90% of the media is under the sway of the administration,” said Nora Wehofsits, Advocacy Officer, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF).

The guilty verdicts against the Cumhuriyet journalists and executives must be overturned and the persecution of all other journalists and others facing criminal charges merely for doing their job and peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression must be stopped. The authorities must immediately lift the state of emergency and return to the rule of law. The independence of the Turkish courts must be reinstated, enabling it to act as a check on the government, and hold it accountable for the serious human rights violations it has committed and continues to commit.

In light of the apparent breakdown of the rule of law and the fact that Turkish courts are evidently unable to deliver justice, we also call on the ECtHR to fulfil its role as the ultimate guardian of human rights in Europe, and to rule swiftly on the free expression cases currently pending before it and provide an effective remedy for the severe human rights violations taking place in Turkey.

Furthermore, we call on the institutions of the Council of Europe and its member states to remind Turkey of its international obligation to respect and protect human rights, in particular the right to freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial, and to give appropriate priority to these issues in their relations with Turkey, both in bilateral and multilateral forums. In addition, the Council of Europe’s member states should provide adequate support to the ECtHR.

We also call on the European and International media to continue to support their Turkish colleagues and to give space to dissenting voices who are repressed in Turkey.

Amnesty International

Article 19

Articolo 21

Association of European Journalists (AEJ)

Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI)

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

English PEN

European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)

European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)

Freedom House

Global Editors Network

Index on Censorship

Initiative for Freedom of Expression

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)

International Press Institute (IPI)

Italian Press Federation

Norwegian PEN

P24

PEN America

PEN Centre Germany

PEN Canada

PEN International

PEN Belgium-Flanders

Reporters without Borders

Research Institute on Turkey

South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)

WAN-ifra