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Category: Turkey

  • An American Murder in Istanbul: Justice for Halla

    An American journalist and her mom are found murdered in Istanbul. Police say they caught the killer. Friends and family say the investigation was incomplete. In collaboration with ABC News and freelance reporter Fariba Nawa, we dig into the investigative files against the convicted killer, adding updates that have happened since we first aired the story in the fall.  

    Reporter James Gordon Meek starts our story with a description of the work Halla Barakat and her mother, Orouba, did in Istanbul. Then Nawa pieces together what happened on the night of the murder, with help from one of the people who discovered the bodies.

    Next, our team delves into the Turkish prosecutor’s case against the convicted killer and explains why relatives of the murdered women are not convinced the crime was solved. 

    In the final segment, Nawa puts key questions directly to the convicted killer, and Meek seeks out a member of Congress who wants the U.S. government to pursue the case. 

    This show was originally released on Oct. 10, 2020.

    Dig Deeper

    Read more: An American journalist was murdered in Turkey. Why didn’t the US investigate?

    The post An American Murder in Istanbul: Justice for Halla appeared first on Reveal.

    This post was originally published on Reveal.

  • An American Murder in Istanbul: Justice for Halla

    An American journalist and her mom are found murdered in Istanbul. Police say they caught the killer. Friends and family say the investigation was incomplete. In collaboration with ABC News and freelance reporter Fariba Nawa, we dig into the investigative files against the convicted killer and learn that the U.S. government chose not to get involved in the investigation.

    This show was originally released on Oct. 10, 2020.

    Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

    This post was originally published on Reveal.

  • Prominent human rights defender Eren Keskin given six-year jail sentence in Turkey

    ’I have been prosecuted many times and jailed for my thoughts. I’m still here. I’m not going anywhere’ – Eren Keskin tweeted after she was sentenced.

    Amnesty International has condemned the sentencing of four Turkish human rights defenders on “terrorism-related” in a case involving Özgür Gündem – a daily newspaper that was closed down in 2016. Eren Keskin, a prominent human rights defender and lawyer in Turkey – was sentenced to six years in jail for supposed “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. See: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/BFDBB222-0FE0-32BF-ADD6-4D342A315C22

    Zana Kaya, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief was sentenced to one year and 13 months in prison for “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation.” Özgür Gündem’s former publisher, Kemal Sancılı and the newspaper’s managing editor İnan Kızılkaya have been sentenced to six years and three months in prison for “being a member of an armed terrorist organisation” – the same sentence as Eren Keskin’s.

    All four remain at liberty pending their appeals. This case is latest where anti-terrorism laws used to criminalise legitimate and peaceful activity in Turkey. Milena Buyum, Turkey Campaigner at Amnesty International said: “Today a human rights lawyer who has spoken out against injustice for more than three decades, has become the victim of injustice herself.

    “Eren Keskin has dedicated her life to defending the rights of women, prisoners and fought for justice for the families of the disappeared. This verdict is yet another shocking example of anti-terrorism laws being used to criminalise legitimate, peaceful activities.See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2019/05/12/martin-ennals-award-finalist-eren-keskin-honoured-in-ankara/

    https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/turkey-human-rights-lawyer-eren-keskin-given-six-year-jail-sentence-terrorism

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Ardern slams Australia for dumping over Turkey ‘terrorist’ detainees

    By RNZ News

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has lashed out at Australia for dumping responsibility for a woman and two young children detained at the Turkish border on New Zealand.

    The 26-year-old detainee – described by the Turkish government as an Islamic State terrorist – was caught trying to enter Turkey illegally from Syria.

    Ardern said the woman, who had dual citizenship, left for Australia when she was six and travelled to Syria from Australia on an Australian passport.

    Ardern said she directly raised the matter with the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and asked that they work together to resolve the issue.

    “I was then informed in the following year that Australia had unilaterally revoked the citizenship of the individual involved. You can imagine my response,” she said.

    “Since then we have continually raised with Australia our view that their decision was wrong, we continue to raise that view.

    “My concern however, now, is that we have a situation where someone is now detained with two small children,” she said.

    Citizenship lies with NZ
    Legally the woman’s citizenship now only lies with New Zealand.

    “I never believed that the right response was to simply have a race to revoke people’s citizenship, that is just not the right thing to do.”

    “We will put our hands up when we need to own the situation. We expected the same of Australia, they did not act in good faith.”

    “If the shoe was on the other foot we would take responsibility, that would be the right thing to do, and I ask of Australia that they do the same,” she said.

    She said New Zealand officials would be working to do welfare checks of those involved, and would be engaging with Turkish authorities.

    “Regardless of their circumstances, regardless of whether have committed offences and particularly we have obligations when they have children involved.

    “I would argue Australia holds those obligations too.”

    Welfare of children at forefront
    The welfare of the children also needed to be at the forefront in this situation, she said.

    “These children were born in a conflict zone through no fault of their own.”

    Ardern argued that coming to New Zealand, where they have no immediate family, would not be in the children’s best interests.

    “We know that young children thrive best when surrounded by people who love them. We will be raising these points with the Australian government,” she said.

    “New Zealand frankly is tired of having Australia export its problems, but now there are two children involved.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Ardern slams Australia for dumping over Turkey ‘terrorist’ detainees

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern … Australia did not “act in good faith”. Image: Dom Thomas/RNZ

    By RNZ News

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has lashed out at Australia for dumping responsibility for a woman and two young children detained at the Turkish border on New Zealand.

    The 26-year-old detainee – described by the Turkish government as an Islamic State terrorist – was caught trying to enter Turkey illegally from Syria.

    Ardern said the woman, who had dual citizenship, left for Australia when she was six and travelled to Syria from Australia on an Australian passport.

    Ardern said she directly raised the matter with the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and asked that they work together to resolve the issue.

    “I was then informed in the following year that Australia had unilaterally revoked the citizenship of the individual involved. You can imagine my response,” she said.

    “Since then we have continually raised with Australia our view that their decision was wrong, we continue to raise that view.

    “My concern however, now, is that we have a situation where someone is now detained with two small children,” she said.

    Citizenship lies with NZ
    Legally the woman’s citizenship now only lies with New Zealand.

    “I never believed that the right response was to simply have a race to revoke people’s citizenship, that is just not the right thing to do.”

    “We will put our hands up when we need to own the situation. We expected the same of Australia, they did not act in good faith.”

    “If the shoe was on the other foot we would take responsibility, that would be the right thing to do, and I ask of Australia that they do the same,” she said.

    She said New Zealand officials would be working to do welfare checks of those involved, and would be engaging with Turkish authorities.

    “Regardless of their circumstances, regardless of whether have committed offences and particularly we have obligations when they have children involved.

    “I would argue Australia holds those obligations too.”

    Welfare of children at forefront
    The welfare of the children also needed to be at the forefront in this situation, she said.

    “These children were born in a conflict zone through no fault of their own.”

    Ardern argued that coming to New Zealand, where they have no immediate family, would not be in the children’s best interests.

    “We know that young children thrive best when surrounded by people who love them. We will be raising these points with the Australian government,” she said.

    “New Zealand frankly is tired of having Australia export its problems, but now there are two children involved.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • People around the world demand the immediate release of the ‘Nelson Mandela of our time’

    Demonstrations have taken place around the world to mark the anniversary of the capture of Abdullah Öcalan. Millions of Kurdish people see 71-year-old Öcalan as their leader and political representative. He was abducted by international security agents – including the CIA – 22 years ago today, and has been imprisoned in isolation by Turkey for almost a third of his life. The 15 February is a day of mourning for Kurds, known as ‘Roja Reş’, or Black Day.

    Öcalan is a key figure in the Kurdish people’s struggle against their oppressor, Turkey. He co-founded the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in 1978, which began an armed struggle against the Turkish state in 1984. Over the decades, the PKK’s tactics have evolved, and from his prison cell, Öcalan has produced many writings critiquing nation states, patriarchy and capitalism. His books are seen by many as key to mapping out peace in the Kurdistan region. Öcalan’s ideas have also been a cornerstone of the Rojava revolution in northern Syria.

    Turkey, of course, defines the PKK as a terrorist group, and Öcalan as a terrorist. Most Western states have also followed suit in listing the PKK as a terrorist organisation, seeing Turkey as a key trading partner and NATO ally. Indeed, the first trade deal post-Brexit Britain made was with its Turkish ally.

    Even social media outlets target campaigners who call for Öcalan’s freedom. Facebook consistently blocks posts about Öcalan, censoring groups and individuals that upload images of him. It is for this reason that this article appears without an image Öcalan. And yet European courts have insisted on numerous occasions that the PKK is simply a party to an ongoing conflict, not a terrorist organisation.

    “The Nelson Mandela of our time”

    The Canary spoke to an activist from the Kurdistan Solidarity Network about the anniversary of Öcalan’s capture. He said:

    Abdullah Öcalan is rightly compared to being the Nelson Mandela of our time, in that his unjust life imprisonment in isolation –which is abuse and torture – is crucially tied to the liberation struggle of the Kurdish peoples. He has said time and again that actually he doesn’t want to be released if the Kurdish people aren’t liberated from their colonial oppression.

    He went on to say:

    Öcalan has released texts whose central pillars are:

    1) anti-patriarchy in the form of women’s revolution, including women’s armed self-protection military units (imagine how liberating that would be if replicated across the patriarchal societies of the world!).

    2) social ecology to realise the integral link to life in society with all life in the environments of the world.

    3) anti-racist and decolonial in its struggle for full participatory democracy in Kurdistan and the whole world, with seats in all structures of power for women, all ethnicities, religious communities, youth and political structures (including liberatory projects) in society.

    Struggling against Turkish fascism

    To understand why it is so essential to release Öcalan from prison, it’s important to outline the history of the Kurdish struggle against Turkish fascism.

    There are around 30 million Kurdish people worldwide, most of whom live in the geographic region of Kurdistan, which lies within Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. The largest population of Kurds live within the borders of Turkey, making up almost 20% of the country’s population. After the founding of the republic of Turkey in 1923, Kurdish citizens were targeted. Kurdish languages were repressed, the words ‘Kurd’ and ‘Kurdistan’ were banned, and Kurdish citizens were renamed ‘mountain Turks’ by the state.

    In the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of Kurdish people were detained and tortured in Turkish prisons. The 1990s were even more horrifying as Turkish security forces burnt down more than 3,000 Kurdish villages in an attempt to wipe out Kurdish culture and identity (but under the guise of fighting the PKK). To this day, hundreds of Kurdish women, known as the Peace Mothers, demonstrate all over Turkey. They say:

    We are the mothers of victims of 17,000 unidentified murders, political killings and disappearances committed in the 80s and 90s. We are the mothers of 40,000 people lost during the war and the conflict.

    Under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s fascistic presidency, the situation for Kurdish people has gone from bad to worse. In 2015, bomb blasts ripped through a pro-Kurdish election rally in the Kurdish city of Amed, killing five, while a month later another bomb killed 34 Kurdish youths in Suruç. And in October 2015, at least 128 trade unionists and supporters of the pro-Kurdish HDP party were killed by two more bombs in Ankara while attending a peace rally. The Turkish state blamed the attacks on Daesh (ISIS/Isil), yet many Kurdish people laid the blame squarely on the government.

    After the bombings, Kurdish people declared autonomy in a number of Kurdish cities within Turkey. The Turkish state used artillery and tanks on the cities’ residents, carrying out its worst attacks on the Kurdish population since the 1990s. The military besieged towns, and thousands were murdered, tortured or displaced.

    Things haven’t got much better. In the last five years, Turkey has invaded Rojava, north-east Syria, and is alleged to have used chemical weapons on civilians. It has invaded and occupied Afrin, launched a major drone attack on Idlib, and murdered its own civilians. It has continued a war in Libya, while repeatedly bombing Iraqi Kurdistan. And on Sunday 14 February, the Turkish military was forced to retreat after carrying out airstrikes in an attempt to occupy the Gare region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

    There are currently tens of thousands of political prisoners in Turkey, including activists, musicians, academics, human rights defenders, writers, and politicians.

    Releasing Öcalan is key to peace

    The Kurdish diaspora and supporters around the world argue that the release of Öcalan is vital for there to be a resolution to the Kurdish question. As more and more young Kurdish people study their leader’s writings, Öcalan’s roadmap to peace provides the latest generation with hope. Peace in Kurdistan argues:

    Öcalan’s record in the struggle for peace and reconciliation between Turkey and Kurds needs to be generously acknowledged. This is the key to breaking the deadlock and moving forward…

    This anniversary of Öcalan’s capture by means of an undignified collaboration of international security agencies shows that the attempt to destroy the Kurdish movement by removing its leadership has failed and that a new approach is urgently required; one that is based on beginning the process of talking to each other and reaching agreement.

    As thousands march around the world today, the message is clear: Öcalan needs to be immediately freed. Until then, millions will continue to campaign and protest tirelessly.

    Featured image via Wikimedia and Freedom for Öcalan

    By Eliza Egret

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • Head of the government’s politically-charged ‘extremism’ review met with antisemitic neo-fascists

    It’s claimed that the man the government has charged with the task of conducting a review into political ‘extremism’ in the UK met with members of an “extremist anti-Semitic” party.

    Government offensive against left

    In November 2019, home secretary Priti Patel appointed lord Walney (former Labour MP John Woodcock) as the government’s envoy on countering violent extremism. According to the Telegraph, Woodcock will be looking at “progressive extremism” in Britain. That includes how ‘far-left’ groups could infiltrate or hijack environmental movements and anti-racism campaigns.

    The obvious candidates, presumably, from the government’s perspective, would be Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion. Indeed, Patel has already described the latter as “criminals”.

    Woodcock accused of being an extremist

    On 10 February 2021, the pro-Kurdish ANF News ran an article showing that during a visit to Turkey, Woodcock met with members of the “anti-Semitic” and “neo-fascist” Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The article added that Woodcock was hosted by the Bosphorus Centre for Global Affairs (BCGA). The BCGA is a company run by Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. ANF News regards the BCGA as a government propaganda organisation. Moreover, in 2016, WikiLeaks published thousands of Albayrak’s emails, which appeared to show that Powertrans, a company with which Albayrak is linked, was involved in the import of Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) controlled oil to Turkey.

    Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign spokesperson Rosa Gilbert commented:

    During a trip to Turkey funded by Bosphorus Global, an organisation with links to the President’s son-in-law who has been accused of profiteering from ISIS oil deals, Woodcock met with members of the far-right anti-semitic MHP party with proven links to the fascist paramilitary grouping the Grey Wolves. …

    Given Woodcock’s links to the Turkish regime which aids and abets extremists in Syria who kill Kurds, how can Kurds in Britain have any confidence in his ability to adjudicate fairly on the concept of “extremism”? Any study of “extremism” worth its salt would surely include Woodcock himself in its research.

    Anti-ISIS volunteers under threat

    ANF News also reports that in 2017 Woodcock described the Kurdish-led anti-ISIS militia the YPG (Peoples Protection Units) as being linked to terrorism. One former YPG volunteer stated that Woodcock, whom the volunteer described as “Jihadi John”:

    thinks we are all terrorists and I fully expect this review [by him] will lead to more of us being pulled in by intelligence services and more raids on those of us that fought against Isis.

    Presumably Woodcock was unaware that the RAF launched attacks in support of the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Also, reportedly not just the UK but also US military provided support to Kurdish-led anti-terrorist forces in Syria and Iraq. In March 2017, another report suggested US special forces were working alongside the YPG.

    An Agence France Presse report even described how some US troops wore:

    the patch of a Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Still others of a women’s unit within the YPG. …

    An SDF commander tells us that the men are US special forces and are there to provide training. Later, a Pentagon spokesman said that American commandos often wear insignia of the units that they train.

    Embarrassing

    Being photographed with alleged antisemitic neo-fascists is not particularly good for Woodcock. Especially given his April 2020 co-purchase of the anti-socialist Jewish Chronicle. Woodcock’s partners in that venture included William Shawcross (who’s set to head a review into the government’s anti-terrorism Prevent strategy), John Ware (who fronted the controversial Panorama programme on antisemitism and the Labour Party), and Robbie Gibb (who helped set up the “right-leaning” GB News).

    As for antisemitism, it is vile, as also is its weaponisation by people like lord John Mann to attack those of the progressive left who wish for more justice in the world.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

    By Tom Coburg

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • Head of the government’s politically-charged ‘extremism’ review met with antisemitic neo-fascists

    It’s claimed that the man the government has charged with the task of conducting a review into political ‘extremism’ in the UK met with members of an “extremist anti-Semitic” party.

    Government offensive against left

    In November 2019, home secretary Priti Patel appointed lord Walney (former Labour MP John Woodcock) as the government’s envoy on countering violent extremism. According to the Telegraph, Woodcock will be looking at “progressive extremism” in Britain. That includes how ‘far-left’ groups could infiltrate or hijack environmental movements and anti-racism campaigns.

    The obvious candidates, presumably, from the government’s perspective, would be Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion. Indeed, Patel has already described the latter as “criminals”.

    Woodcock accused of being an extremist

    On 10 February 2021, the pro-Kurdish ANF News ran an article showing that during a visit to Turkey, Woodcock met with members of the “anti-Semitic” and “neo-fascist” Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The article added that Woodcock was hosted by the Bosphorus Centre for Global Affairs (BCGA). The BCGA is a company run by Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. ANF News regards the BCGA as a government propaganda organisation. Moreover, in 2016, WikiLeaks published thousands of Albayrak’s emails, which appeared to show that Powertrans, a company with which Albayrak is linked, was involved in the import of Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) controlled oil to Turkey.

    Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign spokesperson Rosa Gilbert commented:

    During a trip to Turkey funded by Bosphorus Global, an organisation with links to the President’s son-in-law who has been accused of profiteering from ISIS oil deals, Woodcock met with members of the far-right anti-semitic MHP party with proven links to the fascist paramilitary grouping the Grey Wolves. …

    Given Woodcock’s links to the Turkish regime which aids and abets extremists in Syria who kill Kurds, how can Kurds in Britain have any confidence in his ability to adjudicate fairly on the concept of “extremism”? Any study of “extremism” worth its salt would surely include Woodcock himself in its research.

    Anti-ISIS volunteers under threat

    ANF News also reports that in 2017 Woodcock described the Kurdish-led anti-ISIS militia the YPG (Peoples Protection Units) as being linked to terrorism. One former YPG volunteer stated that Woodcock, whom the volunteer described as “Jihadi John”:

    thinks we are all terrorists and I fully expect this review [by him] will lead to more of us being pulled in by intelligence services and more raids on those of us that fought against Isis.

    Presumably Woodcock was unaware that the RAF launched attacks in support of the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Also, reportedly not just the UK but also US military provided support to Kurdish-led anti-terrorist forces in Syria and Iraq. In March 2017, another report suggested US special forces were working alongside the YPG.

    An Agence France Presse report even described how some US troops wore:

    the patch of a Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Still others of a women’s unit within the YPG. …

    An SDF commander tells us that the men are US special forces and are there to provide training. Later, a Pentagon spokesman said that American commandos often wear insignia of the units that they train.

    Embarrassing

    Being photographed with alleged antisemitic neo-fascists is not particularly good for Woodcock. Especially given his April 2020 co-purchase of the anti-socialist Jewish Chronicle. Woodcock’s partners in that venture included William Shawcross (who’s set to head a review into the government’s anti-terrorism Prevent strategy), John Ware (who fronted the controversial Panorama programme on antisemitism and the Labour Party), and Robbie Gibb (who helped set up the “right-leaning” GB News).

    As for antisemitism, it is vile, as also is its weaponisation by people like lord John Mann to attack those of the progressive left who wish for more justice in the world.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

    By Tom Coburg

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • The Dynamic of Revolutionary Struggle in Turkey

    Since January 4, 2021, student protests have been going on in Turkey. At Bogazici University in Istanbul, rectors are elected through free and fair elections by faculties. The only time in the institution’s history when these democratic processes were suspended was in the aftermath of the 1980 coup d’état. In today’s time, it is again being done.

    Curtailing Academic Autonomy

    On January 1, 2021, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed a rector to Bogazici without any consultations with the university staff or students. The appointee, Professor Melih Bulu, has been a member of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) since its foundation in 2002 and had run a campaign for nomination for the parliamentary elections in 2015. The appointment of Bulu is another step in Erdogan’s attempt to extend his influence over Turkey’s social and cultural life.

    He also faces allegations of plagiarism in his PhD thesis. Bogazici University faculty fear a number of negative consequences, including hiring based on political affiliation; malicious investigations against critical faculties; budget cuts to humanities and social sciences; and opening up the university’s iconic campus for private developers.

    Students addressed an open letter to the president.

    This appointment makes anyone who has even the tiniest sense of justice revolt with indignation…Your attempts to pack our university with your own political militants is the symptom of the political crisis that you have fallen into. Do not mistake us for those who obey you unconditionally. You are not a sultan, and we are not your subjects.

    Agitations have escalated sharply as the government seized artwork with LGBT+ flags displayed at a student exhibition. Erdogan said there was “no such thing” as LGBT+ in a “moral” country such as Turkey and called the protesters “terrorists”.  He has also accused them of taking instructions from “those in the mountains,” a reference to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

    Hundreds of students from Bogazici have been arrested as they have joined demonstrations. They have been tear-gassed, shot at with rubber bullets, had snipers trained on them and been sexually assaulted and forced to strip while in custody. Undeterred, the protests have now culminated in the formation of a new opposition alliance, the United Fighting Forces (BMG). The alliance includes the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), Partizan, the Revolutionary Party and the Democratic Regions Party (DBP). Istanbul neighborhoods have lent the students support, banging pots and pans from their balconies at 9 p.m.

    Origins of Authoritarianism

    The AKP emerged on the Turkish political scene in 2001. It stitched together narrower Islamist political parties such as Refah (Welfare), Dogru Yol Partisi (True Path) and Fazilet (Virtue). In 2002, the AKP won the parliamentary election with a parliamentary majority – 34% percent of the vote translated, because of Turkish electoral rules, to 60% of the seats in the parliament.

    After its first electoral victory, the AKP continued to receive 35 – 50% of all votes until the presidential elections in 2014, when the party leader Erdogan received more than 50% of votes and became the president of the Turkish Republic. Afterwards, in 2015, the AKP became the first party in a general election and regained the parliamentary majority in a snap election in the same year.

    In the 2010s, the AKP altered the balance of power in Turkey. In 2014, it broke off relations with one of its closest allies, the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, and accused him of masterminding the failed coup attempt of July 2016. When the AKP came to power in early 2000s, they had popular support but not the support of the military and bureaucratic cadres. Therefore, they made an alliance with Fethullah Gulen, a former imam who led a tight community, and who had become rich and powerful beginning in the 1980s by investing money in education.

    The Gulen movement provided the AKP with loyal military personnel, judges, teachers, police, and other bureaucratic personnel, and in return the AKP allowed Gulen members to control these institutions. Gulenists initiated high-profile trials against all actors that could challenge the AKP. The Ergenekon and Balyoz trials targeted high-level military officers, journalists, and opposition lawyers for plotting a coup against the government.

    The Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK) trial targeted pro-Kurdish intellectuals and activists. Gulen-affiliated lawyers used fabricated evidence, and violated the rules of the trial procedure. Yet, from 2014, this alliance broke down due to internal power struggles. Gulenists released voice recordings related to major AKP corruption scandals. In return, the AKP declared war on the Gulen movement. They took over their television stations, newspapers, universities, schools, and major holding companies and began to clear them from the military, police forces, and judiciary.

    With the military coup attempt of July 2016, Turkey took a major turn. Since the power of the military had been lessened over the preceding decade, the incidence took all observers by surprise. This diminishment in power led the military – notorious for being able to carry out successful coups – to attempt a poorly coordinated intervention. Within a few hours, Erdogan pointed the finger at Gulen and called upon citizens to descend into the city centres and stop the coup.

    Erdogan’s followers blocked tanks and lynched soldiers, many of whom did not even know that they were part of a coup. As soon as the threat had passed, Erdogan declared a state of emergency and forcefully purged anyone he viewed as being linked to the Gulen movement, along with other Kurdish and left-wing opposition members.

    In the post-coup-attempt purges, some 150,000 government personnel were dismissed, 100,000 individuals were detained and 50,000 arrested, 149 media outlets were shut down, 150 journalists jailed, 17 universities closed, 8,000 academic personnel were dismissed, vast quantities of property were confiscated, and close to 1,000 allegedly Gulen-affiliated businesses e taken over by the state. During emergency measures, access to Twitter and YouTube was also blocked

    Economic Troubles

    Beneath the cacophony of authoritarian measures, a neoliberal economy is fully operational, pushing people into hardships of various kinds. The policies implemented by Erdogan in the pandemic have left millions of workers unemployed or on unpaid leave with only $156 monthly in 2020, increased to approximately $200 in 2021. The government extended this unpaid leave until July 2021. Millions have also been forced to take a short-time working allowance.

    The cost of living is rapidly increasing. The Turkish Statistical Institute estimated that Turkey’s 2020 inflation rate stood at 14.6% – nearly three times more than the official 5% target of Central Bank (TCMB). Turkey is one of a few countries with a double-digit inflation rate. Many studies suggest the real inflation figure is much higher.

    The Inflation Research Group (ENAG) has used the standards of “Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose” (COICOP) of the United Nations (UN) Statistics Department, a common inflation calculation method adopted by many countries. It calculated the 2020 annual inflation rate at 36.72%. The ENAG found that annual price increases for staple products was even higher: 55% for butter, 80% for sunflower oil, 66% for olive oil, 35% for cheese, 67% for olives, 53% for chicken and 130% for eggs.

    Rising Resistance

    Erdogan, and the right-wing regime he leads – comprised of AKP and its fascistic ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – urgently need the appearance of grandeur, as the situation is rather grim: poor handling of COVID-19, falling approval ratings, a severe economic crisis, and an emboldened opposition. Aware of its precarious position, the ruling bloc has consolidated its methods of authoritarian governance, repressed dissidents domestically, passed laws to weaken civil society and opposition mayors, and used chauvinist and sexist propaganda.

    From the start of the protests, students have situated their resistance as part of the bigger fight against authoritarianism and made links beyond the university. They have named Bulu a “trustee rector” in reference to the government-imposed trustees that have replaced almost all the democratically elected Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) mayors. The initial protests that started at Bogazici University have spread to all major cities – including Ankara, Izmir and Bursa – with thousands on the streets and not only students. Protests like these will keep intensifying as the dynamic of neoliberal authoritarianism clashes head-on with the revolutionary aspirations of the people.

    The post The Dynamic of Revolutionary Struggle in Turkey first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • The Dynamic of Revolutionary Struggle in Turkey

    Since January 4, 2021, student protests have been going on in Turkey. At Bogazici University in Istanbul, rectors are elected through free and fair elections by faculties. The only time in the institution’s history when these democratic processes were suspended was in the aftermath of the 1980 coup d’état. In today’s time, it is again being done.

    Curtailing Academic Autonomy

    On January 1, 2021, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed a rector to Bogazici without any consultations with the university staff or students. The appointee, Professor Melih Bulu, has been a member of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) since its foundation in 2002 and had run a campaign for nomination for the parliamentary elections in 2015. The appointment of Bulu is another step in Erdogan’s attempt to extend his influence over Turkey’s social and cultural life.

    He also faces allegations of plagiarism in his PhD thesis. Bogazici University faculty fear a number of negative consequences, including hiring based on political affiliation; malicious investigations against critical faculties; budget cuts to humanities and social sciences; and opening up the university’s iconic campus for private developers.

    Students addressed an open letter to the president.

    This appointment makes anyone who has even the tiniest sense of justice revolt with indignation…Your attempts to pack our university with your own political militants is the symptom of the political crisis that you have fallen into. Do not mistake us for those who obey you unconditionally. You are not a sultan, and we are not your subjects.

    Agitations have escalated sharply as the government seized artwork with LGBT+ flags displayed at a student exhibition. Erdogan said there was “no such thing” as LGBT+ in a “moral” country such as Turkey and called the protesters “terrorists”.  He has also accused them of taking instructions from “those in the mountains,” a reference to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

    Hundreds of students from Bogazici have been arrested as they have joined demonstrations. They have been tear-gassed, shot at with rubber bullets, had snipers trained on them and been sexually assaulted and forced to strip while in custody. Undeterred, the protests have now culminated in the formation of a new opposition alliance, the United Fighting Forces (BMG). The alliance includes the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), Partizan, the Revolutionary Party and the Democratic Regions Party (DBP). Istanbul neighborhoods have lent the students support, banging pots and pans from their balconies at 9 p.m.

    Origins of Authoritarianism

    The AKP emerged on the Turkish political scene in 2001. It stitched together narrower Islamist political parties such as Refah (Welfare), Dogru Yol Partisi (True Path) and Fazilet (Virtue). In 2002, the AKP won the parliamentary election with a parliamentary majority – 34% percent of the vote translated, because of Turkish electoral rules, to 60% of the seats in the parliament.

    After its first electoral victory, the AKP continued to receive 35 – 50% of all votes until the presidential elections in 2014, when the party leader Erdogan received more than 50% of votes and became the president of the Turkish Republic. Afterwards, in 2015, the AKP became the first party in a general election and regained the parliamentary majority in a snap election in the same year.

    In the 2010s, the AKP altered the balance of power in Turkey. In 2014, it broke off relations with one of its closest allies, the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, and accused him of masterminding the failed coup attempt of July 2016. When the AKP came to power in early 2000s, they had popular support but not the support of the military and bureaucratic cadres. Therefore, they made an alliance with Fethullah Gulen, a former imam who led a tight community, and who had become rich and powerful beginning in the 1980s by investing money in education.

    The Gulen movement provided the AKP with loyal military personnel, judges, teachers, police, and other bureaucratic personnel, and in return the AKP allowed Gulen members to control these institutions. Gulenists initiated high-profile trials against all actors that could challenge the AKP. The Ergenekon and Balyoz trials targeted high-level military officers, journalists, and opposition lawyers for plotting a coup against the government.

    The Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK) trial targeted pro-Kurdish intellectuals and activists. Gulen-affiliated lawyers used fabricated evidence, and violated the rules of the trial procedure. Yet, from 2014, this alliance broke down due to internal power struggles. Gulenists released voice recordings related to major AKP corruption scandals. In return, the AKP declared war on the Gulen movement. They took over their television stations, newspapers, universities, schools, and major holding companies and began to clear them from the military, police forces, and judiciary.

    With the military coup attempt of July 2016, Turkey took a major turn. Since the power of the military had been lessened over the preceding decade, the incidence took all observers by surprise. This diminishment in power led the military – notorious for being able to carry out successful coups – to attempt a poorly coordinated intervention. Within a few hours, Erdogan pointed the finger at Gulen and called upon citizens to descend into the city centres and stop the coup.

    Erdogan’s followers blocked tanks and lynched soldiers, many of whom did not even know that they were part of a coup. As soon as the threat had passed, Erdogan declared a state of emergency and forcefully purged anyone he viewed as being linked to the Gulen movement, along with other Kurdish and left-wing opposition members.

    In the post-coup-attempt purges, some 150,000 government personnel were dismissed, 100,000 individuals were detained and 50,000 arrested, 149 media outlets were shut down, 150 journalists jailed, 17 universities closed, 8,000 academic personnel were dismissed, vast quantities of property were confiscated, and close to 1,000 allegedly Gulen-affiliated businesses e taken over by the state. During emergency measures, access to Twitter and YouTube was also blocked

    Economic Troubles

    Beneath the cacophony of authoritarian measures, a neoliberal economy is fully operational, pushing people into hardships of various kinds. The policies implemented by Erdogan in the pandemic have left millions of workers unemployed or on unpaid leave with only $156 monthly in 2020, increased to approximately $200 in 2021. The government extended this unpaid leave until July 2021. Millions have also been forced to take a short-time working allowance.

    The cost of living is rapidly increasing. The Turkish Statistical Institute estimated that Turkey’s 2020 inflation rate stood at 14.6% – nearly three times more than the official 5% target of Central Bank (TCMB). Turkey is one of a few countries with a double-digit inflation rate. Many studies suggest the real inflation figure is much higher.

    The Inflation Research Group (ENAG) has used the standards of “Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose” (COICOP) of the United Nations (UN) Statistics Department, a common inflation calculation method adopted by many countries. It calculated the 2020 annual inflation rate at 36.72%. The ENAG found that annual price increases for staple products was even higher: 55% for butter, 80% for sunflower oil, 66% for olive oil, 35% for cheese, 67% for olives, 53% for chicken and 130% for eggs.

    Rising Resistance

    Erdogan, and the right-wing regime he leads – comprised of AKP and its fascistic ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – urgently need the appearance of grandeur, as the situation is rather grim: poor handling of COVID-19, falling approval ratings, a severe economic crisis, and an emboldened opposition. Aware of its precarious position, the ruling bloc has consolidated its methods of authoritarian governance, repressed dissidents domestically, passed laws to weaken civil society and opposition mayors, and used chauvinist and sexist propaganda.

    From the start of the protests, students have situated their resistance as part of the bigger fight against authoritarianism and made links beyond the university. They have named Bulu a “trustee rector” in reference to the government-imposed trustees that have replaced almost all the democratically elected Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) mayors. The initial protests that started at Bogazici University have spread to all major cities – including Ankara, Izmir and Bursa – with thousands on the streets and not only students. Protests like these will keep intensifying as the dynamic of neoliberal authoritarianism clashes head-on with the revolutionary aspirations of the people.

    This article was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2021 at 11:29pm and is filed under Authoritarianism, COVID-19, Militarism, Neoliberalism, Police, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Protests, Students, Turkey, Unemployment.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Armed raids, strip searches and torture: this is life for Turkey’s students

    Turkey’s disgusting human rights record has come under the spotlight yet again as students continue to protest in Istanbul and other major Turkish cities. Since early January, thousands of students, academics and graduates of Istanbul’s Boğaziçi university have been protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu as rector. Appointed by president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Bulu is an ally of the president, and is the first rector to have been appointed outside the university since 1980. For the people of Turkey, it is a stark reminder of Erdoğan’s ever-tightening control of state institutions, the media and education.

    Hundreds have been arrested since the protests began. Latest arrests include that of Beyza Buldağ, a former Boğaziçi student, after police raided her home in Izmir. Buldağ allegedly administered the Twitter account of Boğaziçi Solidarity. According to Bianet, she is accused of “insulting the President”, “provoking the public to enmity, hatred and hostility” and “provoking to commit crimes”.

    Others have faced armed raids, strip searches and torture at the hands of the Turkish state.

    Targeting the LGBTQI+ community

    The LGBTQI+ community has been particularly targeted by the state in a torrent of hate-speech. According to LGBTQI rights organisation ILGA Europe:

    Over the past week in Turkey, both government and government-supported media have called LGBTI+ people a “disgrace”, “dirty” and “perverts”, which has prompted a wave of hate-speech on social media.

    The organisation continued:

    President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held video conferences on Monday 1 February and Wednesday 3 February denouncing LGBT people and praising his supporters saying: “We will carry our young people to the future, not as the LGBT youth, but as the youth that existed in our nation’s glorious past.”

    On February 2, Justice Minister and the Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu called LGBT people “perverts” on Twitter. The social media platform has since flagged the tweet as violating its rules against “hateful conduct”.

    Thousands of writers and academics have released statements against the government

    147 of Turkey’s top writers, including Turkey’s top-selling author Orhan Pamuk, have issued a statement against the government’s actions. They say:

    The hate speech by top public officials, labeling of students as terrorists, unlawful detentions and police violence is new evidence proving that our country has long been far from a constitutional state of law.

    The writers continue:

    We stand with the resistance at Boğaziçi University. We won’t bow down to persecution and oppression. We won’t look down.

    Meanwhile, more than 3,000 academics worldwide, including Noam Chomsky, have issued a joint statement, saying:

    The government’s response has been brutal. Erdoğan has called the students ‘terrorists’ and LGBTI+ students in particular have been singled out for harassment. The police have conducted home raids with guns drawn, detained and strip searched protestors, and engaged in torture.

    We the undersigned condemn these actions and stand in solidarity with the students and faculty of Boğaziçi University.

    Don’t look away

    As The Canary has previously reported, thousands of people in Turkey have already been imprisoned for insulting its dictatorial president over the years. Anyone even slightly critical of the man and his ruling party risks spending time in jail. Terrorism-related charges are consistently misused by the UK’s ally. The state is known as “the world’s biggest jailer of professional journalists”.

    Those arrested and charged at Boğaziçi protests are likely to join the tens of thousands of political prisoners, including activists, musicians, academics, human rights defenders, writers, and politicians. We must all make sure that we stand in solidarity with those opposing the Turkish government’s reign of terror against its own population.

    Featured image via Microsoft News via screengrab

    By Eliza Egret

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • Turkish authorities rebuff UN inquiry into murder of Syrian-American journalist

    This story was co-published by ABC News.

    Turkish authorities have rebuffed a request from the United Nations for more information on the murders of Syrian-American journalist Halla Barakat and her mother, Orouba Barakat.

    In a letter dated Oct. 7, published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions sought clarity on the depth of the investigation into the brutal 2017 killings, calling it a matter of “international concern.”

    “The political nature of the Barakats’ work, and the death threats they received, make it imperative that a possible politically-motivated killing be considered and investigated and the evidence for and against that conclusion shared with the family and the public,” the rapporteur, Agnes Callamard, wrote. “Such an investigation would make it more likely that all culpable parties are identified.”

    In response, Turkish officials defended their actions, declined to provide any further information and reasserted the “complete conscientious opinion” that the murders were committed over “family issues.”

    “As in all cases, the investigation and prosecution of the present case was carried out by Turkish authorities with utmost diligence,” Turkish officials wrote Dec. 2. “As the hearings were held openly, the Government is of the view that due transparency was provided in the process.”

    The exchange, sparked by an 18-month investigation of the killings by ABC News and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, is the first official response to lingering questions about the case raised by the Barakat family and their allies, who contend that the motivations behind the murders – and the possibility of a broader conspiracy – were not adequately probed after Turkish authorities declined the FBI’s offer of forensic assistance.

    Callamard declined to comment beyond saying she was “analyzing the situation to see what my next steps might be.”

    U.S. Rep. David Price, a North Carolina Democrat, had previously called on State Department officials to appeal to their Turkish counterparts to grant authorization for “FBI work on the ground.” He said he was encouraged that Callamard is seeking answers but disappointed in the lack of engagement from Turkish authorities.

    “Unfortunately, the Turkish government was not detailed or comprehensive in its response, leaving many loose ends in the investigation,” Price told ABC News and Reveal in a statement. “My hope is that the U.N. special rapporteur will continue seeking the truth – Halla and Orouba Barakat deserve justice. I support the U.S. government using its diplomatic tools to help ensure this case is given every possible consideration.”

    Suzanne Barakat, a family member in San Francisco who has led the effort to bring further scrutiny to the case, responded to the Turkish letter by renewing her demand for U.S. and Turkish law enforcement to cooperate in reexamining the evidence.

    “If they think this was all done well, there shouldn’t be any concern with us all collaborating and getting the evidence we have and corroborating all the different pieces,” she told ABC News and Reveal. “If they are in fact aligned in seeking justice in Halla and Orouba’s names, then I don’t see why there would be any issue about collaborating.”

    The Barakats were fierce critics of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and members of the Istanbul-based opposition to his regime. Their brutal double murder in September 2017 in Istanbul sparked headlines around the world and suspicion among family, friends and colleagues that their work may have threatened powerful figures with the motive and means to silence them.

    The crime scene, to many observers, suggested the work of a professional. Halla was an American citizen – born in North Carolina while Orouba was visiting relatives there – who had worked for a U.S. media outlet. So two U.S. lawmakers from the state, Sen. Thom Tillis and Price, soon called for a thorough investigation. H.R. McMaster, then a senior member of the Trump administration, even invited Suzanne Barakat to the White House, where she said intelligence officials and diplomats assured her that the case was a priority.

    By then, Turkish authorities had arrested and secured a confession from a distant relative named Ahmed Barakat, who had been working for Orouba since arriving in Turkey from Syria six months earlier. Orouba owed him money, Ahmed told prosecutors, according to court documents, claiming that when he confronted her in the apartment she shared with her daughter, Orouba refused to pay and attacked him with a kitchen knife, which he then used to kill her. When Halla screamed, he said, he killed her, too.

    After a brief trial, Ahmed was convicted and given two life sentences. The case, as far as prosecutors were concerned, was closed.

    But questions about the case lingered, so in the three years since the murders, a trans-Atlantic team of journalists – some based in Turkey, others in the United States, some of whom knew Halla and Orouba personally – sought answers to those questions. That reporting, led by ABC News, where Halla briefly worked in the months before her death, and Reveal, was featured in a special edition of “Nightline” and an episode of the Reveal podcast in October.

    ABC News and Reveal obtained hundreds of pages of documents from the investigation led by the Turkish National Police – including police statements, autopsy reports, witness testimony, evidence inventories and court transcripts. Coupled with more than a dozen interviews with family members, friends, colleagues, government officials and outside experts familiar with the case, the documents reveal several inconsistencies and outright contradictions in the official narrative. And records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, filed by Reveal, show that despite assurances from officials at the White House National Security Council and U.S. Department of State to the contrary, the FBI never opened a case.

    Those findings prompted Callamard, the human rights and international law expert who determined in June 2019 that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the premeditated killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, to launch her own inquiry.

    Citing a “presumption that crimes committed against journalists are in relation to their work and reporting until proven otherwise,” Callamard questioned whether Turkish authorities had adequately examined that possibility.

    “It is unclear whether the investigative authorities considered if (Ahmed Barakat) acted in concert with or at the direction of others,” Callamard wrote, “such as representatives of the Syrian Government, or of an armed group such as ISIL.”

    Agnes Callamard, an expert on extrajudicial executions for the United Nations, in 2020. Credit: Elif Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

    She posed many of the same questions raised by the ABC News and Reveal reports about the effectiveness of the Turkish investigation, the level of transparency provided to the family and the apparent lack of international cooperation in pursuing evidence. Then she echoed the call from the Barakat family and U.S. lawmakers to permit the involvement of U.S. law enforcement.

    “Given Ms. Halla Barakat’s US citizenship, would your Excellency’s Government reconsider receiving assistance from the FBI,” Callamard wrote, “particularly with respect to investigating aspects of the case relating to social media?”

    Suzanne Barakat hopes that fresh scrutiny will change the official narrative. Shortly after ABC News and Reveal’s investigation aired, she and her attorney met with officials at an FBI field office to present their case for further investigation.

    “What we’re looking for is just answers and the truth,” she told ABC News and Reveal. “The Turks have some answers.”

    Fariba Nawa, a freelance journalist in Istanbul; ABC News’ James Gordon Meek; former Reveal senior reporter Aaron Glantz; and Chris Harland-Dunaway, a freelance producer and reporter in Los Angeles, contributed to this story. It was edited by Esther Kaplan and copy edited by Nikki Frick.

    Pete Madden can be reached at pete.a.madden@abc.com. Follow him on Twitter: @pamadden.

    The post Turkish authorities rebuff UN inquiry into murder of Syrian-American journalist appeared first on Reveal.

    This post was originally published on Reveal.

  • Turkey and Philippines’ New Defence Project Is From FNSS

    Under the contract signed between FNSS and Department of National Defense (DND), Philippines which entered into force in August 2020, FNSS will provide stabilized one-man turrets production, integration and logistics support services to the Philippine Army. It is planned that the turrets will be integrated to the vehicles in October 2021 and training and logistics […]

    The post Turkey and Philippines’ New Defence Project Is From FNSS appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • FNSS AACE to Enhance the Philippine Army Combat Engineering Capabilities

    Under the contract signed between FNSS and the Department of National Defense (DND), Philippines, which entered into force in November 2020, FNSS will provide a number of Amphibious Armored Combat Earthmover (AACE) vehicles and their logistic support services. It is planned that the vehicles will be delivered and the training and logistic support services will […]

    The post FNSS AACE to Enhance the Philippine Army Combat Engineering Capabilities appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Interview with the Vice President of HAVELSAN

    AMR interviewed Mr. Savaş YANIK, Vice President, Command & Control and Defense Technologies, from the Turkish company HAVELSAN. 1. Could you please give brief information about HAVELSAN and its fields of operation? HAVELSAN is one of the largest and leading technology companies in Turkey, established in 1982 as a corporation owned by and affiliated to the Turkish […]

    The post Interview with the Vice President of HAVELSAN appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Turkey: Our hearts remain in prison again this new year

    On 2 January 2021 Nurcan Baysal – the winner of the 2018 Front line award [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/05/18/breaking-news-five-front-line-award-winners-2018-announced/] wrote a moving piece in Ahval about her friends and colleagues who are forced to spend their New Year in prison:

    “OK,” I say to the children, “We are all overwhelmed in these corona days. Let’s decorate the house, the new year is coming. Down with the corona and with 2020. Let’s enter 2021 with hope. Come on, let’s make popcorn.” While I make the popcorn, I think of my dear friend Osman Kavala, who remains in prison.

    I think back to an afternoon when a few human rights defenders had gathered. Whose turn was it to host us that day? “It’s me,” said Şeyhmus. “I’ll even buy you coffee.” Şeyhmus Gökalp, member of the Turkish Medical Association’s honorary board, is now in prison.

    I know a walk would do me good. I go outside to get some air. I pick up pace as Leonarda Cohen sings – “Dance with me…” It’s cold outside, but the sun is shining, and I enjoy the birds on trees. I look at the beautiful sky.

    I think of novelist Ahmet Altan’s second book written in prison, where he said he would never see the sky without prison walls. The very sky devastates me.

    I walk through Diyarbakır’s Bağlar district. Gentrification will begin here soon. I walk up to the building that used to host Kardelen Women’s Centre. I think back to the early 2000s, and the enthusiastic inauguration of Kardelen – literally translates to English as “snow piercer,” refers to the flower snowdrop.

    After the opening, we grab a bite in a corner with the then-mayor of Diyarbakır, Gültan Kışanak, and Çağlar, a young employee of the centre. We look at the endless row of coffeehouses that have put their tables on the sidewalk, making it harder for women to walk down that street. “We will change this male-dominated mentality,” Kışanak says proudly. Çağlar is also hopeful for the future.

    Both Kışanak and Çağlar Demirel are now in prison.

    What should I cook tonight? I open a jar of canned vegetables I prepared with my loving mother. I’ll sauté them, and make some rice on the side.

    “Mum, should we put out pickles too?” asks my son. Let’s do it. My pickles have been good this year. I open the lid and I pop one in my mouth.

    Nedim wrote in a letter that he liked pickles. Journalist Nedim Türfent and dozens more are in prison.

    I go to Diyarbakır’s Sur district. I go in and out of the streets of my hometown, which get stranger every day. Ruins on one street, upscale cafés on the next. A Starbucks a few yards from abject poverty and hunger.

    Along the Hevsel Gardens a nice walking path has been put up. I find myself thinking about whose dream that was. “There will be days when we will walk along the Tigris,” says Selçuk.

    Selçuk Mızraklı, elected co-mayor of Diyarbakır, will not be able to see his beloved hometown for 9 years, 4 months and 15 days, he is in prison.

    With the coronavirus… I feel like I’ve been home for years. The feeling of being trapped and its friend despair surround me. I feel like I haven’t been able to breathe for a long time. I make coffee and go out to the yard. I look at the sky, the stars. I remember my childhood, us sleeping on the roof under the stars, how much hope we had.

    Meanwhile, the former leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş whispers something from his prison cell.

    “When you lose hope, look up at the sky, the stars are still there.”

    May 2021 bring good health, but also bring back our loved ones. Let it bring freedom to thousands of people who are imprisoned unlawfully. Let this new year bring us hope, and hope for my hometown that has been destroyed.

    https://ahvalnews.com/turkey-kurds/our-hearts-remain-prison-again-new-year

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders.

  • Post Brexit trade deals risk to leave human rights out

    Simon Tisdall – in a strongly-worded opinion piece in the Guardian of 3 January 2021 entitled “‘Global Britain’ is willing to trade away everything. Including scruples” – attacks the UK’s new deal with Turkey which ignores its appalling human rights abuses and should have been scrutinised by parliament

    Simon Tisdall
    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

    Turkey’s ‘strongman’ president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has hailed the trade deal with Britain as the start of a ‘new era’. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Sun 3 Jan 2021 07.00 GMT

    The UK’s new trade agreement with Turkey, signed last week, ignores the Turkish government’s continuing human rights abuses, boosts its dangerous president, and undermines ministerial pledges that “global Britain” will uphold international laws and values. The deal took effect on 1 January without even rudimentary parliamentary scrutiny. Here, stripped of lies and bombast, is the dawning reality of Boris Johnson’s scruple-free post-Brexit world.

    Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s “strongman” leader, is pleased as punch. He’s the new, biggest fan of Britain’s international trade secretary, Liz Truss, whose shabby work this is. Erdoğan hailed the deal as the start of a “new era” and a landmark for Turkey. After years of disastrous economic mismanagement and fierce rows with the US and EU over Turkish policy towards Russia, Syria, Libya, Greece and Cyprus, Erdoğan badly needed a win. Hapless Truss delivered….

    This rushed deal rides roughshod over widely shared human rights concerns. It may be naive to think that the agreement, which replicates existing EU-Turkey arrangements, would allow matters of principle to imperil £18.6bn in two-way trade. Yet Britain is Turkey’s second-largest export market. Ankara was desperate to maintain tariff-free access. This gave Johnson and Truss leverage. It was a sovereign moment. But they failed to demand that Erdoğan change his ways.

    …Selahattin Demirtaş, former leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic party, languishes in jail despite an order to free him – from the European court of human rights.

    Alive to these and similar problems relating to other post-Brexit trade partners, the House of Lords amended the government’s Trade Bill last month to require human rights risk assessments when making agreements – to ensure compliance with the UK’s international treaties and obligations. But the government is expected to scrap the amendment when the bill returns to the Commons. The Turkey deal contains no such safeguards.

    [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/02/13/uks-human-rights-policy-after-brexit/]

    In its scramble to replace lapsed EU arrangements, Johnson’s government has so far “rolled over” about 30 existing trade deals. Like the Turkey deal, they have not faced thorough parliamentary scrutiny. The list includes other countries or entities with contentious human rights records, such as Egypt, Tunisia, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Bilateral deals with notorious rights abusers such as China and Saudi Arabia have not been attempted – yet…

    This lucrative business, or the prospect of losing it, may help explain the haste in finalising the Turkey deal. Yet the fact that Erdoğan stands accused of using British-made equipment and technology to repress domestic opponents, attack Syria’s Kurds, intervene in Libya’s civil war, and stoke the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict should have given serious pause. These actions run contrary to British interests, as does Erdoğan’s trouble-making in the eastern Mediterranean. Yet Johnson’s government, ever mindful of its Brexit needs, has kept its head down.

    Full and timely parliamentary scrutiny of post-Brexit trade deals would help bring such omissions and contradictions to light – but is sadly lacking, as Emily Thornberry, Labour’s shadow trade secretary, said in November. She accused the government of “sheer bumbling incompetence” after Greg Hands, the trade minister, admitted there was not enough time for MPs to scrutinise trade deals before the 31 December deadline. So much for a sovereign parliament “taking back control” of Britain’s destiny and laws.

    The Turkey deal illustrates a bigger, fundamental hypocrisy. Extolling a future “global Britain” in 2019, foreign secretary Dominic Raab promised that “once we’ve left the EU … human rights abusers anywhere in the world will face consequences for their actions”. In January 2020, Raab assured the Commons that “a truly global Britain is about more than just international trade and investment … Global Britain is also about continuing to uphold our values of liberal democracy and our heartfelt commitment to the international rule of law.”

    Raab seems to mean well, but ne’er-do-wells such as Erdoğan are laughing fit to burst. Raab’s recent imposition of sanctions on individual rights abusers in Russia, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere does not affect the bigger picture. It is of a British government hellbent on cutting hasty, ill-considered deals with all manner of undesirable customers around the world, without proper regard for the political, legal, strategic and human consequences. And to think Tory aristocrats used to look down on trade.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/03/global-britain-is-willing-to-trade-away-everything-including-scruples

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders.

  • ‘Global Britain’ is willing to trade away everything. Including scruples

    The UK’s new deal with Turkey ignores appalling human rights abuses and should have been scrutinised by parliament

    The UK’s new trade agreement with Turkey, signed last week, ignores the Turkish government’s continuing human rights abuses, boosts its dangerous president, and undermines ministerial pledges that “global Britain” will uphold international laws and values. The deal took effect on 1 January without even rudimentary parliamentary scrutiny. Here, stripped of lies and bombast, is the dawning reality of Boris Johnson’s scruple-free post-Brexit world.

    Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s “strongman” leader, is pleased as punch. He’s the new, biggest fan of Britain’s international trade secretary, Liz Truss, whose shabby work this is. Erdoğan hailed the deal as the start of a “new era” and a landmark for Turkey. After years of disastrous economic mismanagement and fierce rows with the US and EU over Turkish policy towards Russia, Syria, Libya, Greece and Cyprus, Erdoğan badly needed a win. Hapless Truss delivered.

    Related: UK signs free trade agreement with Turkey

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Pressure on Turkey to protect Uighurs as China ratifies extradition treaty

    Ankara has long welcomed Uighur and Turkic Muslims fleeing China but rights groups fear the treaty will endanger them

    Beijing has ratified an extradition treaty with Turkey that human rights groups warn could endanger Uighur families and activists fleeing persecution by Chinese authorities if it is adopted by Ankara.

    The treaty, signed in 2017, was formalised at the weekend at the National People’s Congress, with state media saying it would be used for counter-terrorism purposes. Facing strong opposition within its parliament, Turkey’s government has not yet ratified the deal, and critics have urged the government to abandon it and prevent the treaty from “becoming an instrument of persecution”.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • An American Murder in Istanbul: Justice for Halla

    An American journalist and her mom are found murdered in Istanbul. Police say they caught the killer. Friends and family say the investigation was incomplete. In collaboration with ABC News and freelance reporter Fariba Nawa, we dig into the investigative files against the convicted killer and learn that the U.S. government chose not to get involved in the investigation.

    Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

    This post was originally published on Reveal.

  • Trans National Migration

    We meet an immigration judge who rejected nearly every asylum case that came before her, then follow a transgender woman as she tries to claim asylum. Finally, we go to Turkey, where young Afghan women are trying to leave their past behind.

    Don’t miss out on the next big story. Get the Weekly Reveal newsletter today.

    This post was originally published on Reveal.