Turkish cultural promoter Osman Kavala, who has been in prison for four and a half years, was sentenced to “life imprisonment” for “trying to overthrow the government”. This form of imprisonment replaces the death penalty in Turkey. In a political trial that marks an epoch for Turkey, after three years of negotiations in various courts, verdicts were handed down in an Istanbul criminal court on Monday. Kavala, the most prominent of the 17 defendants, was accused of allegedly funding the Gezi protests in 2013. Kavala has always denied this. He was acquitted of the allegation of alleged agent activity in connection with the 2016 coup attempt. Several of the other defendants, including urban planners, artists and lawyers, were sentenced to 18 years in prison and imprisoned in court. The judgments are not yet final.
They are another serious setback for democracy in Turkey. Kavala has been a cooperation partner of many European cultural institutions, including the Goethe Institute. He was arrested in October 2017, the trial only started in June 2019 and after an initial acquittal in early 2020, without Kavala being released from custody, it has been reopened and restructured several times. It was seen as a political process from the beginning. The accusations sparked diplomatic problems between Ankara and several Western countries, including Germany. The lawsuit also led to an ongoing Council of Europe exclusion procedure against Turkey.
The trial was seen as a litmus test for the rule of law in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Until the verdict was announced, the accused’s supporters were hoping for an acquittal. In view of the deeply politicized process, it was argued that the release of Kavala would show that Turkey wanted to reorient itself towards Europe after the war in Ukraine.
The 64-year-old businessman and patron of Kavala culture, who on the last day of the trial was only connected via video from the high-security prison in Silivri, said in his closing remarks: “The charges against me serve to discredit the political will of the millions of citizens participating in the Gezi protests.” He also again denied claims that he was a key supporter of the failed 2016 military coup. “The claim that an individual like me played a crucial role in the July 15 coup attempt has never been challenged by the judiciary,” Kavala said. . “In my opinion, this is a breach of duty and evidence of an unprofessional investigation.” Kavala’s lawyers pointed out that the court never asked the accused where he was on the day of the coup attempt, nor if he had ever been to Gezi Park.
Erdoğan had publicly described Kavala as a “terrorist”.
One of the most prominent defendants alongside Kavala, former chairman of the Istanbul Chamber of Architects, Mücella Yapıcı, said at the end: “Despite all the conspiracy theories and the prosecutor’s threat of severe prison sentences, we repeat: the protests of Gezi represent the eternal hope of equality, rule of law and democracy for this country.”
The district attorney’s office called for “complicated life imprisonment” for Kavala and Yapıcı. The other 15 defendants should be jailed for between 15 and 20 years or life, according to prosecutors’ wishes. The defense also pleaded in the final word the acquittal of all. She had argued that no evidence could be found against Kavala. Lawyers for all the other defendants found no fault in trying to bring about a change of government by peaceful means or defending a city park.
The trial dragged on with harshly long pauses for three years. The nationwide protests in 2013, supported by civil society and initially aimed at cleaning up the tiny Gezi Park in central Istanbul, were also directed against President Erdoğan’s authoritarian regime and the dismantling of the rule of law. They were crushed after weeks of demonstrations. There were deaths.
The July 2016 military coup attempt, which Erdoğan likely knew about in advance, was thwarted by Erdoğan’s supporters and other sections of the population. There were 249 deaths.
There followed a wave of arrests and suspensions against alleged coup plotters in the military and police, as well as in the education sector, which continues to this day. The government blames supporters of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, who lives in the US, for the coup attempt. Other members of the opposition are also suspects, sometimes based on preposterous assumptions.
Kavala is the only one of the 17 accused who has been detained without trial since October 2017. Erdoğan had publicly described Kavala as a “terrorist”. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had already asked for Kavala’s release at the end of 2019 and classified the detention as politically motivated. As Turkey did not follow the ECtHR, the Council of Europe initiated an exclusion procedure against Ankara.
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) said the current verdict is “in blatant contradiction” with Turkey’s constitutional standards and international obligations. “We hope that Osman Kavala will be released immediately.” The United States is also deeply concerned about the verdict against Kavala. “His unjust sentence is incompatible with respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. We again ask Turkey to release Osman Kavala,” the US State Department said. The US is very concerned about the ongoing judicial harassment in Turkey against leaders in civil society, media, politics and business.