Status: 04/27/2022 23:13
On Monday, an Istanbul court sentenced cultural promoter Kavala to life in prison. The decision caused international outrage. Now Turkish President Erdogan has defended the verdict.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has harshly rejected international criticism of the condemnation of cultural promoter Osman Kavala. The Turkish judiciary made the final decision on one person, which upset “some circles”, Erdogan said in Istanbul, without naming Kavala. “No offense, law and order exists in this country,” he added.
Erdogan once again referred to Kavala as a “Turkish Soros”. In the past, President Kavala has accused Kavala of having financed the Gezi protests with the help of American investor and philanthropist Georg Soros. Erdogan sees the anti-government demonstrations in 2013 as a foreign conspiracy.
Erdogan: Lesson in Law and Justice
The largely peaceful Gezi protests were sparked by a construction project in central Istanbul. Action spread across the country against the authoritarian policies of then Prime Minister Erdogan. He brutally suppressed the protests.
With the ruling on “Gezi’s actions”, the Turkish judiciary also gave those with “similar intentions” a lesson in law and justice, Erdogan said.
Scholz calls the verdict “a devastating sign”
Kavala was sentenced to life in prison by an Istanbul court on Monday in connection with the Gezi protests. Seven other people, including the well-known architect Mücella Yapici and the lawyer Can Atalay, received 18 years for help and complicity.
The verdict provoked strong international criticism. Chancellor Olaf Scholz described it as a “devastating signal for Turkish civil society”.