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Kocharian’s Arrest: ‘Velvet’ Victory Or Vendetta?

August 1, 2018 By administrator

Then-Armenian President Robert Kocharian speaks at a press conference in Yerevan on March 20, 2008, shortly after the violence in the capital and just before the inauguration of Serzh Sarkisian as the country’s next president.

RFE/RL’s Armenian Service

Robert Kocharian became the first former head of state of an ex-Soviet republic to be jailed after a court in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on July 27 ordered him to be held in pretrial detention.

Kocharian, who served as Armenian president from 1998-2008, has been charged with “overthrowing Armenia’s constitutional order.”

The charges stem from the end of his presidency, when he ordered security forces to break up a March 2008 demonstration protesting the results of the election to choose his successor.

Eight demonstrators and two police officers died in postelection violence in Yerevan in what was to become one of the bloodiest chapters of Armenia’s post-Soviet history.

Kocharian has denied the charges and accused the country’s new leadership of pursuing a “vendetta” against him.

Kocharian’s is the most high-profile of a spate of arrests of prominent officials and others since Nikol Pashinian, a longtime anticorruption campaigner, became prime minister in May following what is often referred to as Armenia’s “velvet revolution.”

Pashinian was propelled into government on the back of mass street protests by Armenians — many of them young — who were fed up with the country’s persistent corruption and poverty.

Now, Pashinian, in targeting an ex-president, has taken his pursuit of justice much further.

Pashinian Has Public Backing

Armenians, for the large part, appear to support Pashinian’s actions so far. Many cheered the June 16 arrest of Manvel Grigorian after a raid on the retired general’s palatial home turned up sports cars, tigers caged in a private zoo, and food rations sent by Armenian schoolchildren to Armenian soldiers fighting in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armed with the public’s support for addressing past abuses of power, “it would be difficult for Pashinian not to touch March 2008,” argues Laurence Broers, an associate fellow specializing in the South Caucasus at Chatham House in London.

“This is clearly a national trauma that needs to be addressed,” Broers adds, noting the March 2008 unrest and the 1999 assassination of Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian, parliament speaker Karen Demirchian, and six other lawmakers during a question-and-answer session in parliament rank as two of the most traumatic — and unresolved — events in Armenia’s post-Soviet history.

WATCH: ​Kocharian Calls Criminal Case Against Him ‘Vendetta’

Many Armenians cheered the arrest of Kocharian, with some organizing street shashlik parties for neighbors and friends, explains Olesya Vartanyan, a South Caucasus analyst at the International Crisis Group.

“The general public sees Mr. Kocharian as a person responsible for accelerating the political stagnation that led to economic decline and social problems in the country,” Vartanyan explains.

Is It Personal?

Pashinian and Kocharian have a history marked by a “special animus,” explains Emil Sanamyan, a fellow at the Institute of Armenian Studies at the University of Southern California.

“Under Kocharian, Pashinian was taken to court a number of times for libel and, of course, after 2008 Kocharian’s prosecutors charged Pashinian with the same charge he [has] now brought against Kocharian,” explains Sanamyan.

Earlier this year, Pashinian, who was tried and convicted in 2010 of being an organizer of the 2008 protests, demanded the authorities investigate Kocharian’s activities during the postelection violence.

Kocharian is the highest, but not only, former official charged over the 2008 unrest.

In early July, the SIS issued an arrest warrant for retired General Mikael Harutiunian, who served as defense minister during the 2008 unrest.

It charged Harutiunian with “illegally” using the armed forces against the protesters, saying that it also amounted to an “overthrow of constitutional order.”

The 72-year-old remains in Russia after surgery earlier this year.

On the same day that Kocharian was taken into custody, Yuri Khachaturov, the Armenian chief of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), was charged, like Kocharian, with overthrowing Armenia’s constitutional order related to the 2008 crackdown.

However, while Khachaturov was released after posting bail, amounting to some $10,000, Kocharian was ordered to remain in pretrial detention for two months.

Sanamyan says the differences in the way Kocharian and Khachaturov were treated suggest that the Pashinian government could be exerting influence.

Kremlin Concern?

The latest steps by Pashinian’s government have attracted Moscow’s attention.

Regarding the charges against Khachaturov, the official Russian TASS news agency quoted an unnamed “high-ranking diplomatic source in Moscow” as calling it “amazingly unprofessional.”

“It is all the more strange to hear such statements given that the changes that occurred in Armenia did not reflect on the staff of the [Armenian] Foreign Ministry, which only recently submitted Khachaturov’s candidacy to the CSTO,” the source said, adding that Yerevan must formally “recall” the Armenian head of the alliance before asking the other members to replace him.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov weighed in on August 1, expressing “concern” over the arrest warrants.

“We informed the Armenian leaders about our concerns several times in the past few days,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by TASS.

Russia has rarely made public statements critical of Armenia in the past. The two states have maintained close political, military, and economic ties ever since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Pashinian has repeatedly pledged to maintain the “special” relationship with Moscow since gaining power, although he criticized it when he was in the opposition.

Pashinian has denied interfering with the process, although Kocharian and his backers are not convinced.

Kocharian said he was called as a witness on July 26 to testify in the investigation into the aftermath of the 2008 election, but was quickly accused himself.

“I had come [to Yerevan] especially to give testimony. As soon as my status was changed, from the very beginning I decided not to give testimony,” he told Yekir Media TV on July 26. “Because when I read that indictment, I was astonished. I was astonished at the zero level of that indictment from the legal point of view. One doesn’t have to be a lawyer [to see this].”

Pashinian Overstepping Authority?

Whether Armenia’s judiciary will be able to offer Kocharian a “credible legal process” is questionable, Broers says.

“The problem is that Armenia’s justice sector has hardly had time to reform, and the danger is that any failure to uphold the highest standards could make the process look more like ‘victor’s justice’ than a society coming to terms with its past,” he says.

With Pashinian’s popularity remaining high months after the country’s “velvet revolution,” few politicians or journalists dare question his actions, according to Vartanyan.

“The public is ready to support anything he is to say, and many local politicians and journalists complain it is difficult to raise critical questions, not to mention open protest statements,” Vartanyan says.

A lawmaker from the Gagik Tsarukian faction — which supports Pashinian — submitted his resignation on July 31 after his public criticism of Kocharian’s arrest landed him in political hot water.

Vazgen Manukian, Armenia’s first post-Soviet prime minister, understands the public euphoria over the jailing of past leaders but has warned about the threat of too much power concentrated at the top.

Chatham House’s Broers says that “Pashinian would do well to look at the lessons from neighboring Georgia, where successive United National Movement and Georgian Dream administrations tainted their wider agendas for political reform with dubious justice meted out to opponents and rivals.”

The Kocharian case, Broers adds, can either help finally lay the ghost of March 2008 to rest or worsen divisions in Armenian society that could “come back to haunt Pashinian in the long-term.”

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Arrest, Kocharian's

Turkish police arrests 33 suspects include 10 on-duty soldiers over affiliation to Gulen network

March 27, 2018 By administrator

Turkish police forces have arrested 32 people on suspicion of affiliation to a movement led by US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Ankara government accuses of having masterminded the failed July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said police arrested 16 people over using ByLock, an encrypted messaging application that was allegedly used by Gulen’s supporters for communication, on Monday.

Ten on-duty soldiers were arrested in the central city of Kirshehir. Six suspects were also detained in the northern province of Tokat as part of an investigation against members of the terror group.

Meanwhile, Turkish prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 56 people linked to the Gulen movement on Monday.

During the botched putsch, a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later.

Ankara has since accused Gulen of having orchestrated the coup. The opposition figure is also accused of being behind a long-running campaign to topple the government via infiltrating the country’s institutions, particularly the army, police and the judiciary.

Additionally, the Ankara government has outlawed his movement, and has branded it as the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Gulen has denounced the “despicable putsch” and reiterated that he had no role in it.

“Accusations against me related to the coup attempt are baseless and politically-motivated slanders,” he said in a statement.

The 76-year-old cleric has also called on Ankara to end its “witch hunt” of his followers, a move he said is aimed at “weeding out anyone it deems disloyal to President Erdogan and his regime.”

Turkish officials have frequently called on their US counterparts to extradite Gulen, but their demands have not been taken heed of.

Turkey, which remains in a state of emergency since the coup, has been engaged in suppressing the media and opposition groups suspected to have played a role in the failed coup.

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. More than 110,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.

The international community and rights groups have been highly critical of the Turkish president over the massive dismissals and the crackdown.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Arrest, on-duty soldiers, Turkey

Turkey seeks arrest of 360 more military personnel in post-coup crackdown

November 29, 2017 By administrator

Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 360 suspected supporters of cleric Fethullah Gulen in the army, state media reported. Thousands of people have been rounded up in the wake of last year’s coup attempt.

Istanbul police launched an operation on Wednesday to capture 333 more soldiers, most of them on active duty, as well as 27 civilians, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The 360 individuals are suspected of having links to US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen. Turkey’s government has claimed the cleric and his network of followers orchestrated last year’s failed coup — allegations Gulen denies.

The state-run news agency reported that the civilian suspects are accused of acting as so-called “secret imams,” who allegedly directed Gulen allies within the military.

Wide-reaching crackdown

More than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial as part of Ankara’s massive post-coup purge. An additional 120,000 people have been fired or suspended from the military, police and bureaucracy for suspected ties to the Gulen movement.

The crackdown has drawn criticism from rights groups and Turkey’s allies in the West, who fear the 2016 coup is being used to justify a campaign to stifle dissent.

Turkey says its actions are necessary to counter the threat posed by Gulen’s network, which it accuses of creating a “parallel state structure” over decades, infiltrating the military, police, judiciary, media and other institutions. Ankara has urged the United States to extradite Gulen so that he can face trial in Turkey.

Read more:
Turkey seeks arrest of dozens of journalists
Turkey submits statement to European rights court in Deniz Yucel case

nm/sms (Reuters, AP)

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Arrest, Turkey

Post-coup purge snares beloved ‘Soros of Turkey’

November 2, 2017 By administrator

Leading promoter of civil society, Osman Kavala, who has been jailed pending on charges of seeking to overthrow the Turkish government. Posted Oct. 31, 2017.
Kavala is an ardent champion of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation

Amberin Zaman,

After nearly two weeks of interrogation in an Istanbul prison, leading civil society activist Osman Kavala was formally arrested today and awaits trial on charges of seeking to overthrow the Turkish government.

Kavala’s arrest marks an escalation in the government’s Orwellian drive to galvanize public opinion against alleged Western conspirators and local fifth columnists who want to weaken and dismember Turkey.

“Outrageous charges against Osman Kavala. He’s a well-respected man. But today’s Turkey is ruled by crazy conspiracy theories,” tweeted Kati Piri, a member of the European Parliament and its Turkey rapporteur, echoing widespread sentiment in EU circles.

The 60-year-old Kavala comes from a line of wealthy Ottoman aristocrats. He has rebelled against the establishment but remained part of it, running an array of businesses and donating the proceeds to worthy causes. Kavala is an ardent champion of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and his philanthropy has greased a broad range of projects from Kurdish rights to the environment. Many impoverished students, intellectuals and artists have counted on Kavala to bail them out.

That he should be touched will have sent a chill through the Istanbul elite. The silence of TUSIAD, the main lobby group for pro-secular Turkish business people, in the face of Kavala’s plight speaks volumes about their fear.

A smear campaign against Kavala in the pro-government Turkish media had been building prior to this detention on Oct. 18. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared to endorse it, recently saying, “The identity of the Soros of Turkey has been uncovered.” Erdogan was referring to Kavala’s supposed links to fellow philanthropist George Soros. The Hungarian-American financier has been accused of funding civil society in the former Eastern Bloc countries to unseat communist regimes and advance his own business interests.

Erdogan also said that Kavala had been linked to Metin Topaz, who worked for the US Drug Enforcement Agency at the US Consulate in Istanbul. Topuz was arrested for his alleged ties to Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based cleric who is accused of masterminding last year’s coup attempt.

The move sent US-Turkish relations into a tailspin with the United States freezing all nonimmigrant visa application business at its consulates in Turkey.

Aydinlik, a Turkish publication affiliated with Dogu Perincek, an ultranationalist politician who favors dumping NATO in favor of close ties to Moscow, claimed that Kavala had frequent contact with Henri Barkey, a prominent American academic who is the victim of another smear campaign. Barkey, who organized a workshop on Iran on Buyukada, an island near Istanbul only days before the July 15 putsch, has been accused of organizing the latter on behalf of the CIA.

His picture was splashed alongside those of several of the 16 participants of the front pages of the pro-government titles accompanied by Kafkaesque accounts of his alleged mischief.

Barkey, who has also written for Al-Monitor, said in a telephone interview, “I have met with Osman Kavala numerous times over the years. He is a terrific person but I have never had any direct professional dealings with him. The last time I saw him was when I was in Turkey last summer. I bumped into him at a restaurant and had a brief chat. That’s all.”

Barkey believes that he and Kavala have been targeted to help the government “feed the fires of the conspiracy” and to pressure European governments to extradite alleged Gulenists who have sought asylum in the EU. “They know the Europeans care about [Kavala],” Barkey said.

Scapegoating Kavala and others who move in Western circles may stem from the government’s desire to cover potentially damning evidence from Reza Zarrab, the Turkish-Iranian gold trader who is expected to appear in a New York court later this month on charges of busting US government sanctions on Iran. Zarrab, who has boasted of his connections to Erdogan and high-ranking members of his Justice and Development Party, may plead guilty, according to The New York Times. “Biggest news on Turkey today … Signs that Zarrab could sing,” tweeted Howard Eissenstat, a New York-based academic who writes extensively about Turkey. Erdogan has been pressing for Zarrab’s extradition.

Amberin Zaman is a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse who has covered Turkey, the Kurds and Armenia for The Washington Post,

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Arrest, Kavala, Turkey

Turkey detains philanthropist over links to US-based opposition leader

November 1, 2017 By administrator

Turkish philanthropist businessman and activist Osman Kavala

Turkish philanthropist businessman and activist Osman Kavala

Turkish officials have formally arrested a philanthropist businessman and peace activist on charges of affiliation to a movement led by US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Ankara government accuses of having masterminded the failed July 2016 coup attempt.

Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency reported that on Wednesday, an Istanbul court found Osman Kavala guilty of attempts to “abolish the constitutional order” and “remove the government of the Turkish Republic.”

Kavala, who is the chairman of Istanbul-based Anadolu Kültür Association, was arrested at Istanbul Atatürk Airport late on October 18. He had been spending time in police custody ever since.

Kavala is the latest activist to be held in a massive Turkish government crackdown in the aftermath of last year’s failed coup.

During the botched putsch, a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later.

Ankara has since accused Gulen of having orchestrated the coup. The opposition figure is also accused of being behind a long-running campaign to topple the government via infiltrating the country’s institutions, particularly the army, police and the Judiciary.

Additionally, the Ankara government has outlawed his movement, and has branded it as the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Gulen has denounced the “despicable putsch” and reiterated that he had no role in it.

“Accusations against me related to the coup attempt are baseless and politically motivated slanders,” he said.

The 76-year-old cleric has also called on Ankara to end its “witch hunt” of his followers, a move he said is aimed at “weeding out anyone it deems disloyal to President Erdogan and his regime.”

Turkish officials have frequently called on their US counterparts to extradite Gulen, but their demands have not been taken heed of.

Turkey, which remains in a state of emergency since the coup, has been engaged in suppressing the media and opposition groups suspected to have played a role in the failed coup.

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. More than 110,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.

The international community and rights groups have been highly critical of the Turkish president over the massive dismissals and the crackdown.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Arrest, Osman-kavala, Turkey

Turkish police arrest chief of NGO that sought to reach out to Armenia

October 19, 2017 By administrator

Turkish police on Thursday, October 19 detained a businessman who is one of the country’s leading civil society figures, reports said, raising fresh alarm over freedom of expression under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, AFP revealed.

Osman Kavala was detained at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport after flying in from the southern city of Gaziantep, the Dogan news agency said.

Kavala is the chairman of the Anadolu Kultur (Anatolian Culture) NGO which aims to overcome differences within Turkish society especially through culture and the arts.

The organisation has also sought to reach out to Armenia, with whom Turkey has no relations partly due to the dispute over the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire which Yerevan regards as genocide.

Dogan news agency said Kavala had been in Gaziantep to discuss a project with Germany’s cultural outreach organisation the Goethe Institut.

It said he was detained in line with an investigation by Istanbul prosecutors, without giving further details.

The arrest comes as concern intensifies over the fate of Turkish civil society under the state of emergency imposed after last year’s failed coup that aimed to oust Erdogan.

Eleven human rights activists, including the two top figures from Amnesty International’s Turkey branch, will go on trial in Istanbul next week on hugely-controversial terror charges.

Meanwhile, 156 journalists, most detained under the state of emergency, are currently behind bars, according to the P24 activist group.

Reports said Kavala was born in Paris but took over the family business when his father died. He is also the co-founder of the Iletisim publishing house.

Related links:

AFP. Top Turkish civil society figure held at Istanbul airport: reports

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Arrest, ngo, Turkey

Turkey says detains over 1,000 in latest anti-terror “Gulen” raids

August 1, 2017 By administrator

Turkey says detains over 1,000 in latest anti-terror raidsTurkish authorities detained 1,098 people over the last week for suspected links to militant groups or last year’s failed coup attempt, Reuters reports, citing the Interior Ministry.

In a statement, the ministry said 831 of those were detained for suspected ties to the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for orchestrating an attempted coup in July. Gulen denies any involvement.

It said another 213 of those were suspected of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has carried out a three-decade insurgency against the government and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Turkey and Europe.

Forty-six people were detained over alleged links to Islamic State, while 8 more were held for suspected ties to “leftist terrorist groups”, the ministry said.

 

Following the July 15 coup, Turkey has arrested some 50,000 people and sacked or suspended more than 150,000 in the military, civil service and private sector as part of a sweeping crackdown that has worried rights groups and some Western nations.

The Turkish government, however, has said the purges were justified by the gravity of the threats it was facing.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Arrest, more, Turkey

Report: US Marshals Arrest Two In Turkish Embassy Brawl

June 14, 2017 By administrator

US Marshals Arrest Two In Turkish Embassy Brawl

Eyup Yildirim (left) kicking Kurdish protester outside Turkish embassy, May 16, 2017. (Youtube screen grab)

U.S. Marshals have arrested two Turkish men living in U.S. for their role in beating peaceful protesters outside of the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C. last month, a source with knowledge of the matter tells The Daily Caller.

The State Department confirmed in a statement to TheDC that arrests have been, and the Washington, D.C. Metro police department identified the two men as Eyup Yildirim and Sinan Narin.

“Now that charges have been filed, the Department will weigh additional actions for the named individuals, as appropriate under relevant laws and regulations. Any further steps will be responsive and proportional to the charges,” a State Department official said.

Yildirim, a 50-year-old construction company owner from New Jersey, faces charges of assault with significant bodily injury and aggravated assault. Narin, from Virginia, faces an aggravated assault charge.

The Washington-based Turkish news website Washington Hatti first reportedon Wednesday that Yildirim was one of the men arrested.

 TheDC first reported last month that Yildirim is the man seen in videos of the brawl kicking a female protester while she was on the ground.

Lucy Usoyan, the woman kicked and stomped by Yildirim, Narin and other Erdogan supporters, told TheDC that she went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with head trauma.

Narin, who was first identified by The New York Times last month, acknowledged to the newspaper that he kicked Usoyan. But he claimed that he thought that Usoyan was a man.

Usoyan, a Kurdish activist, said that she feared for her life during the assault. She also said that her doctor told her she would need six weeks to fully recover from the beating.

Yildirim and Narin were part of a group of supporters of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who showed up at the Turkish embassy. Video of the incident shows a large group of Erdogan supporters and bodyguards suddenly crossing the street in front of the embassy to where the smaller group of protesters were staged. The Erdogan henchmen, some of them armed, were then seen punching, kicking and stomping the protesters.

At least 11 were injured.

Erdogan watched the attack unfold from his black Mercedes-Benz, which was parked outside of the embassy. Video recordings show that he may even have ordered his bodyguards and supporters like Yildirim to launch the assault on the protesters.

An audio analysis of recordings of the blitz also revealed that voices can be heard shouting phrases like “Servet says dive in,” or “Servet says attack.”

TheDC also identified Servet Erkan as one of the Erdogan bodyguards who took part in the violence. Another member of Erdogan’s security detail who was seen choking a female protester was identified as Ismail Dalkiran. (RELATED: Audio Analysis Shows Erdogan Thugs Were Ordered To Attack)

The embassy melee has generated outrage from lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle, while the Turkish government has blamed the U.S. government and Washington, D.C. police department for failing to corral the protesters. (RELATED: Here’s The Erdogan Henchman Who Choked Female Protester At Embassy)

Last week, the House unanimously passed a bill condemning the Turkish government over the incident.

Despite the arrest of Yildirim and another Erdogan goon, some of the men involved in the attack likely will not be arrested or punished.

Erdogan’s personal bodyguards and the embassy’s security detail are likely protected by diplomatic immunity from prosecution.

The U.S. government could punish the Turks in another way, including through diplomatic channels. At least two lawmakers have called on the U.S. State Department to halt the planned sale of $1.6 million worth of firearms to the Turkish security detail.

“The Department would like to thank the Department of Justice and the investigative agencies for their diligence,” the State Department said in its statement to TheDC.

“We are committed to holding those responsible for the violence on May 16 accountable. As we have previously stated, the events surrounding the conduct of Turkish Security personnel during President Erdogan’s visit to the United States is troubling.”

The Metro police department says that additional information about the case will be released on Thursday.

A call placed to Yildirim’s phone went directly to voicemail.

Source: http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/14/breaking-us-marshals-arrest-two-in-turkish-embassy-brawl/?utm_campaign=atdailycaller&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Arrest, brawl, embassy, Turkish, US Marshals

Turkey arrests editor-in-chief of Aydinlik opposition newspaper

June 4, 2017 By administrator

free pressturkeyThe Aydinlik newspaper has reported the arrest of its editor-in-chief, Ilker Yucel. The apparent cause was an unpaid fine for an article about President Erdogan’s son-in-law published in 2014.

The Aydinlik newspaper, in its digital edition on Saturday, said its editor-in-chief, Ilker Yucel, was arrested in the extreme east of Turkey and taken to prison in Igdir near the border with Armenia, where he is to stay until a fine is paid, his lawyer said.

“I have been detained in Igdir for not publishing a correction from [Energy Minister and son in law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan] Berat Albayrak that included an insult to Aydinlik,” said Yucel in a Twitter message.

Bulent Tezcan, a member of parliament and spokesman for the main opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP), called for Yucel’s immediate release on Saturday.

“Turkey is experiencing one of the darkest, most oppressive periods in its press history,” Aydinlik quoted Tezcan as saying.

Since a failed coup attempt in July, Erdogan has cracked down on many opposition figures, including politicians, academics, journalists, police and judges. Two German journalists are also currently being held in prison in Turkey.

Read more: Berlin artists stand in solidarity with imprisoned German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel

The Turkish Journalists Union (TGS) also called for his immediate release.

The case dates back to 2014 when Aydinlik published an article about Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been energy minister since November 2015. The report claimed Albayrak had links to crime. Accusations from the Wikileaks websites allege the 39-year-old Albyarak played a role in the sale of oil by the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) group. He has denied all such accusations.

A court in Turkey ordered the newspaper to either publish a disclaimer about its report or pay a $28,000 (24,800 euro) fine. The paper refused, with Yucel saying the disclaimer “insulted” the paper.

Yucel is also a prominent member of the small, left-wing Patriotic Party (Vatan) which renewed itself in 2015, bringing together socialists, revolutionaries and nationalists.

The European Federation of Journalists said 159 media workers have been jailed in Turkey – including reporters from France and Germany.

Turkey is positioned 155th on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index of 180 countries.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Arrest, Aydinlik, newspaper, opposition, Turkey

Turkey issues detention warrants for 23 judges and prosecutors

May 6, 2017 By administrator

Turkey‘s state-run news agency says detention warrants have been issued for 23 judges and prosecutors who have been dismissed from their posts, The Associated Press reports.

Anadolu news agency said Saturday, May 6 the warrants were issued for 17 judges and six prosecutors for “membership in an armed terror organization.” They are suspected of being followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who the government says is behind the July 15 coup attempt.

Gulen denies involvement in the coup.

Two judges were detained while working.

The suspects are among the 107 judges and prosecutors dismissed from public service Friday.

Since the declaration of a state of emergency last summer, more than 4,200 judges and prosecutors have been dismissed, an estimated 100,000 sacked from other public posts and more than 47,000 people arrested.

Related links:

AP. Turkey issues warrants for 23 judges and prosecutors

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Arrest, JUDGES, Turkey

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