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Turkey’s Kurdish presidential candidate Demirtas forced to campaign from prison

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Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas is running in the Turkish presidential election — from prison. He may have a huge following in the country, but he has received little coverage in Turkey’s mainstream press.

Selahattin Demirtas, the 45-year-old human rights attorney and former co-leader of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), is the first presidential candidate in the history of the modern Turkey to organize his election campaign from behind bars. He has been held in pretrial detention for more than a year-and-a-half on terrorism-related charges.

Demirtas has been coordinating his campaign from a prison cell in Edirne in western Turkey, and despite the adverse conditions, he seems headed for a respectable result. An opinion survey by Turkish pollster Sonar in early June gave Demirtas just shy of 8 percent of the vote, ranking him fourth among the presidential candidates.

Campaigning via Twitter

HDP lawmaker Ziya Pir is not surprised by Demirtas’ popularity. “With his candidature, Mr. Demirtas is taking a stand on peace, freedom and democracy — our values,” he said, noting the difficulty of running a campaign from prison.”They won’t let him out, just like thousands of other jailed members of our party,” Pir added. “The government doesn’t want our people to be able to run a campaign.”

Stuck behind bars, Demirtas has turned to social media — mainly Twitter — to communicate with his supporters, dictating 280-character tweets to his lawyers every day. He has nearly 1.7 million followers on the platform, and uses the hashtag #AskDemirtas to respond to questions.

Mainstream media ignore Demirtas

While the campaign is thriving on social media, it doesn’t exist in most traditional Turkish press. Frustrated, Pir said the main problem is that Turkey’s mainstream media for the most part ignore Demirtas: “Last week, [HDP] co-leader Pervin Buldan was interviewed on Fox TV, but other than that, we only exist in niche media, where we can’t reach the masses — so we go from door to door.”

A glimpse at the actual broadcast time allotted to the candidates shows Demirtas’ great disadvantage. CNN Turk and NTV dedicated 70 hours and 13 minutes to incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP party during the first two weeks of May alone. Demirtas only appeared on Turkish state TV for the first time on Sunday, in a 10-minute speech allotted to all candidates.

The Kurdish conflict

Demirtas has thrown his hat in the ring for the country’s top office before. In 2014, he garnered almost 10 percent of the vote running against Erdogan, finishing third. Back then, both Erdogan and Demirtas campaigned in Germany, and Demirtas’ greatest problem was already evident — the HDP’s perceived links to the the Kurdistan Workers’ Party(PKK), a group regarded by the Turkish government and the European Union as a terrorist organization. The armed conflict between PKK and the Turkish state has cost tens of thousands of lives since the early 1980s. Demirtas has repeatedly visited convicted PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in prison.

The PKK and HDP both advocate for greater rights for Turkey’s Kurds and share a similar political base, but Pir stressed that the organizations are independent of one another. “As a party, we have no links to the PKK,” he said. “But for historic reasons, many of our voters show sympathies for the PKK.”

The Kurdish conflict is the reason the HDP isn’t in an alliance with other parties. Nationalist candidate Meral Aksener has clearly ruled out any cooperation with the HDP, for example. As a result, Demirtas has little chance of making it to a runoff with against Erdogan. Should the incumbent not win the presidency outright in the June 24 vote, he will presumably face Aksener or the candidate from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Muharrem Ince, in a runoff on July 8.

It remains to be seen how and even whether Demirtas will be able to continue his political career after the election. If convicted of terrorism-related offenses, he faces up to 142 years in prison.

Washington post: Erdogan is transforming Turkey into a totalitarian prison

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IN TURKEY under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the tweet has been turned into a crime, and a troubled democracy is being turned into a dictatorship. Gradually but inexorably, a nation that once aspired to be an exemplar of enlightened moderation is being transformed by Mr. Erdogan into a dreary totalitarian prison. In the latest setback, last week, 23 journalists were sentenced to prison for between two and seven years on patently ridiculous charges that they were members of a terrorist organization and had tweeted about it. Two others were convicted on lesser charges of supporting a terrorist organization.

Mr. Erdogan, the target of a failed coup attempt in July 2016, has embarked on a campaign of repression against perceived enemies in the press, government, academia and law enforcement, among other pillars of Turkish society. More than 60,000 people have been arrested and 150,000 forced from their jobs. Mr. Erdogan’s prime targets are the perceived followers of the opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, who now lives in Pennsylvania. Mr. Erdogan claims Mr. Gulen — once his ally in Turkish politics — had incited the coup attempt, hence the charge of a “terrorist organization.” Mr. Gulen denies it.

Turkey once had a robust, independent press, but Mr. Erdogan has waged a multifront campaign: closing media outlets, forcing others into new ownership, and using friendly judges and prosecutors. In the latest cases, some reporters and editors were convicted for what they said on Twitter. A lawyer representing two journalists, Baris Topuk, said at an earlier hearing: “In our opinion, the name of the organization in which the defendants are accused of being members should be TTO: Tweetist Terrorist Organization. There are no weapons or bombs in the case, only news articles and tweets.” Ali Akkus, who was news editor of the now-defunct Zaman daily, had said on Twitter, “No dictator can silence the press.” The use of the word “dictator” was singled out by a prosecutor in the charges against him. Mr. Akkus received a sentence of seven years and six months in prison.

Cuma Ulus, the editor of the daily Millet, got the same sentence and declared earlier during the proceedings: “I have been a journalist for 21 years. I stood against terrorism and violence, [and] defended expression of freedom during all my life.” In the indictment, prosecutors cited three tweets and 22 retweets, accusing him of stirring up frenzy against the government.

Separately, 17 current and former writers, cartoonists and executives from the Cumhuriyet newspaper are also on trial. Mr. Erdogan is reportedly planning an assault on Internet broadcasting and free expression online, as well.

The show trials underscore how far Turkey has fallen from Western norms of democracy, human rights and rule of law. Mr. Erdogan is happily marching alongside Russia, China, Egypt, Cuba and others where legitimacy to rule rests on coercion and thought control. Mr. Erdogan’s dictatorship must be called out for what it is. Even if he covers his ears, the United States and other nations must protest, and loudly.

Azerbaijan sentences Israeli-Russian blogger Lapshin to 3 years in prison

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Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin, who is in Baku custody, has been sentenced to 3 years in prison by the Baku Court of Grave Crimes on Thursday, according to RIA Novosti.

Earlier, a state prosecutor demanded a 6.5-year prison term for the blogger.

To remind, Alexander Lapshin was extradited from Belarus to Azerbaijan in February, where he was wanted after visiting the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and criticizing the Azerbaijani leadership.

Azerbaijani prosecutors launched a criminal case into “repeated public anti-state calls” and “illegal crossing of Azerbaijan’s state border,” punishable with a prison term of five to eight years.

The extradition and persecution against Lapshin was widely slammed by international community as a gross violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of speech and movement.

 

Source Panorama.am

Turkey seeks 20-year terms for hunger-striking teachers

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Turkish prosecutors have demanded up to 20 years in prison for two hunger-striking teachers protesting their dismissal in a widespread purge after an abortive coup last year.

Nuriye Gulmen and Semih Ozakca, who have been on hunger strike for over two months, were charged Wednesday by an Ankara court with membership in a terrorist group, spreading terrorist propaganda, and breaking the law on demonstrations after the failed July 2016 coup.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said the two Turkish educators are specifically accused of membership in the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, also known as the DHKP-C, a leftist militant group that has staged sporadic armed attacks against Turkey over the last years.

Ozakca, a former primary school teacher, and Gulmen, a university lecturer, have abstained from eating for 77 days and been surviving on water alone. They have vowed to continue striking in prison, refusing treatment despite their reportedly serious health conditions.

“For us, the resistance will continue in prison. I invite everyone to continue the resistance outside,” 35-year-old Gulmen said.

“We will continue our fight until we are victorious,” said Ozakca, 28.

The two Turkish educators were initially detained early this week and are currently held in custody on a court order until they stand trial.

Speaking at a news conference in Rome, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused both Ozakca and Gulmen of being DHKP-C members, saying the group worked with the militants of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“Whoever supports terror groups will have action taken against them. This has nothing to do with freedom of expression,” he said.

In less than a week, Turkey opened the trials of 221 suspected organizers of the coup attempt, also ordering the detention of 139 staffers from local councils and two ministries in Ankara over alleged links to Fetullah Gulen, a US-based cleric accused of masterminding the botched putsch against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey witnessed a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, when a faction of the Turkish military declared that the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was no more in charge of the country.

Over the course of some two days, however, the coup was suppressed. Almost 250 people were killed and nearly 2,200 others wounded in the abortive coup.

Since then, Ankara has been engaged in suppressing perceived putschists and sympathizers.

Over 40,000 people have been arrested and 120,000 others sacked or suspended from a wide range of professions over alleged links with the coup attempt.

Critics say President Erdogan is using the coup as a pretext to eliminate his opponents.

Azerbaijani journalist sentenced to 30 days in prison

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New York, May 24, 2017—Azerbaijani authorities should immediately release freelance journalist Nijat Amiraslanov, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A district court in the northwestern Azerbaijani city of Gazakh yesterday sentenced the journalist to 30 days in prison on charges of resisting police.
The journalist’s lawyer, Elchin Sadygov, told CPJ that police arrested Amiraslanov on May 22 with no explanation as he quietly drank tea in a Gazakh café, and that Amiraslanov denied charges of resisting arrest. “If one is a journalist working with [independent media], one expects to be detained any time. And nobody can defend himself. It’s useless,” Sadygov said, adding that he had no doubt that Amiraslanov’s journalism was the reason for his arrest.
One of Amiraslanov’s colleagues, who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said Amiraslanov is well-known in Gazakh for his critical reports for local and regional media about poverty in the region and corruption among local officials. Four other Azerbaijani journalists, also speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, also told CPJ that they believe Amiraslanov was arrested for his critical reporting.
“We call on Azerbaijani authorities not to contest Nijat Amiraslanov’s appeal of this verdict, and to cease harassing and jailing critical reporters,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. “We call on Azerbaijan to reverse its record of jailing journalists on trumped-up, retaliatory charges.”
At least five journalists were imprisoned in Azerbaijan for their work on December 1, 2016, when CPJ last conducted its annual census of journalists imprisoned around the world. In April, the government blocked access to at least five critical news websites by decree and sought a court order to make that censorship permanent, according to media reports.

 

Turkey free up prison space for alleged coup plotters, 38,000 convicted criminals frees

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pro-kurdish-newsThe decree is one of several issued under a state of emergency. It comes amid reports of prison overcrowding following last month’s failed coup attempt. Thousands of people have been arrested in the resulting crackdown.

The Turkish government issued a series of decrees Wednesday, the most notable one paving the way for the provisional release of 38,000 convicted criminals. The government gave no reason for the reform, but it would serve to free up prison space for alleged coup plotters.

The judicial order applies to prisoners with a record of good behavior and two years or less remaining in their sentence. Those convicted of violent crimes – murder, rape, domestic abuse, terrorism, or crimes against the state – are not eligible for early release.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag insisted on Twitter that it was a conditional release of prisoners, not a pardon or an amnesty. He described it as a “supervised release.”

The measures would not apply for crimes committed after July 1, so would exclude anyone later convicted of involvement in the coup.

Far-reaching purge

Since last month’s attempted coup the government has detained some 35,000 people for questioning. The putsch led to at least 270 deaths. The government accuses the coup plotters of being followers of the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

The government alleges so-called Gulenists infiltrated the military and other state institutions.

Gulen has denied any prior knowledge or involvement in the coup attempt but Turkey is demanding his extradition from the United States. Gulen has been living in self-imposed exile in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999. Turkish prosecutors have called for Gulen to be punished with two life sentences and an additional 1,900 years in prison.

More decrees, more suspects

In another decree, more than 2,000 police officers and hundreds of members of the military and the BTK communication technology authority were also dismissed. They, too, are accused of having links to Gulen.

Turkish officials have also accused the US government of being behind the coup. The accusations have been vehemently denied in Washington.

Additional decrees include the closure of the TIB telecoms authority, and another that gives the president the authority to appoint the head of the armed forces – all have been published in the country’s Official Gazette.

The latest decrees are issued under the authority of a three-month state of emergency that took effect July 21 – six days after the failed coup.

Tens of thousands of civil servants have been dismissed or suspended as part of a massive purge in the aftermath of the putsch, which reportedly involved a group of rogue soldiers who seized tanks, warplanes and helicopters in their attempt to topple the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Thousands of private schools, charities and other institutions, which the government accuses of having ties to Gulen, have also been forced to close.

bik/se (AFP, dpa AP, Reuters)

Former Miss Turkey sentenced to prison for ‘insulting’ Erdoğan

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mstr.thumbFormer Miss Turkey and model Merve Büyüksaraç has been sentenced to prison for “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his prime ministry via a post on Instagram. A complaint was filed against Büyüksaraç, who was chosen Miss Turkey in 2006, for “openly insulting a public official for his duty.”

“The boundaries of criticism shouldn’t be interpreted harshly due to the complainant being a state authority. We think that the statements my client shared should be evaluated politically. That’s why we demand the acquittal of my client,” said Ali Deniz Ceylan, Büyüksaraç’s lawyer, on May 31.

The prison sentence of one year, two months and 17 days was postponed. Up to four years and five months in prison was sought for Büyüksaraç.

The lawyers of the parties were the only participants in the hearing, in which Erdoğan’s lawyer claimed that Büyüksaraç’s statements could not be evaluated within the framework of criticism.

“An attack took place against the personal rights of my client. We want the defendant to be punished,” said Erdoğan’s lawyer, Hatice Özay.

Büyüksaraç had said that she was regretful in her defense in the first hearing of the case and asked for her acquittal.

“The poem I’ve shared was shared 960,000 times on social media. I shared the poem via giving quotes from it. The comments near the pictures and the poems, which are in the bill of indictment, don’t belong to me,” Büyüksaraç said.

“I’m regretful that the post I shared was perceived as an insult,” she also said.

Autocratic Ottoman All latest updates Erdogan is sending its journalists to prison

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20160514_eup501After forcing out his prime minister, President Erdogan muzzles the press

CAN DUNDAR saw the shooter approach and take aim at his legs. “He drew his gun, called me a traitor, and began firing,” he says, recalling the scene on May 6th outside an Istanbul courthouse, where he and a colleague have been standing trial. His wife grabbed the gunman, and Mr Dundar (pictured, right), one of Turkey’s best-known journalists, survived unscathed. Just hours later, he was sentenced to nearly six years in jail for publishing details of covert Turkish arms shipments to Syrian insurgents in Cumhuriyet, the newspaper where he served as editor-in-chief. The paper’s Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gul (pictured, left), was sentenced to five years. Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had called on the pair to “pay a heavy price” for revealing state secrets, has kept mum about the attack. Pro-government newspapers suggested it had been staged to attract sympathy for its target.

These are dark days for journalism in Turkey. The latest press freedom index by Reporters Without Borders puts the country in 151st place, between Tajikistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Censorship is the industry standard. News reports from the Kurdish southeast, where clashes between armed separatists and Turkish security forces have claimed more than a thousand lives since last summer, increasingly resemble army propaganda. The dead are referred to either as “martyrs” or “terrorists”; civilians, at least 250 of whom have been killed in the fighting, are seldom mentioned.

Journalists are routinely sacked or dragged through the courts. In late April two columnists, also from Cumhuriyet, were given prison terms for republishing a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. Mr Dundar blames Mr Erdogan and his government. “Most of our media [have] already surrendered,” he says. “Now they are trying to silence the rest.”

The departure of prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, hounded into resigning last week, and the pending appointment of a more pliant successor, will make that task easier. For over a year, Mr Erdogan has been pushing for constitutional changes that will give him sweeping new powers. He is now ratcheting up his campaign to transform Turkey’s system of government from a parliamentary to presidential one. “At this point,” he said in a speech on May 6th, “there is no turning back.”

To get those changes, he will need an early election, a referendum, or both. But it may no longer matter. With Mr Davutoglu out of the way, one of the last checks on Mr Erdogan’s power is gone. “This effectively marks the end of parliamentary democracy in Turkey,” says one political strategist. “Davutoglu may not have been a huge reformist, but the fact that he was in the system gave people some reassurance that things would not lead in the direction of one-man rule,” says Asli Aydintasbas of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank. That reassurance is now gone.

A deal that promised visa-free travel to the EU for Turkish citizens, in exchange for a range of reforms and a commitment to stem illegal migration to Europe, offered some hope of emboldening the reformists in the Turkish government. That deal is now hanging on by a thread.

Mr Erdogan seems more than happy to snap it. In his speech, the Turkish leader slammed Europe for asking Turkey to amend its laws against terrorism, which are increasingly used to prosecute Kurdish activists and other critics, including Mr Dundar. “The EU says: you will change the anti-terror law for visas,” he said. “Pardon me, but we are going our way and you can go yours.” 

Source: economist.com

Letter from Azerbaijan prison “Don’t let Azerbaijan use political prisoners as props”

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Khadija Ismayilova, a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was convicted of several financial crimes and sentenced to 7½ years in prison in a case criticized by human rights organizations. (Aziz Karimov/Associated Press)

Khadija Ismayilova, a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was convicted of several financial crimes and sentenced to 7½ years in prison in a case criticized by human rights organizations. (Aziz Karimov/Associated Press)

By Khadija Ismayilova 

(washingtonpost) Khadija Ismayilova is an investigative journalist and contributor to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Azerbaijani service. She has been imprisoned in Azerbaijan since December 2014.

I am writing this letter from jail in Baku, Azerbaijan, where I’m serving a 7½ -year sentence for a crime I never committed.

I am a journalist and my only “crime” was to investigate high-level corruption within the government and family of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev . Aliyev inherited power from his father in 2003 and changed the constitution in 2009 so he could stay in power indefinitely. He has been called an enemy of the press by international watchdogs, while abusing other fundamental freedoms and violating people’s right to truth and decency.

Aliyev is in Washington this week to attend the Nuclear Security Summit that began Thursday. To get an invitation to this event from President Obama, he had to pardon several political prisoners. A lthough they have been released from jail, they remain confined within the country, barred from leaving, and justice has not been restored.

This is a very costly invitation for Aliyev, who for years refused to accept international pressure or criticism on this issue. His response was, always, that Azerbaijan doesn’t have political prisoners. In December, Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) introduced the Azerbaijan Democracy Act to recognize Azerbaijan’s violations of human rights and freedoms and to hold individual officials accountable. It must pass.

But why were some of the political prisoners suddenly set free? What has changed?

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Aliyev needed these prisoners so that in exchange for their release, he could shake hands with Obama or get a loan from the World Bank to finance his failing currency and crippled economy after the sudden fall of oil prices.

Aliyev is shamelessly trying to use political prisoners as bargaining chips to advance his foreign policy agenda. And they are supposed to be happy that they were freed.

I am happy — very happy — that some political prisoners have been released. But their fights, and mine, are not over. I am not a toy to be exchanged for diplomatic gain by Baku or Washington so that officials can continue to pretend that it is business as usual. We are hostages of the regime, whether we are inside or outside of prison. Freedom is my universal and constitutional right, and Aliyev failed to protect it as the head of state. I am not going to ask to be pardoned for a crime I never committed. I am free even now, in jail, and my freedom is not for sale.

So President Obama, please ask President Aliyev to stop muzzling the independent media and civil society. Ask him to explain the billions of petrodollars wasted on white-elephant projects for the benefit of a few. Ask him when he is going to hold free and fair elections. Ask him when he is going to let all the political prisoners go free. Ask him when fundamental freedoms can become a right, in practice — not a gift that he can give or take away. I asked these questions, and I ended up in jail.

These are important questions. They must not go unanswered. And we will fight until justice is fully served.

Read more on this issue:

Khadija Ismayilova: A letter from an Azerbaijani priso

Turkish Lobbyist DENNIS HASTERT PROSECUTORS WANT UP TO 6 MONTHS IN PRISON

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Dennis hestert(abc7chicago.com) The government’s pre sentencing memo divulges fresh details about the sexual misconduct underpinnings of the Hastert case – including the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old boy. (WLS)

CHICAGO (WLS) —

Prosecutors in a hush money case against ex-U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert are asking that a judge decide whether to put the former, powerful Illinois congressman in prison.

READ: Hastert sentencing memo from prosecutors

The government’s presentencing memo filed Friday night does divulge fresh details about the sexual misconduct underpinnings of the Hastert case – including the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old boy who was a wrestler on a team Hastert coached.

A veil of secrecy over the Hastert case has resulted in cloak and dagger efforts by legal observers and news organizations to determine why the former House Speaker had crafted a deal to pay $3.5 million to keep persons quiet about past misconduct.

Mr. Hastert pleaded guilty only to breaking banking laws and not to sexual misconduct or crimes that reveal the nature of the personal transgressions. He will be sentenced April 27 by District Judge Thomas M. Durkin in Chicago. Judge Durkin will determine a prison sentence of between zero and six months.

Hastert’s plea agreement with the government he once served called for that amount of prison time-no more than six months. There had been speculation by court watchers that prosecutors would ask for little or no time behind bars considering his health and lack of criminal history. Tonight’s court filing puts the decision on the judge, and asks for a period of court supervision as a sex offender regardless of whether he actually does jail time.

Prosecutors and Judge Durkin last month confirmed at a hearing in Chicago that the fundamental allegations against Hastert relate to sexual abuse. Other than that, from the beginning of what Hastert attorney’s describe as a tremendous fall from glory, there has been no official intonation explaining why any of it happened.

As the I-Team reported this week, defense attorneys want probation for the fallen, 74-year old Republican legend. They have asked for merciful consideration for the sickly Hastert, citing his health and the family shame he’s suffered.