In Turkey Erdogan continues his repressive dark policy

By Victoria Hudson.

Turkish president and Muslim Brotherhood leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, continue his repressive and dark policy against his people, in particular against journalists and activists. After the coup of 2016 which tried to overthrow the Sultan Erdogan strengthens repressive control measures and every day his security forces are committing new crimes.

According to international organizations active in Turkey, as Human Rights Watch (HRW) most media lack independence and promote the government’s political line. Journalists working for Kurdish media in Turkey continued to be arrested and jailed repeatedly, obstructing critical reporting from the southeast of the country. The same destiny was reserved to journalists who reported or published photos of Daesh and other terroristic organizations trafficking oil on Turkish borders with the complicity of Erdogan’s authorities.

During 2019 courts issued verdicts in several major politically motivated trials of journalists, based on evidence consisting of writing and reporting which does not advocate violence alongside unsupported allegations of connections with terrorist organizations or the coup attempt. Most cases are now at appeal. Erdogan regime systematically uses terrorism allegation to eliminate journalists, activists and political enemies.

According to Human Rights Watch, in February 2018, “writers and commentators Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan and NazlıIlıcak were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on trumped-up coup charges. A court bailed Mehmet Altan in June, after a January Constitutional Court ruling and a March European Court of Human Rights ruling ordering his release. Ahmet Altan and NazliIlicak remain jailed. After the regional appeal court upheld the convictions on October 2, all defendants appealed to the Court of Cassation”.

The Organization for Human Rights also reported the trial of staff from Cumhuriyet newspaper, including journalists, executives, and the editor, ended in April. Fourteen were convicted on trumped-up terrorism charges and given sentences ranging from two to eight years, and three acquitted. In the last days, Amnesty International expressed concern for the re-arrest of the businessman and Human Rights’ defender Osmana Kavala after a Turkish court acquitted him from the accuse of terrorism, revealing that he hadn’t any rule in the case of a protest in 2016.

Media workers and reporters reported the blocking of websites and removal of online content is continuing in Turkey, where thousands of people still facing criminal investigations and prosecutions for their social media posts. Also, Wikipedia remains blocked. From 2018, HRW reported an increase in arbitrary bans on public assemblies, particularly evident after the end of an emergency rule when governors assumed greater powers to restrict assemblies.

Local activists referred to several cases where Police detained students from leading universities for peaceful protests on campus against Turkey’s offensive on Afrin and for holding up banners critical of Erdogan. At least 18 students were held in pretrial detention for such protests and many more prosecuted for crimes such as “spreading terrorist propaganda” and “insulting the president.”