Who is Osman Kavala, the Turkish opponent who has been in prison for 4 years (and whose request for his release unleashed the fury of Erdogan)

The weekend he spent turbulent for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey. His furious reaction to the request for the release of opponent Osman Kavala is the best proof of this.

All the ambassadors who joined and signed a manifesto to release the businessman who has lived in prison for four years, were declared persona non gratas and their expulsion from the country was ordered.

Because, when it comes to a heavy hand, Erdogan strives to show that he is the most implacable, even to the point of making decisions worthy of a tragicomedy – there is his ban on listening to music after midnight.

Consequently, the representatives of United States, France, Germany and seven other countries, must leave the country, as specified in article 9 of the Vienna Convention, which precisely talks about those who are declared persona non grata.

WHO IS KAVALA?

For Erdogan, the 63-year-old is the representative in Turkey of the “Hungarian Jew, Soros, who tears countries apart”.

How true is that?

“La Vanguardia” says that it was he who led the country to the Soros donation network, Open Societythough he made his own way.

The media notes that Kavala was born in Paris and that he is the heir to a great mining and real estate fortune with Turkish roots. His path, however, focused on philanthropy and culture.

With his money, Kavala financed the publishing house “Iletesim, fundamental in social sciences”, As well as other projects that reflected on the current situation in Turkey to better understand the country.

“He set up political studies associations, such as Helsinki, or others focused on historical heritage. Also Tesev, a European think tank. Involved in the resolution of the Kurdish conflict, he created the Center for Truth, Justice and Memory”.

He also organized and hosted art biennials, created cultural centers that were open to people from different backgrounds.

Why is he in prison?

In 2013, ‘outraged’ of Turkey occupied the Gezi park in Istanbul, which resulted in “the greatest social protest everBy Erdogan duringhis 17 years in power”.

“El País” recalls:

“What had started as a small demonstration against the reform of the Gezi park in Istanbul ended up becoming a movement against the authoritarianism of the then prime minister and today president that spread throughout the country and in which more than 3.5 million participated. turks.”

By 2019, the Erdogan government had been in charge of persecuting the opponents, to the point that those who were captured in the park faced the possibility of paying “3,000 years in jail”.

They were “16 defendants – two of them, the actor Mehmet Ali Alabora and the journalist Can Dündar, tried in absentia because they have gone into exile abroad – and the Prosecutor’s Office asks for them between 606 and 2,970 years in prison”.

From the government, the tycoon was blamed George Soros to finance the revolt through the Open Society.

Osman Kavala, due to his ties to the NGO, was arrested in 2017, and “Since then, he has been kept in prison despite the fact that he was not allowed to know the accusations against him until a few months ago.”.

However, in the 2000, a court acquitted the defendants of “attempt to overthrow the government”.

But the one who did not go free was Kavala, thanks to a play by the Prosecutor’s office who accused him of having been part of the attempted coup in 2016, which was in charge of the military.

In reaction, the European Union and the Council of europe they criticized the decision. The European Court of Human Rights He also spoke out and said that procedural rights had been violated and that he should be released.

Then, Kavala stated:

“I’m not very surprised. Although there was no reason for them to stop me, I did not expect [salir] after the first hearing. As you know, I am the number one defendant in this case.”.

“This situation, in my opinion, shows that the fiction of the prosecution is not supported by concrete evidence, was not exactly prepared and was written as an alleged political message.”.

And that is why several ambassadors – those of Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Canada, New Zealand– They decided to sign a manifesto asking for their freedom. Although, of course, Erdogan’s response was very much in his style.

“These 10 ambassadors come to give orders to the Foreign Ministry. How shameless is this? Where do you think they are? This is Turkey! I have also given orders to the Foreign Ministry: ‘That these 10 ambassadors be immediately declared persona non grata’. So they will understand, they will know what Turkey is”.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

IT MAY INTEREST YOU