When a German-Kurd enters Turkey, an odyssey begins. The case is an example of Turkish arbitrary justice.
Frankfurt – Hüseyin Güneş is a German citizen, graphic designer and lives in a Bavarian community. Before that, he worked as a journalist for several Turkish-language media. At the end of October, the German-Kurd gets a call. His father fell from a ladder while working on his pistachio trees, sustained serious injuries and was in danger of losing his life. Güneş decides to go to the… Türkiye to fly to support his father. The man has never been charged with anything so far, so the trip shouldn't be a problem. But then the man's odyssey begins.
As soon as he landed at Dalaman Airport, the graphic designer was arrested at passport control – for terrorist offenses. At first he can't believe it. He is brought before the public prosecutor, who confirms this. At first they didn't want to tell him details about what exactly he was supposed to have committed. Later he learns details for the first time. He is a member of the terrorist organization FETÖ. FETÖ stands for “Fethullah Terrorist Organization”.
After the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan classify the movement around the preacher Fethullah Gülen, who lives in exile in the US, as a terrorist organization, which he also holds responsible for the attempted coup. Ankara was unable to provide credible evidence of this, either in the USA or in Europe.
Anonymous complaint leads to arrest in Turkey
Later, Güneş was taken to the TEM anti-terrorism police headquarters in Mugla and remained in custody there for three days. During this time he was repeatedly questioned by police officers. But he is at least allowed to have a lawyer with him during the interrogations. During the interrogation, he also learned that the charges against him were based on a complaint from a woman who allegedly reported him to the police cybercrime department as a member of the FETÖ. “Hopefully you catch this vile FETÖ terrorist,” the woman wrote in her email to the police cybercrime department on May 4, 2020. This emerges from the public prosecutor’s investigation file fr.de from IPPEN.MEDIA.
Participation in online news sites as evidence of terrorist crimes
The investigation file also shows that Güneş worked for the online news site Kronos worked, a medium founded by exiled journalists from Turkey. “I only did graphic work here for a short time,” the German tells us. As proof that the man is a terrorist, the person attached a screenshot of Kronos' Twitter page in which Ömer Döngeloglu, an Islamist preacher, lambasted a deceased Gülenist. “What has God shown you… shame has been shown to you. “They didn’t get a grave in the city of Ordu and buried their dead like a dog’s carcass,” he says. Döngeloglu is a supporter of Erdogan.
Güneş also has his cell phone, which is taken from him when he is arrested. It also contains the contact details of Kronos-Journalists saved. The police want to know why he saved their numbers.
Kronos editor-in-chief also in the sights of the Turkish justice system
The editor-in-chief of Kronos, the exiled journalist Doğan Ertuğrul, who lives in Austria, finds it ridiculous that an entry on X or participation in his medium should be considered evidence of terrorist crimes. “That someone because of working with Kronos Having to answer for membership or support of a terrorist organization is absurd. It is absolutely incomprehensible that links to our news site are equated with terrorism.”
Ertuğrul is not surprised by what happened to the German Güneş. After all, he too is in the sights of the Turkish justice system. “There are two criminal proceedings against me solely because of my journalistic activities Kronos“. If convicted, he could face several years in prison.
Police want to know names of Kurdish politicians abroad
During the interrogations, the police repeatedly tried to establish connections between Güneş and the PKK. They keep asking him what contacts he has with politicians from the pro-Kurdish HDP and want to know the names of those who live in Germany. Güneş repeatedly asserts that he has no contact with politicians abroad. “They wanted to expose me as a PKK member,” says Güneş. “Depending on what works. The main thing is that I end up being convicted of membership in a terrorist organization.”
Finally, after three days, the graphic designer is fired. But he is not allowed to leave the country. After visiting his father, he goes to the German Consulate General in Izmir. He is afraid of being arrested again at any time. He wants to get back home as quickly as possible. However, the German-Kurd is denied the help he wants, as he tells fr.de. “You are a journalist. “You know that we also warn against traveling to Turkey,” an employee is said
to have told him. The former journalist explains that the SPD state chairwoman in Schleswig-Holstein, Serpil Midyatli, and her family supported him during this difficult time.
FETÖ stock exchange: Anyone who bribes the justice system will be released
Later, Güneş gets a tip from an acquaintance. He should contact a lawyer in Istanbul. He goes there and meets him. “In his office there were photos of him with the former justice minister Abdulhamit Gül and the chairman of the right-wing radical MHP,” he says. However, the lawyer wants 30,000 euros for his help. At that moment he was shocked, says Güneş. “He said that the money was not only for him, but also for the prosecutor and other bureaucrats.”
In Turkey, this system is called “FETÖ-Borsasi”, translated as Fetö-Exchange or Fetö-Marketplace. Anyone who is accused of membership in the FETÖ can buy their way out. Anyone who has money has no choice but to pay larger sums Paying bribes to politicians and bureaucratsto avoid a prison sentence of several years. Whether you actually belong to the Gülen movement or not doesn't matter.
Smuggler helps German to escape
Güneş, however, cannot possibly pay the money demanded. He decides to leave the country by other means. He finds smugglers who help him cross the border. From there he sets off for Athens and flies to Frankfurt. Although the man appears relieved, the strain and tension can be felt in the conversation. He keeps lighting a cigarette. When he talks, his voice often seems shaky.
Arbitrary justice is omnipresent in Turkey
Various human rights organizations have long been warning about arbitrary justice in Turkey. “Many arrests are made despite no evidence of a possible crime being presented. The bans and arrests are mostly arbitrary, as can be seen in the trials of Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş,” says Begüm Langefeld from the Amnesty Turkey Coordination Group in an interview with the editorial team.
Kemal Karanfil, former judge at the highest appeal court “Yargitay”, also warns about the justice system in Turkey. “Anyone can fall into the clutches of the Turkish justice system at any time,” warns the former judge in exile in Germany. “The FETÖ exchange still exists. Lawyers, judges and prosecutors are making a killing,” says Karanfil. Human rights in Turkey stay by the wayside.
Hüseyin Güneş tells us that he no longer wants to travel to Turkey. The disappointment with his former home and also the German mission abroad is too great. It was easier to reach the Foreign Office in Berlin than the emergency number of the German Consulate General in Izmir. (Erkan Pehlivan)
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