The Turkish dissident Osman Kavala (64) is at the center of a new political row between Turkey and ten western countries, including the Netherlands. But who is this man accused by President Erdogan of trying to destabilize the country?
Osman Kavala has been one of the main supporters of civil society in Turkey for many years. His father made a fortune in the tobacco trade and founded a conglomerate (multinational company with multiple divisions that make different products, ed.). Son Osman, who studied in Manchester, UK, took over the business in 1982 but eventually withdrew from its operations to become a full-time philanthropist.
He founded a non-profit organization called Anadolu Kültür, which aims to build bridges between different ethnic, religious and regional groups through the sharing of art and culture. The organization supported both Turkish and Kurdish artists, an Armenian-Turkish youth symphony orchestra and an Armenian-Turkish cinema platform. “There is hardly a cultural initiative in Istanbul in which he is not involved. Foreign politicians such as Angela Merkel valued him as an interlocutor.” Der Spiegel.
Agent of George Soros
Erdogan considers Kavala a terrorist and calls him “the Turkish agent” of US-Hungarian billionaire George Soros. The latter donates a lot of money to charities through its Open Society Foundation. Among other things, the foundation stands up for democracy, liberal values, minorities and independent media, but stopped its activities in Turkey at the end of 2018 because, according to her, she could no longer carry out her work after “unfounded accusations” in the media. Erdogan had just earlier accused ‘the Hungarian Jew’ Soros of ‘trying to divide and destroy countries’. The Turkish Interior Ministry opened an investigation against his foundation for alleged involvement in the anti-government protests in Istanbul’s Gezi Park in 2013.
Turkish authorities accuse Osman Kavala of orchestrating and co-financing these Gezi protests through his cultural organization as well as participating in the failed coup d’état on July 15, 2016. Kavala was arrested at Istanbul airport in October 2017 after visiting a cultural project in collaboration with the German Goethe Institute in the city of Gaziantep. Since then, he has been held in the high-security wing of the Silivri prison in Istanbul.
acquittal
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ordered Kavala’s immediate release at the end of 2019 for “insufficient evidence” of involvement in the Gezi protests and the failed coup in 2016. to silence all Turkish human rights defenders.
A court in Istanbul acquitted Kavala of involvement in the Gezi protests in February last year. The prosecutor had demanded life against him but could not substantiate the charges with evidence. The benefactor was released but was arrested again hours later for his alleged role in the failed coup and an espionage charge. In January 2021, an appeals court overturned the acquittal for the Gezi protests. If convicted of espionage, Kavala faces a life sentence.
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Fair trial
Kavala, who maintains his innocence, will appear in court again on November 26. In an interview with the French news agency AFP last week, he said his imprisonment would allow Erdogan’s regime to justify his “conspiracy theories”. “Since a fair trial is no longer possible in these circumstances, I think it makes no sense for me to attend the upcoming hearings,” the sixty-year-old said through his lawyers on Friday.
The Council of Europe recently threatened Turkey with sanctions that could be adopted at the intergovernmental organization’s next meeting in late November if Kavala is not released by then. Ten countries, including the Netherlands, signed the appeal for Kavala’s release. In response, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Saturday that Turkey wants to expel the ambassadors of the countries concerned.
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