The Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, declared this Saturday that the ambassadors of ten countries, including those of the United States, Germany and France, who asked that the opposition Osman kavala was released, they will be declared “persona non grata as soon as possible”.
“I ordered our Foreign Minister to prepare as soon as possible the declaration of these ten ambassadors as persona non grata“Said the Turkish head of state during a trip to central Turkey, although he did not specify any date.
48 hours ago he had threatened diplomats with expelling them from the country. “I have told our Foreign Minister that we cannot afford to host them in our country”Erdogan affirmed, according to statements published this Thursday by various Turkish media.
In a rare joint statement released Monday night, the ambassadors of the United States, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden called for a “fair and prompt resolution of the case” Osman kavala, a Turkish publisher and philanthropist who has become the black beast of government. He has been incarcerated without trial for four years.
“Is it your thing to teach Turkey lessons? Who are you?”, Reacted the Turkish president, underlining that the justice of his country is“ independent ”, according to local media.
On Tuesday, the day after they released their statement, the ambassadors of these ten countries were summoned by the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, who considered “unacceptable”His appeal for Osman Kavala.
The diplomats considered that “the persistent delay in its process (…) casts a shadow over respect for democracy, the rule of law and the transparency of the Turkish judicial system”.
Osman kavalaThe 64-year-old, a very prominent figure in civil society, has been accused since 2013 by President Erdogan’s regime of seeking to destabilize Turkey.
“Maintain the fiction of a plot”
In December 2019, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered his “immediate release”, to no avail.
At the beginning of October, an Istanbul court ordered that Kavala’s detention be prolonged, a wealthy businessman born in Paris, claiming that he “lacked new elements to set him free.”
Kavala is in the crosshairs of the authorities for having supported the anti-government demonstrations against Erdogan in 2013, when the current president was prime minister. Later he was accused of attempted coup d’état and espionage..
The businessman, who has always denied the charges against him, is exposed to life imprisonment. He will appear again in court on November 26.
In an interview with the AFP, Osman Kavala considered last week that, with his arrest, the Recep Tayyip Erdogan regime could justify its “conspiratorial theses”.
“For me, the real reason for my prolonged detention is the government’s need to maintain the fiction of a plot”He declared from his cell, through his lawyer.
“As I am accused of having participated in a plot organized by foreign powers, releasing me would weaken that fiction and that is surely not what the government wants”, He explained.
The Council of Europe, of which Turkey is a member, in September threatened the Turkish government with sanctions for this case.
These sanctions could be adopted at the next Council meeting, between November 30 and December 2, if the Turkish Justice does not release the businessman earlier.
(With information from AFP)
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