ANKARA, Turkey — Police used tear gas and water cannons against a demonstration by tens of thousands of pro-secular protesters, but Monday’s march to mark the founding of the Turkish republic went on in defiance of a government ban.
In the past few years, the Republic Day celebrations have become a symbol of differences between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s elected, Islamic-leaning government and its opponents, who fear that the country’s secular traditions are in danger....
In the past few years, the Republic Day celebrations have become a symbol of differences between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s elected, Islamic-leaning government and its opponents, who fear that the country’s secular traditions are in danger....
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the secular republic 89 years ago after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire....
Under Erdogan’s leadership over the past decade, Turkey has boosted economic growth, raised its international profile, and reduced the power of the military, which had staged three coups since the 1960s. But serious concerns remain about public rights and freedoms in the country.
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Related: 326 convicted in Turkish coup plot
"Turkish ex-army chief on trial for 1997 coup" Associated Press, September 03, 2013
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s former military chief and 102 other people went on trial Monday for alleged involvement in the ousting of an Islamic-led government in 1997, as Turkey presses ahead with efforts to make generals account for decades of intervention in government affairs.
Retired General Ismail Hakki Karadayi, 81, and the other defendants face life in prison if convicted of charges of ‘‘overthrowing the Turkish government by force’’ for pressuring former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan to resign.
The ouster was dubbed Turkey’s ‘‘post-modern coup’’ because unlike previous coups in Turkey, no tanks or soldiers were used to bring down the government, which was replaced by another coalition nominated by the president.
Karadayi served as the chief of the military staff from 1994 to 1998, at a time when the army was concerned by Erbakan’s efforts to raise the profile of Islam in the predominantly Muslim but secular country.
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Also see: Sunday Globe Special: Turkey Protects Itself Against Coup
And against protests!
"10 get life terms in Turkish coup case; 17 of 275 on trial acquitted; forces lock down roads" by Sebnem Arsu | New York Times, August 06, 2013
IZMIR, Turkey — A local court on Monday sentenced at least 10 defendants out of 275, including a former army chief of staff, to life in prison for their role in plotting a military coup to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and acquitted 17.
After five years in one of Turkey’s most politically charged cases to date, the court, in a prison complex in Silivri, a western Istanbul province, sentenced some of the suspects, including Mustafa Balbay, an elected member of Parliament from the opposition Republican People’s Party, to prison terms ranging from six months to 129 years.
The court issued arrest warrants for 11 suspects who had been tried without being arrested.
Among the suspects who were handed life sentences were: Ilker Basbug, who served as military chief of staff under the current government; Veli Kucuk, the lead suspect in the trial and a former brigadier general suspected of founding Jitem, a wing of the Turkish gendarmerie; and Hursit Tolon, a former army commander.
Also receiving life sentences were: Kemal Kerincsiz, a lawyer who has filed complaints against 40 writers for “insulting Turkishness,” and Tuncay Ozkan, a journalist. Ozkan was additionally sentenced to more than 11 years in prison on other charges, his lawyer said.
Balbay was sentenced to 34 years and eight months in prison. Dogu Perincek, chairman of the left-wing Workers’ Party, received a 117-year prison term. Sinan Aygun, another opposition Parliament member, was sentenced to 13 years and six months, while at least seven journalists were handed prison terms between six months to 22 years, news outlets reported.
Turkey has faced criticism for having a poor record of media freedom. The Paris-based organization Reporters Without Borders has referred to Turkey as “the world’s biggest prison for reporters.”
The group ranked Turkey 154th out of 179 countries, behind Iraq and Russia, in its 2013 World Press Freedom Index.
Families were denied access to the final hearing, and state officials blocked access to the Silivri courthouse. Roads leading to the town were closed in the early morning, preventing buses of protesters from reaching the area.
Television images showed security forces erecting barricades around the prison premises and at checkpoints on the Silivri highway, as well as images of antigovernment protesters in an open field far from the prison premises waving flags behind a security cordon.
Protesters tried to block the main highway around Silivri after verdicts were announced, but were confronted by security forces, who fired tear gas in fields near the prison complex, the Ulusal Kanal TV station reported.
Lawyers criticized the security measures as a violation of human and legal rights, and insisted the trial was unfair when the courts refused to examine evidence that they said would show close links between the police, the prosecutors’ office, and judges in an unlawful attempt to silence political opponents.
“In these cases, they tried to create a thornless rose garden by silencing the opposition and intimidating patriotic people with secular principles,” said Celal Ulgen, a lawyer representing 16 defendants, including Ozkan, the journalist. “After the Ergenekon trial, it’s impossible to talk about a justice system free of politics, or public trust in justice.”
On Saturday, in what critics said were preemptive security measures before the verdict, the Istanbul police raided several locations, including offices of a neonationalist youth group, and detained at least 20 people who called for public protests against the trial.
The court case, named Ergenekon for a mythic valley that is the moniker of the clandestine organization to which the defendants are accused of belonging, is at the center of Turkey’s many fissures. It has looked into charges listed in 23 indictments that took up thousands of pages and involved 275 suspects, 66 of whom were under arrest, all accused of terrorist links.
Related: Mossad linked to Ergenekon plot
Why is that not a surprise?
In more than 320 hearings, judges questioned many prominent Turkish figures, including Basbug, a former chief of staff in the army, NATO’s second-largest, on charges of links to the Ergenekon organization, claims that he strongly denied.
Mehmet Haberal, 69, an acclaimed professor of medicine and a deputy of the Republican People’s Party, was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison; however, he was acquitted on another set of charges.
Haberal will be released with 16 others until a court of appeals examines his sentence.
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Time to sail on out of Turkey:
"Turkish ex-army chief on trial for 1997 coup" Associated Press, September 03, 2013
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s former military chief and 102 other people went on trial Monday for alleged involvement in the ousting of an Islamic-led government in 1997, as Turkey presses ahead with efforts to make generals account for decades of intervention in government affairs.
Retired General Ismail Hakki Karadayi, 81, and the other defendants face life in prison if convicted of charges of ‘‘overthrowing the Turkish government by force’’ for pressuring former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan to resign.
The ouster was dubbed Turkey’s ‘‘post-modern coup’’ because unlike previous coups in Turkey, no tanks or soldiers were used to bring down the government, which was replaced by another coalition nominated by the president.
Karadayi served as the chief of the military staff from 1994 to 1998, at a time when the army was concerned by Erbakan’s efforts to raise the profile of Islam in the predominantly Muslim but secular country.
--more--"
Also see: Sunday Globe Special: Turkey Protects Itself Against Coup
And against protests!
"10 get life terms in Turkish coup case; 17 of 275 on trial acquitted; forces lock down roads" by Sebnem Arsu | New York Times, August 06, 2013
IZMIR, Turkey — A local court on Monday sentenced at least 10 defendants out of 275, including a former army chief of staff, to life in prison for their role in plotting a military coup to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and acquitted 17.
After five years in one of Turkey’s most politically charged cases to date, the court, in a prison complex in Silivri, a western Istanbul province, sentenced some of the suspects, including Mustafa Balbay, an elected member of Parliament from the opposition Republican People’s Party, to prison terms ranging from six months to 129 years.
The court issued arrest warrants for 11 suspects who had been tried without being arrested.
Among the suspects who were handed life sentences were: Ilker Basbug, who served as military chief of staff under the current government; Veli Kucuk, the lead suspect in the trial and a former brigadier general suspected of founding Jitem, a wing of the Turkish gendarmerie; and Hursit Tolon, a former army commander.
Also receiving life sentences were: Kemal Kerincsiz, a lawyer who has filed complaints against 40 writers for “insulting Turkishness,” and Tuncay Ozkan, a journalist. Ozkan was additionally sentenced to more than 11 years in prison on other charges, his lawyer said.
Balbay was sentenced to 34 years and eight months in prison. Dogu Perincek, chairman of the left-wing Workers’ Party, received a 117-year prison term. Sinan Aygun, another opposition Parliament member, was sentenced to 13 years and six months, while at least seven journalists were handed prison terms between six months to 22 years, news outlets reported.
Turkey has faced criticism for having a poor record of media freedom. The Paris-based organization Reporters Without Borders has referred to Turkey as “the world’s biggest prison for reporters.”
The group ranked Turkey 154th out of 179 countries, behind Iraq and Russia, in its 2013 World Press Freedom Index.
Families were denied access to the final hearing, and state officials blocked access to the Silivri courthouse. Roads leading to the town were closed in the early morning, preventing buses of protesters from reaching the area.
Television images showed security forces erecting barricades around the prison premises and at checkpoints on the Silivri highway, as well as images of antigovernment protesters in an open field far from the prison premises waving flags behind a security cordon.
Protesters tried to block the main highway around Silivri after verdicts were announced, but were confronted by security forces, who fired tear gas in fields near the prison complex, the Ulusal Kanal TV station reported.
Lawyers criticized the security measures as a violation of human and legal rights, and insisted the trial was unfair when the courts refused to examine evidence that they said would show close links between the police, the prosecutors’ office, and judges in an unlawful attempt to silence political opponents.
“In these cases, they tried to create a thornless rose garden by silencing the opposition and intimidating patriotic people with secular principles,” said Celal Ulgen, a lawyer representing 16 defendants, including Ozkan, the journalist. “After the Ergenekon trial, it’s impossible to talk about a justice system free of politics, or public trust in justice.”
On Saturday, in what critics said were preemptive security measures before the verdict, the Istanbul police raided several locations, including offices of a neonationalist youth group, and detained at least 20 people who called for public protests against the trial.
The court case, named Ergenekon for a mythic valley that is the moniker of the clandestine organization to which the defendants are accused of belonging, is at the center of Turkey’s many fissures. It has looked into charges listed in 23 indictments that took up thousands of pages and involved 275 suspects, 66 of whom were under arrest, all accused of terrorist links.
Related: Mossad linked to Ergenekon plot
Why is that not a surprise?
In more than 320 hearings, judges questioned many prominent Turkish figures, including Basbug, a former chief of staff in the army, NATO’s second-largest, on charges of links to the Ergenekon organization, claims that he strongly denied.
Mehmet Haberal, 69, an acclaimed professor of medicine and a deputy of the Republican People’s Party, was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison; however, he was acquitted on another set of charges.
Haberal will be released with 16 others until a court of appeals examines his sentence.
--more--"
Time to sail on out of Turkey:
"Turkey: Death toll in refugee boat sinking hits 58" by CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA | Associated Press, September 07, 2012
ISTANBUL — Some 58 people drowned when a fishing boat carrying migrants promised refuge in Europe by smugglers sank after hitting rocks off the coast of western Turkey, officials said Thursday.
Nine children were among the dead, according to the Dogan News Agency. Several dozen survivors, mostly from Iraq and Syria, swam to shore, only 160 feet away....
Greece said in July that it was quadrupling the number of guards at its border with Turkey and boosting other defenses, in part because of worries about a potential influx. Some nongovernmental groups say that migrants, deterred by tighter enforcement on the land border, are now turning back to more dangerous sea routes in their effort to start a life elsewhere.
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