Page 11 - TURKRptMar20
P. 11
2.9 Politics - shorts
‘Nothing to do with the rule of law’ The verdict came as a surprise—a Turkish court citing insufficient evidence acquitted prominent businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala and eight co-defendants on charges of seeking to overthrow the Erdogan administration with 2013 protests—but the joy was short-lived—Istanbul’s chief prosecutor ordered the continued re-arrest and detention of Kavala on separate charges relating to his supposed involvement in the failed July 2016 coup. “What is clear,” said a Western diplomat speaking to Al-Monitor on condition that he not be identified by name, “is that none of this has to do with the rule of law”.
“Were there actual judicial independence, the case against the accused would have never been brought, the accused would have never suffered lengthy pre-trial detention and the case would have been thrown out after the European Court decision [in December to call for his release],” said Howard Eissenstat, an associate professor at St Lawrence University and non-resident senior fellow at the Project on Middle East Democracy. “I think the pattern remains: Trumped up political charges against perceived political enemies, Kafkaesque prosecutions and pretrial detention as a means of punishment,” he added.
Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutors indicted Turkish state-owned lender Halkbank for evading Iran sanctions after US Attorney General William Barr personally spearheaded an effort last year to negotiate a settlement with the bank that would have allowed it to sidestep such an indictment, a source quoted by CNN has claimed.
A Turkish court has blocked access to an online news report on Berat Albayrak's acquisition of land near the planned route of the controversial Canal Istanbul project.
European Union finance ministers on February 18 gave Turkey more time to avoid being put on the EU’s blacklist of tax havens.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mustafa Akinci’s Northern Cyprus government – which is dependent on Turkey, but has a different, secular, democratic and plural political scene – has engaged in a war of words with Turkey, stating that he did not want his island state to be subsumed into a greater Turkey.
Opposition politicians in Turkey have warned the government is poised to create a “parallel police force” from a nighttime security force known as “bekci”, or watchmen.
There are some 18mn unregistered guns in Turkey, accounting for 89% of firearms ownership in the country, the chairman of the Umut Foundation that has led a three-decade campaign against firearms possession reportedly claimed.
11 TURKEY Country Report March 2020 www.intellinews.com
