President Erdogan’s repression of the political opposition has continued since 2016 as the momentum for his authoritarian rule gained pace. The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) members and elected officials have been the main targets of this ongoing repression.
On 19 February 2021, the Court of Cassation in Ankara upheld the 2-year 6-month prison sentence in the case of HDP MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioglu, which is widely seen as an attempt to silence a government critic.
Mr Gergerlioğlu was charged with ‘disseminating propaganda for the PKK/KCK’, but the article in question remains accessible and the public prosecutor has not brought a case against the newspaper for publishing it.
The case of Mr Gergerlioglu's is a public outcry against the ongoing human rights violations, and the ongoing repression of political opposition in Turkey.
On Friday, an Istanbul court ruled to keep renowned Turkish activist and businessman Osman Kavala behind bars in solitary confinement in the high-profile second trial of Kavala and Turkish-American academic Henri Barkey. The court also merged the current case with the landmark anti-government Gezi Park protests’ trial.
The Kavala case is seen as a way for Turkey’s rulers to threaten other activists that push for Western values such as pluralism, democratization and human rights in the country.
Nine European rights ambassadors from Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden released a joint declaration expressing great concern over the rule of law, human rights and judiciary record in Turkey.
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