After judgment against Kavala: Turkish ambassador summoned to Berlin

The Foreign Office has summoned the Turkish ambassador to Berlin. The reason is the conviction of cultural patron Kavala in Istanbul earlier this week. The verdict is another heavy burden on relations with Turkey.

The Federal Foreign Office has summoned the Turkish ambassador to Germany, Ahmet Başar Şen, because of the life sentence imposed on Turkish human rights activist and cultural patron Osman Kavala.

The “shocking verdict against Osman Kavala and the severe penalties against his co-defendants” are “another heavy burden on the EU’s relations with Turkey as well as on our bilateral relations,” said a spokesman for the authority. The federal government had “once again made its position very clear” to the ambassador. The other EU countries were also called upon to summon the Turkish ambassadors.

“Await release of Kavala”

“We expect Osman Kavala to be released immediately,” the spokesman said. “The European Court of Human Rights has bindingly obliged Turkey to do this.”

Kavala was sentenced to life in prison on Monday on charges of attempting to overthrow the government in Istanbul. The verdict was sharply criticized internationally.

Kavala denies allegations

Kavala has been imprisoned in Silivri high-security prison near Istanbul for more than four years. He was originally arrested in 2017 on charges of financing and organizing the Gezi protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government four years earlier. In February 2020, a court acquitted him of this charge.

Kavala was released from prison at the time, but arrested again a few hours later – this time in connection with the attempted coup against Erdogan in 2016 and because of allegations of espionage. Kavala denies the allegations.