Status: 04/27/2022 11:13 p.m
On Monday, an Istanbul court sentenced the cultural promoter Kavala to life imprisonment. The decision caused international outrage. Now Turkish President Erdogan has defended the verdict.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sharply rejected international criticism of the conviction of cultural promoter Osman Kavala. The Turkish judiciary made the final decision regarding a person, which bothered “some circles”, said Erdogan in Istanbul, without naming Kavala. “No offense, law and order exist in this country,” he added.
Erdogan once again referred to Kavala as a “Turkish Soros”. In the past, President Kavala had already accused Kavala of having financed the Gezi protests with the help of US investor and philanthropist Georg Soros. Erdogan sees the anti-government demonstrations in 2013 as a foreign conspiracy.
Erdogan: Lesson in law and justice
The largely peaceful Gezi protests were triggered by a construction project in the center of Istanbul. The action spread to nationwide demonstrations against the authoritarian policies of then Prime Minister Erdogan. He brutally suppressed the protests.
With the decision on the “Gezi actions”, the Turkish judiciary also gave those with “similar intentions” a lesson in law and justice, Erdogan said.
Scholz calls the verdict “a devastating signal”
Kavala was sentenced to life imprisonment by an Istanbul court on Monday in connection with the Gezi protests. Seven other people, including well-known architect Mücella Yapici and lawyer Can Atalay, received 18 years for aiding and abetting.
The verdict had provoked sharp international criticism. Chancellor Olaf Scholz described it as a “devastating signal for Turkish civil society”.