Kavala: I’m being held in prison to make a fiction believable
The ruling bloc narrated a fiction about foreign powers supporting Gezi protests in Turkey, imprisoned philanthropist businessman Osman Kavala said, adding that he was sent to jail to create evidence to this improbable logic.
Osman Kavala, who has been serving a life sentence with the crime “to topple the government” despite ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) decisions, responded to the written questions from journalists of Halk TV.
“As seen in the last act of the Gezi trial, the aim was to send a deterrent message to those who participated in the mass protests against the government by convicting a select few with heavy sentences. The Gezi trial was based on the fiction that the protests were an uprising organized by foreign powers. That fiction was adopted by the ruling bloc after the coup attempt prepared by the Gülenist police and judiciary, and was staged to provide legal support to this narrative.” Kavala said.
Kavala said that since there was no evidence or concrete information that could support this illogical claim, they created another fiction involving Hungarian-American businessman George Soros' name.
“The relationship between Soros and the protesters was established through me, as I was associated with the Open Society Foundation, participated in the protests, openly opposed the shopping mall project [in Gezi Park] and probably as a result of my other activities that disturbed the government. The fact that I took donuts with me on the way to Gezi Park was included in the indictment as concrete evidence that I provided financial resources for the protests. I think it seems necessary for them to keep me in prison in order to give credibility to this illogical fiction,” Kavala said.
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decided in June that Turkey had not complied with a ruling that called for the release of philanthropist Osman Kavala, moving further in a process that could lead to Ankara's suspension from the Council of Europe (CoE).
Kavala, who has been in jail for nearly five years, has since been convicted of attempting to overthrow the government and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in April.
Kavala said he does not hope for a release while this government was in power.
“It is unlikely that an administration that does not implement the ECHR decisions, which are binding according to our constitution, will be influenced by messages from international organizations and act in accordance with the law,” he said.
