They are accused of “indecency”. Ten ambassadors in Turkey, including those of France, Germany and the United States, are in the sights of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who ordered, Saturday, October 23, their expulsion from the country. The date of this sidelining has not yet been recorded but the Turkish head of state has let it be known that he wants it to intervene “as quickly as possible”. At the center of this case, the opponent Osman Kavala, a wealthy patron imprisoned since 2017 in conditions deemed abusive by the West. Franceinfo returns to questions about this diplomatic crisis.
1Who is Osman Kavala?
This patron, political opponent very active in the cultural world as the owner of a large publishing house, has been imprisoned for nearly 1,500 days without having been sentenced, as his support committee on Twitter recalled on Sunday.
#OsmanKavalaOsmanKavala 1454 gündürgündür tutuklututuklu!
OsmanOsman KavalaKavala hashas beenbeen behindbehind bars for 1454 daysdays!# OsmanKavalayaÖzgürlükOsmanKavalayaÖzgürlük # FreeOsmanKavalaFreeOsmanKavala pic.twittertwitter.comcom / hGyPQjtf0K– Kavala’ya ÖzgürlükÖzgürlük (@FreeOsmanKavalaFreeOsmanKavala) OctoberOctober 24, 2021
Philanthropist committed to social justice, supporter and actor of dialogue with Kurdish and Armenian minorities, Osman Kavala was arrested and detained in 2017 for having supported the popular demonstrations of the Gezi movement in 2013. Despite an acquittal pronounced in February 2020, the patron has not been released from the high security prison of Silivri, west of Istanbul, as he is now accused of being linked to the failed July 2016 coup in Turkey. Bête noire of Erdogan, Osman Kavala is also regularly accused of being a relay in the country of the American billionaire of Hungarian origin Georges Soros.
For the Turkish power, Osman Kavala is the symbol of the rich man who has close relations with international organizations, with the EU, who supports oppressed minorities and who can set civil society in motion. In the Islamo-nationalist discourse of power, which divides the world and society between “us” and “the enemies”, Osman Kavala has become in a way the prototype of “the enemy within”.
2What does President Erdogan reproach these diplomats with?
It all started with a press release (in English) published on October 18 by the embassies of Canada, France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States, in which these countries call for a “fair and expeditious settlement of the matter” Osman Kavala.
Despite a decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which in December 2019 requested the immediate release of the opponent, and threats of European sanctions, Turkey refuses to debate the subject. In reaction to the October 18 press release, Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked his Minister of Foreign Affairs to declare persona non grata emissaries from the ten countries concerned, as the Turkish government news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday. A measure which results in voluntary or forced departure from the country. “They must learn and understand Turkey, if not leave it”, launched the Turkish president during an inauguration ceremony.
3How to explain this reaction of Turkey towards countries which are nevertheless “close”?
According to Didier Billion, deputy director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris) and specialist in Turkey, President Erdogan “stirs up the nationalist fiber” for electoral purposes. And too bad if all the targeted countries are part of the OECD, like Turkey, or if seven of them are part of NATO, of which Turkey is a key player.
“Erdogan wants to hit hard. Today, he is in a rather complicated domestic political situation, Didier Billion explained to franceinfo on Sunday. The polls all indicate voting intentions of around 30%. (…) This defection of its traditional electorate is explained by a very degraded economic situation. ” By playing the foreign interference card, President Erdogan “tries to do everything possible to unite its electorate, but this has no relation to the reality of Turkish justice “, Didier Billion analysis.
4How are the targeted countries reacting?
No diplomatic reaction has yet followed this measure. Neither Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister of Foreign Affairs, nor his concerned counterparts commented on this still imprecise announcement. “We have not yet received an official notification”a French diplomatic source in Ankara told franceinfo on Sunday. As Didier Billion explains, declaring an ambassador persona non grata is a rare measure, which would have serious consequences for Turkey.
“In diplomatic terms (…), the answer is symmetry, he recalls. Turkish ambassadors from the ten countries concerned could be recalled to Ankara. ” For the specialist, the president Erdogan “is playing an infinitely dangerous game, because he disregards the usual diplomatic procedures.” The case is a matter of domestic political calculation, underlines the expert from Iris, at the cost of cooperation with countries “of paramount importance for the Turkish economy and for its political relations “.