(Ankara) Ankara on Thursday evening called on the Council of Europe to refrain from any “interference” in its judicial affairs, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry, while Turkey is threatened with a rare sanction for the detention without trial of patron Osman Kavala.
The ministerial committee of the Council of Europe, meeting in Strasbourg (France) since Tuesday, is due to vote Friday on a possible infringement procedure against Ankara which refused, last week, to release the philanthropist Osman Kavala.
REUTERS ARCHIVE PHOTO
Philanthropist Osman Kavala, imprisoned without trial since 2017, during an address at an Istanbul cultural center, on an undetermined date.
A 64-year-old prosperous businessman and patron, who has become the regime’s bête noire, Mr. Kavala has been imprisoned for four years without trial, accused in particular by the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of having sought to overthrow him.
“Out of respect for the ongoing judicial process, we invite the Council of Europe to avoid taking a decision which would constitute interference in independent justice,” writes the Turkish ministry.
According to him, the body adopted an “inconsistent approach by insisting on keeping the decision on Kavala on the agenda.”
“This first of all harms the Council of Europe itself as the existing mechanisms […] be used against certain countries on the basis of political concerns, not according to a legal and fair agreement, ”insisted the ministry.
This is the first time that Ankara has publicly mentioned this threat from the Council of Europe.
For demanding the release of Mr. Kavala last month, ten Western ambassadors, including that of the United States, France and Germany, were threatened with deportation by Mr. Erdogan who accused them of interfering in “the independent justice of Turkey” and changed its mind in extremis.
At the last hearing, on November 26, the Istanbul court decided to keep Mr. Kavala in detention until at least January 17, despite warnings from the Council which had demanded his release.
The infringement procedure has only been used once in the past, in 2017 against Azerbaijan, which refused to comply with a similar decision by the Council of Europe.
Osman Kavala is in particular in the crosshairs for having supported the anti-government demonstrations in 2013 which targeted Mr. Erdogan, then Prime Minister.
Acquitted for the first time in February 2020, he was taken into police custody the next day and then reincarcerated, accused of having “supported” the attempted coup against Mr. Erdogan in July 2016.
In December 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ordered his “immediate release”, without result.
A next hearing has been set for January 17 before the Istanbul court.