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Mapping Media Freedom

Osman Kavala’s arrest: A new low in Turkey’s descent

By | Mapping Media Freedom, Turkey Uncensored
Osman Kavala. Credit: Anadolu Kültür

Osman Kavala. Credit: Anadolu Kültür

On 19 October, when police officers detained Osman Kavala, a left-wing Turkish human rights activist and businessman who funds a variety of cultural and civil society activities, I was set to catch a plane en route to Armenia to attend a conference. The news was extremely bothersome as I, having held a civil society job for two years, knew all too well what his detention entailed. As Andrew Finkel, an executive of the Independent Platform for Journalism (P24) commented, his detention and later arrest was “a chilling signal to those working in the civil society community”.

I never knew Kavala personally, but always respected him for allowing civil society organisations to use his centrally-located Cezayir Restaurant for events and gatherings, usually at a minimal charge. I tried not to think about what I understood to be a new low in Turkey’s recent descent into authoritarianism and had managed to completely forget about it by the time I had reached the beautiful mountain resort of Arghevan. Yet my fellow conference attendees were quick to remind me of what had happened at home earlier in the day. Several people greeted me saying they had heard the news; that they were extremely concerned about their friend Osman.  “He has more friends in Armenia than he has in Turkey,” Armen Ohanyan, an Armenian writer, told me. Read More

Ahmet Altan: I am not your defendant

By | Mapping Media Freedom, Turkey Uncensored

Journalist Ahmet AltanAhmet Altan is one of over 150 journalists who is in detention in Turkey. Altan stands accused of “attempting to overthrow the government” and “attempting to eradicate the parliament” and they face three counts of life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Altan, who testified on 19 September through the judicial teleconferencing system from Silivri Prison, mainly addressed the presiding judge. The next hearing in his case will take place on 13 November.

The belief that makes people gather around a religion is rooted in their trust in the honesty of God. Read More