Erol Önderoglu.
Probably the prosecutor
will present his view on March 21, and ask for our conviction. This is for
taking part in a solidarity movement defending the existence of a pro-Kurdish
newspaper. And this will be followed by sentencing.
I have little doubt
about that because the same thing has been happening since January: more than a
dozen prominent journalists (Nadire Mater, Hasan Cemal etc.) and human rights
defenders (Sanar Yurdatapan, Ayşe Batumlu etc.) have been fined or had prison
sentences postponed, although they had no responsibility for the contents
published in Özgur Gündem, but just
extended their solidarity in a symbolic manner towards this media outlet that
is subject to a judicial crackdown.
Through 15 years of EU
negotiations, I have always criticized one factor which has seemed to me very fundamental: the comprehensive non-recognition by the government of the human
rights movement and critically-minded civil society organizations, that for
decades have been working on the ground to deal with and shine a light on such problems.
Finally, it emerges that the government's plan was not limited to ignoring this
circle but to radically eliminating them. The procedure followed so far for those
other human rights defenders, especially after the peace process with Kurdish
political groups (PKK, HDP etc.) was terminated, illustrates a clear policy
setting out to destroy the most prestigious media or human rights institutions,
whatever political line they might be taking.
In this climate of
arbitrary judgment, even being acquitted would be very disturbing when none so
far have escaped punishment. Even if this were to be the case, taking this
acquittal decision and evaluating it as an argument in favor of judiciary
independence or respect for the rule of law would be highly delusory, since
these democratic standards which so far have filled our dreams, finally and
totally disappeared in the wake of the 15 July coup attempt and the State of
Emergency. Acquitting us would clearly be challenging the new national security
policies and decrees that have just been given powers, something no one single
judge would ever risk.
There is nothing worse
than the daily fighting and bargaining that accompanies self-censorship! More and more subjects have become taboos
under the Erdogan Empire: challenging government policy in Syria; criticizing
abuses in military operations in the Kurdish provinces; denouncing corruption,
clientelism, financial irregularities (Panama Papers…) or investments;
evoking religious hypocrisy; trading ironies with Erdogan … there isn’t an
idea or an approach that is not perceived as hostility targeting the “prestige
and unity of the nation”.
I was released last
June after 10 days of prison, two weeks before the Coup Attempt. But what kind
of future has any journalist intending to keep vocal, advocating for media
freedom, calculating their chances of being acquitted or escaping a second
prison visit, when living in a country that has got rid of its international commitments
in terms of human rights? Are you free, when arbitrary and administrative
measures start to dominate the simplest aspects of life and plunge you into
ever widening uncertainties?
Result? You check your
documents and your arguments twice before advocating for a colleague. (For him,
for yourself?). You find a falling number of Internet actors or activists who
will openly support your actions or latest campaign. All the time, you try to
measure the possible consequences of your work on yourself, your family, colleagues
and the values you are fighting for.
From a time when our NGOs or a certain media
diversity reflected the prestige and one forcible argument on behalf of a
candidate country to the EU (1999), we have now reached a point where so many
of these actors (Can Dündar, Deniz Yücel etc) are seen as ‘spies of the West’, ‘traitors’,
etc. Accession to the EU will be a complete illusion as long as public debate,
values of reconciliation and justice, are held hostage to government policies!
In my 21-year career, I have also had to defend
Islamist journalists collaborating with media exposed to military pressure.
Some of these journalists have rapidly forgotten this obscure period and today
are calling for the arrest of their colleagues working for the few remaining
critical media. Others claim today that they were always fighting for freedom,
back when they were the fervent defenders of the military policies of the
1990s. As for independent civil society – nothing has changed for us: we are the
eternal undesirables!