Son-in-law justice

With dozens of journalists, writers, academics and politicians in pre-trial detention on ‘flight risk’ grounds, following Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbaş’s son-in-law Ömer Faruk Kavurmacı, former Deputy Prime-Minister Bülent Arınç’s son-in-law Ekrem Yeter, who had been detained for membership of FETO, has also been released. Yeter, who had been detained for three days, was freed on the grounds of ‘having a fixed address.’ It was deemed sufficient for pre-trail conditions to be imposed on Yeter, who has been subjected to a ban travelling abroad. With Yeter’s release coming in the wake of Kavurmacı’s begging the question of why journalists are still being held in pre-trial detention, public outrage has poured out on social media.

Bülent Arınç’s son-in-law Ekrem Yeter was detained by Ankara Penal Judgeship of the Peace No 1 on 5 June on charges of FETO membership. Statements about Yeter by former prosecutor Bayram Bozkurt, known as secret witness ‘Efe’, were influential in his being detained. Yeter’s lawyer Yakup Erikel objected to the detention on 7 June. Ankara Penal Judge of the Peace No 2, Ali Keleş, ordered Yeter’s release on 8 June in the single-page decision he passed. Yeter, who is subject to a ban on travelling abroad, has been ordered to sign at a police station on Monday every week. Cited as grounds for the ruling was, ‘The existing state of the evidence in the file in its entirety as examined, the suspect Ekrem Yeter having a fixed address and the opinion that the expected benefits from the measure of detention can also be gained from pre-trial conditions.’ Following the ruling, Yeter walked free from Sincan Prison.

Kadir Topbaş’s son-in-law Ömer Faruk Kavurmacı, who was detained on 8 September 2016 on charges of FETO membership, was released on 18 April with a health report obtained from a private hospital. On top of this, the doctor who wrote the report made a diagnosis without examining Kavurmacı. Imprisonment of up to fifteen years is being sought for Kavurmacı, a defendant in the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists indictment.

With Topbaş and Arınç’s sons-in-law being released, hundreds of members of the opposition languish in jail in pre-trial detention. In Turkey, 160 journalists are currently detained on various charges. Numbering among them are thirteen columnists and managers of Cumhuriyet newspaper. Akın Atalay, Murat Sabuncu, Kadri Gürsel, Güray Öz, Hakan Kara, Turhan Günay, Musa Kart, Önder Çelik, Bülent Utku and Mustafa Kemal Güngör have been deprived of their liberty for 220 days. With Ahmet Şık having spent 159 days in detention, Yunus Emre İper has been inside for 61 days and Oğuz Güven for 23. The people from Cumhuriyet are being held in pre-trial detention on the grounds of, ‘The evidence not yet having been gathered, the risk of flight, the seriousness of the charges and pre-trial conditions remaining inadequate.’ The first date on which the Cumhuriyet people will appear before a judge, on the other hand, is 24 July. Güven’s detention is justified with claims of, ‘Strong suspicion of guilt, pre-trial conditions remaining inadequate and the evidence not having been gathered.’

There are also detained politicians

Nuriye Gülmen and Semin Özçakça, who were arrested charged with ‘organisation membership’ while on hunger strike in a bid to get their jobs back, are being held in detention on the allegation that, ‘If they are not detained, they will obstruct the course of justice.’ More than ten MPs, including Selahattin Demirtaş, many mayors and party administrators from the HDP are in pre-trial detention.