Two Long Years For Cihan (upcoming court date March 23)

Cihan: two years under arrest

On March 23, once again Cihan Kırmızıgül will be brought before a court in Besiktas. Over two years ago, on a chilly winter morning, Cihan, while waiting for a bus, found himself wrapped up not only in a keffiyeh to keep him warm but also in a court case that has gone on far too long; one that again has proven the Turkish legal system as falling short of protecting the "right of innocence until proven guilty."  


All evidence and common sense points to the fact that Cihan had nothing to do with the protesters chanting Kurdish slogans, who clashed with police and threw molotov cocktails targeting a neighborhood market. Rather, he was an innocent bystander who happened to be wearing a keffiyeh, one similar to those who committed the attack. With no other evidence linking him to the crime other than the keffiyeh, Cihan has been held for over two years in solitary confinement charged with taking part in an act of terror. All common sense would lead to the simple understanding that that Cihan was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and certainly the fact that he is of Kurdish origin led to the apparent false charges. Yes, for this he has been held in a F-type solitary cell. If this Kafkaesque scenario was not enough, the prosecutor has called for a 45-year term sentence, if he is found guilty of the crime    


Cihan is 23 years old, one of four children, whose family migrated from Adiyaman to Adana, and later came ot study industrial engineering at Galatasaray University.  Importantly, many of the Galatasaray faculty have been following the case closely, and have been present at his hearings. I might add that he has no criminal record and apparently is just what he adds up to be: a serious young aspiring bright student, someone who in normal circumstances should be a poster-boy for Turkey's education system: a youngster of Kurdish origin, from a rural background, that despite all the cards stacked up against him reached the top and integrated into one of Turkey's most prestigious public institutions.  Truly, this is a tragedy.      


Unfortunately, Cihan is joined by about 600 students who have found themselves behind bars awaiting trial. Different than Cihan's case these students were arrested for peaceful protests that they held on university campuses targeting government policies and often disrupting speeches made by politicians.  These students are being held on numerous inflated charges, with some facing decades in jail if found guilty.


This week, the two well-known journalists, Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener were released after their 375 days spent in jail on suspicion of being related to the Ergenekon plot. Lets hope that their release marks a change in the Turkish judicial system, and more importantly that the Turkish government take the necessary steps that laws are passed to protect its citizens from such injustices.  If Cihan is released on March 23 this will be another step in the right direction.  


For more information on the fate of students and professors being held see:

the English website of the Transnational Work Group on Academic Liberty and Freedom of Research in Turkey:  
http://gitamerica.blogspot.com/  where you can connect to a site also in Turkish, French, German, and Italian. 


and the Turkish site, ran by students: http://www.mechulogrenci.com/basinda-cikanlar

A Petition to Save Hasankeyf!

Dear all,

While I have seriously neglected environmental issues on this blog, something inherently related to politics, I have decided to post this very important petition. It is a petition written to UNESCO World Heritage Committee, to save the ancient ruins of Hasankeyf in face of being flooded as a result of the construction of a dam.  Equally importantly, it is also to support the right of local residents to continue to live on their land and keep their current homes and prevent thier forced resettlement. This campaign has been going on for years and it is important to keep the pressure up.  


According to the petition:


The tremendous cultural and natural heritage of Mesopotamia is in great danger due to the construction of the Ilisu Dam on the Turkish stretch of the Tigris River. Designed to impound an area of more than 310 km², it would impact the right to food and water of thousands of people in and around the planned reservoir as well as downstream. It also threatens precious riverine ecosystems hosting numerous endangered species, hundreds of archaeological sites including the ancient town of Hasankeyf in Turkey, as well as the Mesopotamian Marshes in Iraq. 
We are deeply concerned about the impacts of the Ilisu Dam Project constructed on the Tigris River by the Turkish government.  

Here is the link: petition
Please share!!
Yours,
Louis

The Homs Blockade, Death of Journalists, and Hypocrisy

February 24, 2012

As the Syrian people remain defiant against the brutal oppression of Bashar al-Assad and his forces (which due to the mass defections, it is no longer possible to call it the Syrian army), we received news this week of three journalists who were killed and died as a result of their brave stand.  These people will be remembered as the true heroes of humanity. They are the ones that refuse to let us forget that massacres have been taking place on a daily basis during the last year, with over 6,000 dead. 

First, last week, we received the news of NY Times reporter, Anthony Shadid, who died from an asthma attack,  crossing the Syrian-Turkish border illegally. During my stay in Turkey, I have met correspondents who endanger their lives to cross the border. Few, would have imagined that one would die in such a way; not from a bullet, but from an allergy attack. Here is a link to a story about his life and career.

A few days ago, we learned of the latest two victims: Marie Colvin, a renowned American war correspondent and  a young French photo-journalist Remi Ochilk. They did few imagined infiltrating the battered city of Homs, a city under siege for more than 20 days.  The fact that their outpost was bombed was of no surprise, Homs is site of the greatest massacre Syria as seen since Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafiz al-Assad laid siege in 1982 to  the rebellious cities of Homs and Hama.   Here is a link to the story, which also reports the recent death in Homs of blogger Rami el-Sayed, along with other "citizen-journalists." Other recent press staff victims are cameraman Ferzat Jarban, Basil al-Sayed, Gilles Jacquier, and Mazhar Tayyara. 

The severity of the situation in Homs is clear from some of Ms Colvin's description upon entering Homs days before her death:

“Arriving in the darkened city in the early hours, I was met by a welcoming party keen for foreign journalists to reveal the city’s plight to the world,...So desperate were they that they bundled me into an open truck and drove at speed with the headlights on, everyone standing in the back shouting Allahu akbar — God is the greatest. Inevitably, the Syrian army opened fire....when everyone had calmed down I was driven in a small car, its lights off, along dark empty streets, the danger palpable. As we passed an open stretch of road, a Syrian Army unit fired on the car again with machine guns and launched a rocket-propelled grenade...the scale of human tragedy in the city is immense. The inhabitants are living in terror. Almost every family seems to have suffered the death or injury of a loved one.”

And, as hundreds are killled, adding to the already thousands, the world looks on. The world has abandoned them, forgotten them.  And, we cannot blame it on the media, which actually is covering the Syrian uprising in great detail.  It has been over three years since Israel's massive attack on Gaza. Perhaps, Rami al-Sayyed had thought like then, thousands upon thousands would fill the squares of Europe protesting the Israeli actions. For me this once again shows that when Arab kills Arab, it really does not interest the Western protesters.  As an Israeli citizen, I have always highlighted and protested my government's racist and violent policies. For years, I took part in protests outside of Israel. I will continue to protest. However, it is pathetic that the lives of the thousand innocent Syrians really do not matter. Yes, I am against the blockade of Gaza. However, I am also against the blockade of Homs. In 1982, without reprimand Hafiz al-Assad brutally massacred. In 2011-12 his son Bashar has continued the work.  Both times the world sat by and watched. Let it be known that I was originally against the Libyan invasion, and I am still against the Western powers entering Syria; however don't the Syrian people deserve the same humanity shown to the Palestinians.

I'll end with the last words of the killed blogger Rami al-Sayyed, calling for masses to rally:

Baba Amr (a district of Homs) is being exterminated. Do not tell me our hearts are with you because I know that. We need campaigns everwhere across the world and inside the country. People should protest in front of embassies and everywhere. Because in hours there will be no more Baba Amr. And I expect this message to be my last.


These journalists will haunt our minds. They are "dead proof" that we knew what was going on but chose to stay home and not fill the streets screaming: stop the massacre, stop the bloodshed.