Packaged charges for Erdogan’s critics

Asamaa al-Batakoshi

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has prepared a full list of fabricated charges against Canan Kaftancioglu who leads the Istanbul branch of the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP).

He accuses her of insulting him and also promoting the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which is branded as a terrorist organization by Istanbul.

Charges leveled by Erdogan against Kaftancioglu include insulting him, the Turkish government and Turkish civil servants. He also accuses her of promoting a terrorist organization on social media between 2012 and 2017.

Prosecutors lobby for putting Kaftancioglu in prison for between 33 months and 11 years.

According to foreign media, Kaftancioglu said in a statement to the prosecution that her tweets did not violate legal rules or the rules regulating free speech.

Kaftancioglu is an outspoken critic of the ruling Justice and Development Party. She played a major rule in the mayoral elections which has just wrapped up in Istanbul.

Packaged charges

Insulting the president is an insult the ruling Turkish party always uses to silence opponents. A huge number of Turkish opposition figures fell victim to the same charge.

Erdogan keeps talking about democracy. Nonetheless, he puts tens of thousands of Turkish citizens in prison without trials. He sacked tens of thousands of Turkish civil servants from their jobs for speaking out against him or expressing sympathy with the opposition.

Since the presumed 2016 coup attempt, Erdogan uses a systematic plan to eradicate opposition in Turkey and do away with opponents.

In the last three years, the number of those accused of insulating Erdogan rose 13 fold, compared with the previous three years. Around 3,000 Turkish citizens have been indicted because of this charge, according to official reports.

The Turkish newspaper, Zaman, revealed recently that only 13,889 Turkish citizens were indicted of insulting the Turkish president between 1986 and 2017.

In the last three years, the newspaper said, 12,173 people were indicted of the same charge.