Adil Demirci

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Adil Demirci (* 1985 in Istanbul ) is a German-Turkish social scientist and freelance journalist from Cologne .

He works for the International Federation (IB) as a social worker and is a member of the works council and a long-standing trade unionist at Ver.di. He has both Turkish and German citizenship.

On April 13, 2018, Adil Demirci was arrested in Turkey at 4 a.m. at the same time as the other employees of the ETHA news agency Semiha Şahin and Pınar Gayıp. On April 17, he was first interrogated by the public prosecutor in Çağlayan and then brought before the judge, who sentenced him to pre-trial detention. Demirci had accompanied his sick mother in Istanbul, who was visiting relatives there. Demirci, like Can Dündar , Peter Steudtner and Deniz Yücel, was in detention center "Number 9" in Silivri .

The trial against Adil Demirci began in November 2018. In February 2019 Demirci was released after ten months in prison, but initially he was banned from traveling. Only after her mother's death in June 2019 did the court lift the ban on leaving the country and Demirci was allowed to travel to Germany for the funeral. Before leaving, he had to leave a 3,000 euro deposit in Istanbul.

The Turkish judiciary accuses him of membership in the ( Marksist Leninist Komünist Parti (MLKP)), which Demirci vigorously denies. From 2013 to 2015 Demirci attended the funerals of Serkan Tosun, Aziz Guler, Şirin Öter and Yeliz Erbay and a memorial service for Suphi Nejat Ağırnaslı at Boğaziçi University , all of whom belonged to the armed wing of the MLKP. According to his lawyer, Demirci admitted that he would take part in the events, although thousands of people were present.

At a reception in the town hall in August 2019 , the mayor of Cologne, Henriette Reker , honored Demirci for his "service to democracy". She said she could not "gauge how difficult it is to endure when one is wrongly charged with a crime that one did not commit," she said.

The trial against Demirci continues in Turkey, although he did not return there himself despite bail. The German press agency called the case on October 15, 2019 one of "the most prominent remaining cases against Germans in Turkey". His circle of supporters in Cologne “Voices of Solidarity - Cologne Mahnwache” wants to register as an association and continue to campaign for imprisoned journalists, academics and others in Turkey.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Arrest warrant against other German Turks in Istanbul. April 18, 2018, accessed on October 25, 2019 (German).
  2. ^ ZEIT ONLINE: Adil Demirci: Turkey issues arrest warrants against other Germans . In: The time . April 18, 2018, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed October 25, 2019]).
  3. ↑ Maximilian Popp: Turkey: German Demirci transferred to Silivri high security prison . In: Spiegel Online . April 19, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 25, 2019]).
  4. ↑ Broadcast: Tagesschau November 20, 2018 8:00 p.m. Tagesschau from November 20, 2018
  5. ↑ Return in tears: Adil Demirci free again , WDR June 18, 2019, accessed October 16, 2019
  6. ↑ bianet.org
  7. ^ The time of April 30, 2019
  8. ↑ Reker honors Adil Demirci for service to democracy , Süddeutsche Zeitung / dpa of August 21, 2019, accessed October 26, 2019
  9. ^ Further hearing against Adil Demirci from Cologne in Turkey , RTL / dpa from October 15, 2019, accessed October 26, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Demirci, Adil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Turkish social scientist and freelance journalist
DATE OF BIRTH 1985
PLACE OF BIRTH Istanbul