Deniz Yücel

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Deniz Yücel (2018)

Deniz Yücel [ deˈniz jyˈd͡ʒæl ] (born September 10, 1973 in Flörsheim am Main ) is a German-Turkish journalist and publicist . He was editor of taz from 2007 to 2015 and has been Turkey correspondent for the WeltN24 group since 2015 . He is also a longstanding co-editor of the weekly newspaper Jungle World .

Of 27 February 2017 to 16 February 2018 to be Yücel was for alleged "terrorist propaganda" in Turkish custody . There were numerous solidarity demonstrations in Germany for an immediate release. He was in strict solitary confinement for over 290 days ; then he was allowed to meet a fellow prisoner. His imprisonment led to a worsening of the political relationship between Germany and Turkey.

On February 16, 2018, Yücel was released after Turkish prosecutors filed charges demanding that he be imprisoned for up to 18 years. Yücel returned to Germany on the same day.

On the first day of the trial in Istanbul on June 28, 2018, the court refused to immediately acquit the accused. At Yücel's request, the European Court of Human Rights is dealing with the case.

On July 16, 2020, the 32nd Grand Criminal Chamber in Istanbul sentenced Yücel in absentia to two years, nine months and 22 days in prison for terrorist propaganda. The prosecution called for a year and six months' sentence. The court justified the increase with the fact that Yücel had committed the propaganda through the press and several times. He is now also accused of insulting the Turkish President and the Turkish state in further proceedings.

Origin and family

Yücel's sister Ilkay Yücel (2017) at the solidarity reading “We want to see the sea” in Cologne

Yücel was born in 1973 as the son of Turkish migrant workers in Flörsheim am Main and has German and Turkish citizenship . In 1996 he went to Berlin and studied political science at the Free University of Berlin .

His sister Ilkay is committed to him and the other prisoners by organizing solidarity events with others and staging them nationwide.

Yücel is married to the television producer Dilek Mayaturk ; the wedding took place on April 12, 2017 while Yücel was in custody in prison.

Shortly after his release from prison, his father , who came from a Macedonian village and was seriously ill, died.

Professional activities

Since 1999, Yücel is a freelance writer for Jungle World , concretely , the Tagesspiegel , the Jewish General , qantara.de , the taz , the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Amnesty journal, the Standard , Blonde and the BR , the NDR and WDR operates. Between 2002 and 2007 he was editor of the weekly newspaper Jungle World, between July 2007 and March 2015 he was the editor of the Berlin daily taz, for which he wrote several sometimes satirical columns such as Vuvuzela, Trikottausch and Besser . Yücel has been Turkey correspondent for the WeltN24 Group since 2015.

In 2014 he released Taksim is Everywhere . The Gezi movement and the future of Turkey on the nationwide protests in Turkey the year before. Ingo Arend praised the book for Deutschlandradio Kultur as a “bundle of opinionated reports” that presents people and political groups “who are at the same time paradigmatic for the conflicts in Turkish society”. Therefore it is "more than an exciting political non-fiction book", also an "informative, socio-psychological document". In 2018 we are not here for fun while he was in prison.

He reported on the time of his imprisonment in the book Agentterrorist, which appeared in October 2019 and at the same time analyzes the political situation in Turkey. He began the reading tour in the Moabit correctional facility with a conversation with the inmates. After the end of the book tour he wants to resume his journalistic activities.

In May 2019 Deniz Yücel was accepted into the German PEN center .

Texts by Yücel (selection)

About the population decline in Germany

In 2011, scoffed Yücel in a satirical column called "column birth rate - Super, Germany abolishes itself" over the declining population in Germany . Individual quotes from the polemical text, such as “The imminent departure of the Germans is the most beautiful side of the dying of the peoples”, were distributed context-free by right-wing extremists and right-wing populists via social networks such as Twitter , especially after Yücel's imprisonment in Turkey in 2017 . Also AFD AGENT, as the Country Representative in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Holger Arppe attracted the citation approach to suggest that Yücel was an enemy of Germany and the Germans. In this context, Yücel's article, published in 2011, reached a broad media audience in February 2018, when a Bundestag session at the request of the AfD debated whether the federal government should publicly disapprove of Yücel's statements. The motion was rejected by 552 to 77 votes.

About Joachim Gauck

In February 2012, on the occasion of Joachim Gauck's nomination for the office of Federal President, Yücel criticized the unanimity of media support for the candidacy. Yücel quoted various speeches, interviews and essays by Gauck and wrote exaggeratedly that Gauck would still find the opportunity to “voice foreigners 'opinions, show understanding for his compatriots' fear of foreign infiltration, put Jews in their place and make it clear that National Socialists only Socialists are ”.

Shortly afterwards, Sascha Lobo criticized Yücel for being "dishonest" with Gauck's statement on the murder of Jews through mutilation into the opposite. He said, "that it is dangerous to pretend that a Holocaust could never happen again anyway and that one does not have to remember, analyze, and work through - the opposite of trivializing." In one answer, Yücel defended his attacks Gauck and deepened the allegation of playing down the Holocaust. Yücel referred to the political scientist Clemens Heni , who, before the election of the German Federal President in 2010, accused the then candidate Gauck in his blog, using the same quote, of projecting "his religiosity onto those who even remember the Holocaust as a specific, unprecedented crime against humanity". The then chairman of the Greens in the Bundestag , Jürgen Trittin , referred to Gauck's chairmanship of the association “ Against Forgetting - For Democracy ”, which is committed to coming to terms with National Socialism . To accuse Gauck of playing down the Holocaust, Trittin called “pig journalism”, which he otherwise knew from the Bild newspaper . He asked the taz editor-in-chief Ines Pohl to apologize to Gauck for the taz.

Pohl and taz editor Stefan Reinecke distanced themselves from Yücel's comments. However, they pointed out that Yücel's statement was a "personal expression of opinion" and thus covered by the right to freedom of expression .

About Thilo Sarrazin

In a column from May 2012 in the Frankfurter Rundschau (FR), Mely Kiyak had criticized the “frustration of our television fees” for Thilo Sarrazin , whom she described as a “lisping, stuttering, twitching human caricature”. This was followed by violent verbal attacks against Kiyak and, according to FR, a “perfidious smear campaign” against her in the right-wing extremist blog Politically Incorrect . Kiyak stated that she did not know about Sarrazin's hemiplegic facial paralysis and would not have chosen this picture if she had known. In response to this, Yücel took up Kiyak's formulation in his column “That's not funny” and wrote that the term could still be used and that Sarrazin “can only wish that the next stroke would do its job more thoroughly”. Yücel later added a “clarification”. He wishes “everyone a long life as possible free from illness”, especially “successful book authors”, so that they “gain the chance to learn something new and to let go of mistakes”.

The German press council expressed disapproval in December 2012. It was incompatible with Sarrazin's human dignity to wish him a serious illness or worse, and stated that the contribution went far beyond a critical expression of opinion. In addition, the Berlin Regional Court upheld one of Sarrazin's lawsuits for violation of his personal rights . It awarded Sarrazin compensation in the amount of 20,000 euros and prohibited the taz from further publishing and distributing the text.

About the 2013 papal election

On the occasion of the papal election in March 2013 , Yücel wrote a comment in which he described the popes as a series of "old sacks". The print edition of the taz was titled “Junta-Kumpel replaces Hitlerjunge ”, alluding to Pope Francis and his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. The press council reprimanded the taz for the term “junta buddy”, since the knowledge about the proximity of the Pope and then head of the Jesuits in Argentina to the military dictatorship there was insufficient to present this as proven. The article itself was not reprimanded with reference to freedom of expression . The editor-in-chief of the taz Ines Pohl admitted that these allegations against Pope Francis were "ultimately not clearly proven", in this case one had "overshot". The headline of the controversial article did not come from Yücel, the complaint of the press council did not affect his text. This is "provocative and polemical , ... but ... covered by the right to freedom of expression. An institution like the Catholic Church and its head must also endure clear public criticism. "

Imprisoned as a Turkey correspondent

First arrest

In June 2015, Yücel was arrested together with Özlem Topçu von der Zeit and the Turkish journalists Pınar Öğünç ( Cumhuriyet ) and Hasan Akbaş ( Evrensel ) on the orders of the governor of the Turkish province of Şanlıurfa and released after an hour because they were at an impromptu press conference on Turkish-Syrian border crossing Akçakale had asked critical questions. The Turkish police justified the taking of Yücel to the police station with a "personal identification".

At a press conference in Ankara in February 2016, Yücel asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel how she felt about certain allegations. They ignore today's grievances in Turkey because their government is willing to cooperate on refugee policy in return . Yücel named restrictions on the freedom of the press in Turkey as an example , whereupon he was attacked by the then Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and the Turkish press loyal to the government.

In a statement on March 17, 2016, about the withdrawal of Spiegel correspondent Hasnain Kazim , Die Welt announced that it had temporarily withdrawn Yücel from Turkey "to protect its correspondent". On April 4, Yücel reported again from Turkey when he reported on the entry into force of the refugee agreement between the EU and Turkey from the Turkish coastal town of Dikili on the first repatriation of refugees. On the night of the attempted military coup on July 15, 2016, he reported on events in Istanbul .

Second arrest

On December 25, 2016 reported the Turkish newspaper Sabah , in connection with investigations against the leftist Turkish hackers -Kollektiv redhack one should arrest warrant against Yücel issued. RedHack had gained access to emails from Berat Albayrak , energy minister and son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ; the emails were leaked to the Turkish opposition media, indexed by WikiLeaks and published in a searchable database (Berat's Box) on December 5, 2016. Yücel had written two articles in the newspaper Die Welt about the emails distributed by RedHack . In this context, six Turkish journalists were arrested during raids . However, Yücel was not in Turkey at the time in question. On February 14, 2017, Yücel was taken into custody in Istanbul by police after he had been asked to be questioned. He was accused of membership in a terrorist organization, data abuse and "terror propaganda" for his reporting. After he turned himself in to the police, Yücel's Istanbul apartment was searched. Yücel was the first journalist with German citizenship to be arrested in Turkey. The chairman of the German Association of Journalists Frank Überall criticizes the police custody for Yücel: “It shows that President Erdoğan is trying to abuse the state of emergency in order to make unpleasant reporting impossible. We expect the federal government to take up the case and use its diplomatic channels to protect our colleagues. ”The Turkish side is a new level of escalation because, along with Yücel, the freedom of the press in Germany is being attacked as the basis of the allegations be reporting in the world.

Since the imposition of a state of emergency following the attempted coup on July 15 and 16, 2016 , suspects in Turkey can be held in police custody for up to 14 days without a judicial order . Since then, numerous journalists critical of the government have been imprisoned on charges of terrorism. Human rights organizations often find the allegations fabricated and politically motivated. The Foreign Office appealed to Turkey "that the rule of law rules are observed and complied with in the ongoing investigation by the Turkish authorities against Mr Yücel and that he is treated fairly, especially with a view to the freedom of the press, which is also constitutionally anchored in Turkey". In February 2017, Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım Yücel's case on the sidelines of the 53rd Munich Security Conference . She pointed out "how important it is that Mr Yücel can receive comprehensive consular support from the German embassy" and expressed the expectation that Yücel would receive fair treatment based on the rule of law.

After the arrest warrant against Yücel was issued, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called him a “German agent” and “ PKK terrorist” at a ceremony . A few days later he said on a live television broadcast: "As long as I am in office, we will definitely not hand over Deniz Yücel."

On February 24, 2017, writers, booksellers and journalists in Germany called on Chancellor Merkel to take a resolute stand for freedom of expression in Turkey. The petition #FreeWordsTurkey, initiated by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels , the authors' association PEN Center Germany and Reporters Without Borders (ROG), was accepted by the foreign policy advisor Christoph Heusgen . It said: “The freedom of speech is acutely threatened in Turkey. Since the attempted coup in July 2016, the Turkish government has been vehemently taking action against journalists and media critical of the government. This exacerbates the already tense situation for the media in Turkey. ”It is also pointed out that journalists' passports were confiscated or authors were imprisoned. Over 130 media houses have already been closed, including 29 book publishers that have also been expropriated. Fear and livelihood ruled among publicists and publishers. The petition goes on to say: “Freedom of speech is a human right and it is non-negotiable. Freedom of opinion , information and freedom of the press are the basis of a free and democratic society. ”The Turkish journalist Can Dündar , who lives in exile in Germany, accompanied the delegation.

ROG board spokesman Michael Rediske stated that the federal government had to "express itself more clearly, for example it has to get rid of the 'Welt' correspondent, Deniz Yücel, who is in custody under flimsy conditions".

Pretrial detention (February 27, 2017 to February 16, 2018)

Solidarity reading of Yücel texts in July 2017 in Cologne

On 27 February 2017, a judge ordered detention against Yücel; he is accused of “propaganda for a terrorist group and incitement to the population”. This was justified, among other things with a run of Yücel in fall 2015 interview with the PKK commander Cemil Bayık and an article in which he is responsible of the Gülen movement in the coup attempt in July 2016 questioned. Yücel was in custody in the largest prison in Turkey, the Silivri prison.

On February 27, 2017, Chancellor Merkel described the pre-trial detention imposed on Yücel as “bitter and disappointing” and “disproportionately harsh”. The German government expects “that the Turkish judiciary will take into account the high value of press freedom for every democratic society in its handling of the Yücel case”. In addition, the journalist had voluntarily submitted to the Turkish judiciary and is available for investigations. Merkel said: "We will continue to work emphatically for a fair and constitutional treatment of Deniz Yücel and hope that he will regain his freedom soon." Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said that the Chancellor considered the step of the Turkish authorities to be an "incomprehensible decision". The German Federal President Joachim Gauck criticized Yücel's imprisonment as an “attack on freedom of the press” and said: “What is currently happening in Turkey raises considerable doubts as to whether Turkey wants to remain a constitutional state . But it should do that if it wants to be a living democracy. "

On March 3, 2017, President Erdoğan claimed about Yücel: “As a representative of the PKK, as a German agent, this person hid in the German consulate for a month.” Yücel spent several weeks on the premises of the German ambassador's summer residence in Istanbul held up.

On March 5, 2017, the then incumbent Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern described Yücel's imprisonment as "shocking". Yücel reported independently and critically about Turkey. Kern demanded Yücel's immediate release and expected “Ankara to observe a minimum rule of law”.

Yücel's lawyers objected to the order to take Yücel into custody. The judge's decision contradicts both the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and Turkish law. According to Turkish law, journalists can be held liable for their content for a maximum of four months after the publication of an article; Most of the texts mentioned in the arrest warrant are however much older. Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said before a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu that he would do everything to get Yücel free again.

German diplomats were not allowed to speak to Yücel, although Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım had personally assured Chancellor Merkel that he would. On March 19, 2017, Erdoğan verbally attacked Chancellor Merkel, claiming without providing any evidence that Yücel was a “terrorist agent”. In his inaugural address as Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier appealed to Erdoğan to release Yücel.

After weeks of struggle, on April 4, 2017, a German diplomat was allowed to visit Yücel in prison for the first time.

On April 11, 2017, Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble questioned planned financial aid for Turkey because of Yücel's imprisonment.

On April 13, 2017, three days before a constitutional referendum , Erdoğan said Germany was refusing to extradite Turkish citizens; therefore Germans like Yücel would not be transferred.

After Yücel had lodged a complaint against his detention under Article 34 ECHR with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) through his lawyers , the court asked the Turkish government in Ankara to submit an opinion by October 24th. The ECHR extended the deadline to November 28, 2017. On November 28, 2017 the opinion was submitted to the court. In it, the Turkish judiciary accused Yücel of “terrorist propaganda” for the PKK and the Gülen movement . The German government had already promised its support for the lawsuit in July 2017. On January 31, 2018, the German government submitted its statement, in which it said that Yücel was arrested solely for his reporting. WeltN24 GmbH also lodged a constitutional complaint in Turkey and the ECHR.

On July 20, 2017, Federal Foreign Minister Gabriel (coordinated with Chancellor Merkel) made a detailed statement on German-Turkish relations . Shortly before, the German human rights activist Peter Steudtner and other participants in an internal Amnesty International event had been sentenced to “pre-trial detention” (which in Turkey can last up to five years).

Gabriel said, among other things, that the Federal Government must "fight in any case for the right to consular access under international law"; then he said:

“The cases of Peter Steudtner, Deniz Yücel and Meşale Tolu are exemplary of the absurd accusations of ' terror propaganda', which obviously serve to silence any critical voice that can be caught, including from Germany.

And they stand for an injustice that can affect anyone. [...]

We demand the release of Peter Steudtner, Deniz Yücel and Meşale Tolu, unhindered consular access and swift, fair trials for them and the other Germans charged with political crimes.

We expect a return to European values, to respect for freedom of expression, freedom of the press and freedom of the arts. "

On August 15, 2017, the Turkish government approved Emergency Decree 694; it came into force shortly afterwards. Article 74 of this decree expressly authorizes President Erdoğan to exchange foreign prisoners in Turkish prisons for (Turkish) prisoners in foreign prisons “if national security or the interests of the country so require”. The power of attorney is valid for pre-trial detainees (which are in the legal sense of innocent people, until proven otherwise. See presumption of innocence ), as well as legally convicted criminals. Erdoğan tried to obtain this authorization as early as 2015 - unsuccessfully at the time. Federal Foreign Minister Gabriel shortly afterwards said that Yücel was in custody because "Turkey [...] is holding him hostage".

On September 1, 2017, two more Germans were arrested in Turkey; these are the German citizens (including Yücel) number 11 and 12, who were arrested there for political reasons.

On November 10, 2017, taz.de published an interview that Doris Akrap had conducted with him in writing through Yücel's lawyers. In it, Yücel commented on the conditions of his detention (“ solitary confinement is torture ”) and called for a swift indictment: “I want a fair trial. And preferably tomorrow. "

At the beginning of January 2018, after nine months , the Turkish Ministry of Justice submitted its opinion to the Turkish Constitutional Court on Yücel's complaint against his pre-trial detention. According to the world, no new allegations or evidence against him were named. One of his Turkish lawyers rated this as the first new development in ten months. His lawyers want to respond to the government's statement within two weeks, then the Constitutional Court could decide whether Yücel is released or detained.

Movement in the process had come shortly before a meeting scheduled for January 6, 2018 in Goslar between the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel . Çavuşoğlu had previously campaigned for a normalization or a “restart” of German-Turkish relations and assured that the government would do everything possible to accelerate legal proceedings in particular on individual prisoners in Turkey who are being closely followed by the German public.

In January 2018, Yücel refused a barter between the German and Turkish governments for his release after Foreign Minister Gabriel linked his case to Spiegel with arms deals - but later denied it. Yücel also rejected an exchange with Gülen supporters. "I'm not available for dirty deals," he said of his lawyers.

We are not here for fun was published on February 14, 2018, the anniversary of Yücel's imprisonment . The anthology with Yücel's texts was published by the taz journalist Doris Akrap , it contains previously published reports, glosses and commentaries, as well as a text that Yücel wrote in prison. Herbert Grönemeyer , Anne Will and Hanna Schygulla read at the book launch in Berlin . There was also a #FreeDeniz car parade. At a vigil in his hometown Flörsheim , around 200 people demanded Yücel's release. The latter had his sister read out a message saying that he would not let himself be beaten and: "I know a lot of people by my side." On the same day, the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said he hoped that Yücel would be released soon: "I believe that there will be a development in a short time." However, Yıldırım pointed out that the judiciary will decide on a release. The German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said he was working hard to find a solution; He described the Yücel case as one of the great hurdles that remained unsurmounted in relation to Turkey.

Release and indictment

On February 16, 2018, Yücel was released from custody after the public prosecutor had previously presented the indictment against him. She accuses him of “propaganda for a terrorist organization” and “inciting the people to hatred and hostility” and demands a prison sentence of between four and 18 years. The prosecution cites telephone calls from Yücel and eight newspaper reports published around the world as evidence for their allegations . He described operations against the PKK as " ethnic cleansing "; In an interview with PKK commander Cemil Bayık , he tried to portray the PKK as a “legitimate and political organization”. Yücel is also accused of playing a joke about Turks and Kurds in one of his reports. In Germany, this reporting is covered by freedom of the press . Yücel's release was not accompanied by any travel restrictions. Yücel left Turkey on the same day, but said he was no longer in Germany the following day.

The first date for the trial was set for June 28, 2018. The 32nd criminal court in Istanbul has jurisdiction .

After arriving in Berlin, Yücel said in a video message: “I still don't know why I was arrested a year ago, or more precisely why I was taken hostage a year ago - and I don't know why I was released today either. “Just as the arrest had nothing to do with justice and the rule of law, the release also had nothing to do with it. He left behind his cell neighbor, who was also a journalist, and other colleagues “who did nothing but practice their profession”. Yücel's release was celebrated with spontaneous motorcade in his birthplace Flörsheim and in Berlin.

Chancellor Merkel, who had received Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım the day before, was pleased about the release . Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel stated that Turkey had not received anything in return. The opposition , on the other hand, suspects that 31 licenses for arms exports to Turkey, which the German government issued between December 18, 2017 and January 24, 2018 alone, are related to the release of Yücel and Meşale Tolu .

The German Association of Journalists called the public prosecutor's call for up to 18 years' imprisonment "absurd" and described the release as a "victory for freedom of the press ".

Outside Germany and Turkey, Yücel's release was either not at all or only briefly taken up by the media. In Turkey, media close to the government just reported about it. The Sabah newspaper said the release thwarted anti-Turkish plans. The newspaper Sözcü reported under the headline “New era with Germany: Relations are improving, Deniz Yücel is out”. The government-critical Cumhuriyet put the headline "Law of Haggling" on the photo of Yücel and his wife after their release from prison and responded to suspicions that Yücel had been released according to agreements between Germany and Turkey.

On the day Yücel was released, six people in Istanbul were sentenced to life imprisonment under "aggravated conditions". Among them were three journalists: the brothers Ahmet and Mehmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak , as well as Yakup Şimşek and Fevzi Yazıcı, marketing director and graphic designer of the Zaman newspaper , and Şükrü Tugrul Özşengül, lecturer at the Police Academy . They were accused of having contacts with the Gülen movement and of participating in the attempted coup in 2016 . Reporters Without Borders spoke of a "black day for press freedom".

Legal proceedings and constitutional complaint

Yücel did not take part in the first hearing in Istanbul on June 28, 2018. In addition to Yücel's immediate acquittal, his lawyer Veysel Ok demanded that telephone contact data be removed from the court files. They fell under the protection of informants . The court rejected both applications. Veysel Ok also pointed out that Yücel's reports did not contain any criminal acts, and that they were also protected by the freedom of expression and freedom of the press enshrined in the Turkish constitution (see also freedom of the press in Turkey and human rights in Turkey ). The court announced that it would request a written testimony from Yücel. After the Federal Ministry of Justice had approved a request for legal assistance from the Turkish authorities, Yücel made his testimony on May 10, 2019 at a closed hearing at the Berlin-Tiergarten district court .

In a written submission, Yücel rejected the prosecution's allegations as "nonsensical and not worth a serious argument". With his arrest, the Turkish government had intended to intimidate foreign press representatives. In addition, she wanted to “start a conflict with Germany on his own terms ” in order to “make political profit from this conflict in the campaign for the constitutional referendum ”. Erdoğan later tried to exchange him as a hostage. According to Yücel, the president behaved like the “ringleader of a criminal organization”. Finally, the Turkish government ordered his release on condition that he leave the country immediately. Not only his arrest but also the circumstances surrounding his release were illegal. The next hearing was scheduled for July 16, 2019.

On June 28, 2019, it was reported that the Turkish Constitutional Court ruled that Deniz Yücel's detention was unlawful. The judges ruled that his rights to personal security and liberty and freedom of expression had been violated. The constitutional complaint that Yücel's lawyers filed against his imprisonment two years ago was still successful. The constitutional judges are also said to have established that numerous statements in Yücel's “Welt” articles in both the sentence and the indictment were incorrectly translated into Turkish.

Claim for damages

For his imprisonment, Yücel is claiming damages amounting to 2.9 million Turkish Lira (approx. 400,000 euros ) from the Turkish Republic through civil law . In addition to compensation for damages, the sum consists of compensation for loss of earnings and legal fees. The detention was unlawful. Yücel is the first journalist to file a lawsuit in Turkey about imprisonment.

On September 25, 2018, an Istanbul court dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that the conditions for such a trial were not met. Yücel's lawyers want to contest the decision.

The unconstitutionality of Yücel's detention reported on June 28, 2019 is now said to result in a claim for damages in the amount of 25,000 Turkish Lira (around 3,800 euros). A separate action for damages is still pending, with this decision still pending.

Torture allegation

In the written statement that Yücel made at the trial before the Berlin District Court, he stated that he had been tortured for "three days" in the Silivri prison. Yücel reported beatings, threats and insults. "The level of violence was not too high, aimed less at inflicting physical pain than at humiliating and intimidating me." which he had started and under his responsibility. ”Either way, the main person responsible for the torture he was subjected to was Erdoğan, said Yücel.

At the time, Yücel informed a Turkish politician and the German government and asked them to work to end this treatment. His lawyers had filed a criminal complaint, but the public prosecutor had closed the investigation. He also reported on this mistreatment in his complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. Otherwise he preferred not to speak about it publicly. “Because the right place for this was the court hearing. The right place was here. That's why I'm saying it publicly for the first time at this point. "

The Foreign Office then called on the Turkish government to adhere to the United Nations Convention against Torture . "We condemn all forms of torture and ill-treatment, they are outside the law," said a spokeswoman. The Turkish Foreign Ministry rejected this admonition and Yücel's accusation. The allegations were investigated by the responsible public prosecutor. This decided not to pursue the matter any further. Yücel's lawyer Veysel Ok then stated that the public prosecutor's office had not conducted a “fair” and “transparent” investigation and that Yücel had not even heard.

Others

Yücel is co-editor of the left-wing weekly Jungle World .

At times, Yücel (together with the journalists Mely Kiyak , Yassin Musharbash , Özlem Topçu , Özlem Gezer , Hasnain Kazim , Doris Akrap and Ebru Taşdemir ) appeared in the “anti-racist reading show” Hate Poetry , in which they read racist letters to the editor in the style of a poetry slam . “Rarely has racism been so entertaining,” said Die Welt , and the taz spoke of a “ cathartic reading”.

On October 3, 2018, Yücel gave the speech on the Day of German Unity in his birthplace, Flörsheim. In it he thanked the citizens of Flörsheim for their solidarity during his imprisonment.

Awards

Deniz Yücel at the award ceremony of the Kurt Tucholsky Prize in October 2011

documentary

  • Deniz Yücel - When freedom of the press ends up in prison, documentary by Pinar Atalay , ARD 2019, (43:52 min.), Online

See also

Works

Web links

Commons : Deniz Yücel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ merkur.de December 9, 2017: 300 days in Turkish jail: This is how Deniz Yücel really feels.
  2. ↑ Prison conditions in Turkey: Deniz Yücel is allowed to have contact with fellow prisoners. He was in strict solitary confinement for more than 290 days, now Deniz Yücel can at least during the day meet another prisoner, the imprisoned colleague of a Turkish newspaper. Spiegel Online, December 3, 2017, accessed September 8, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b Hannes Schrader: Five questions about the Yücel case , zeit.de February 17, 2018.
  4. ↑ WELT correspondent Deniz Yücel is free , welt.de , February 16, 2018.
  5. ↑ Deniz Yücel landed in Berlin , Spiegel Online , February 16, 2018.
  6. ↑ Daniel-Dylan Böhmer: Federal government takes a stand in the Yücel process , Die Welt, February 1, 2018, accessed on February 17, 2018.
  7. ↑ Christiane Schlötzer: Deniz Yücel remains indicted. sueddeutsche.de, June 28, 2018.
  8. ↑ Istanbul court: Deniz Yücel sentenced to two years and nine months in prison . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed July 16, 2020]).
  9. ↑ Son dakika ... Deniz Yücel davasında karar! İşte cezası .... In: Milliyet . July 16, 2020, accessed July 20, 2020 (Turkish).
  10. ↑ a b c Kurt Tucholsky Prize for literary journalism 2011 to Deniz Yücel. Kurt Tucholsky-Gesellschaft , September 15, 2011, accessed February 22, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Deniz Yücel married his girlfriend in prison. In: welt.de. April 12, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Emilia Smechowski: "I am not finished with this country yet". Interview. Die Zeit , October 10, 2019, accessed on October 12, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Deniz Yücel: Take care, taz! In: Die Tageszeitung , March 30, 2015.
  14. ↑ Deniz Yücel, column Vuvuzela
  15. ↑ Deniz Yücel, column jersey swap
  16. ↑ Bülend Ürük: From the "taz" to the "world". Deniz Yücel becomes Axel Springer's Turkey correspondent. In: Kress.de , April 1, 2015.
  17. ↑ The Gezi phenomenon. In: Deutschlandradio Kultur , April 23, 2014.
  18. ↑ Andreas Austilat: Deniz Yücel reports to Berlin prisoners about his time in the Turkish prison. tagesspiegel.de, October 7, 2019.
  19. ↑ Deniz Yücel writes about his time in prison. augsburger-allgemeine.de, October 9, 2019.
  20. ↑ Deniz Yücel accepted into the German PEN center , deutschlandfunkkultur.de, published and accessed on May 11, 2019.
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personal data
SURNAME Yücel, Deniz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Turkish journalist and book author
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Flörsheim am Main