Eren Keskin

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Eren Keskin (born May 24, 1959 in Bursa ) is a Turkish - Kurdish lawyer and human rights activist.

Life

Eren Keskin grew up in an academic family. Her father was a Kurd from Sivas, her mother a Circassian from Istanbul. After finishing secondary school, she began to study at the law faculty.

Commitment to human rights

The lawyer practicing in Istanbul is a critic of the Turkish state and its legal system. She is committed to human rights, especially those of the Kurdish people and women. She has been a member of the IHD human rights association since 1986 and is currently the head of its Istanbul section. In 1997, also in Istanbul, she founded a legal aid project entitled “Legal aid for women who have been raped or sexually abused in any other way by state security forces”. Her commitment earned her a temporary ban from her profession and several death threats, including from the ultra-nationalist Turkish Revenge Brigade . At times, 87 criminal proceedings were pending against her. In 1999 she defended Abdullah Öcalan in court.

Law enforcement and litigation

In September 1994 she was sentenced to two years in prison by a Turkish court for criticizing the international public's silence on human rights violations against Kurds in a letter to the Belgian parliament, using the word "Kurdistan". In 2002, during a panel discussion in Cologne , she accused the Turkish army of having sexually abused women while fighting the Kurdish PKK . In 2006, she was sentenced to ten months in prison under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code . This paragraph makes “insulting Turkish citizenship, the republic and the institutions and organs of the state” a criminal offense.

On March 20, 2008, she was sentenced again to six months in prison. She was accused of having disparaged the Turkish army as a "criminal organization" in an interview with the Berliner Tagesspiegel in 2006 . In an interview she claimed that, contrary to public opinion , the assassination attempt on the member of the Turkish State Council in 2006 was not the work of an Islamist, but the work of an organization of special warfare ( Deep State ) allegedly subordinate to the Chief of Staff , which carried out this false flag attack the judge only wants to strengthen his position.

At the trial she stated:

“I am convinced that the military is hindering the democratization of Turkey. I believe that the military has too much influence over the judiciary and politics of Turkey and that it should withdraw from it. I did not mean to demean the army, but to express my political opinion. I am convinced that this cannot be a criminal offense. "

The judges relied on Article 301 in their judgment. Keskin announced an appeal. She remains at large until the appellate authority makes a decision. On December 11, 2014, she was sentenced to 10 months in prison for a 2005 speech on the death of a 12 year old boy caused by the Turkish military. the judgment was also based on Article 301. Because of the statements in the Tagesspiegel , disciplinary proceedings were also brought against Keskin at the Istanbul Bar Association. She is threatened with temporary or permanent withdrawal of her legal license. German politicians such as Ruprecht Polenz , Claudia Roth and Hans-Gert Pöttering criticized the judgment.

According to a statement by Keskin in February 2017, the Turkish judiciary opened over 140 criminal proceedings against her.

On March 30, 2018, she was sentenced in the first instance to 7.5 years in prison for publishing articles in the newspaper Özgür Gündem that allegedly degraded the Turkish nation and insulted the president.

Eren Keskin joined the Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi with 34 other intellectuals and artists in early January 2010 . This was in protest against the government's policy regarding the BDP.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Turkish generals feel offended . Spiegel Online , July 2, 2002
  2. a b individual case Eren Keskin | Amnesty Ulm. Retrieved August 9, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Brief country information of the Turkey coordination group . Amnesty International Germany , July 31, 2005.
  4. a b Lifelong repression | Amnesty International. Retrieved August 9, 2018 .
  5. Text of the judgment of the 3rd Criminal Chamber in Istanbul of March 14, 2006 ( Memento of the original of March 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , German translation on Eren Keskin's website  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.erenkeskin.org
  6. Eren Keskin sentenced to ten months imprisonment  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) joint press release of the Aachen Peace Prize e. V. and the city of Esslingen am Neckar, 2006@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.aachener-friedenspreis.de  
  7. Investigations against the human rights defender Eren Keskin. (No longer available online.) In: Amnesty Journal. April 2008, archived from the original on September 16, 2016 ; accessed on September 15, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.amnesty.de
  8. In domestic and foreign policy everything is determined by the army . Der Tagesspiegel , June 24, 2006; reproduced on March 21, 2008 with the consent of the interviewees
  9. The Resistance of the Eren Keskin . Der Tagesspiegel , March 22, 2008
  10. Six months in prison for Keskin . n-tv , March 20, 2008
  11. Human rights in Turkey: German politicians criticize the Keskin judgment . Spiegel Online , March 21, 2008
  12. Renat Kuenzi: Turkey or how quickly democracy can become precarious. February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017 .
  13. Human Rights Defenders: Eren Keskin Sentenced to 7.5 Years Prison. June 5, 2018, accessed August 9, 2018 .
  14. ^ Ai Weiwei and Eren Keskin Win Hrant Dink Award - Armenian National Committee of America . In: Armenian National Committee of America . September 18, 2017 ( anca.org [accessed August 13, 2018]).
  15. Turkey's persecuted activist Keskin bestowed human rights award in Sweden - Stockholm Center for Freedom . In: Stockholm Center for Freedom . September 9, 2017 ( stockholmcf.org [accessed August 13, 2018]).
  16. Helsinki Civil Society Award 2018 Goes to Eren Keskin - Netherlands Helsinki Committee . In: Netherlands Helsinki Committee . March 14, 2018 ( nhc.nl [accessed August 13, 2018]).
  17. Eren Keskin, human rights defender from Turkey. receives 2018 Anna Lindh Prize . In: Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders . May 26, 2018 ( humanrightsdefenders.blog [accessed August 13, 2018]).