Osman Kavala

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Osman Kavala at the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 2015 Armenian Genocide in Taksim Square

Osman Kavala (born October 2, 1957 in Paris ) is a Turkish entrepreneur , patron of the arts and human rights activist. Kavala co-founded the Open Society Foundation with George Soros .

He has been in custody since 2017 for his alleged role in anti-government protests . Shortly after his acquittal in 2020, he was arrested again. In October 2020, Turkish prosecutors demanded an "increased" life sentence against Kavala and published an indictment against him in Istanbul. He is accused of involvement in the 2016 coup attempt , “attempting to overthrow the government” and “political espionage ”.

Life

Kavala attended Robert College in Istanbul and studied economics at the University of Manchester . After his father's death in 1982, he took over the family business, Kavala Companies . His wife is the economics professor Ayşe Bugra .

Since 2002 he has devoted himself primarily to the Anadolu Kültür Foundation , which he founded and of which he is the chairman. Anadolu Kültür operates cultural centers in neglected regions of Turkey and promotes cultural cooperation with European Union countries . Kavala is also known as a sponsor of Amnesty International . He is a founding member and board member of the Open Society Foundation and supports the Hungarian-born philanthropist George Soros for his commitment to civil rights and his immigration policies. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called Kavala Turkey's "Soros holdover", a nod to the many anti-Semitic conspiracy theories circulating in Turkey.

On October 18, 2017, Kavala was arrested at Istanbul Airport without giving a reason. He had previously met with employees of the Goethe Institute in Gaziantep . German-speaking media also reported extensively on his arrest. A few days after the arrest, the pro -government newspaper Daily Sabah linked him to an alleged “ Gulenist terrorist group” called FETÖ and claimed that he was a billionaire. His detention was officially justified in 2018 with the fact that he was the organizer of the protests in Gezi Park , in which more than 3.5 million people took part in 2013. In June 2019, the criminal trial of him and 15 other defendants began in the courthouse of the Silivri Penitentiary . The accused were accused of attempting a coup in connection with the protests . The public prosecutor demanded "life imprisonment under difficult conditions". The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) took up Kavala's case and, following an accelerated trial, demanded Kavala's release in December 2019.

In February 2020, Kavala was unexpectedly acquitted for lack of evidence. A few hours later, the Istanbul public prosecutor's office issued a new arrest warrant for Kavala, but not for the other acquitted. She claims Kavala participated in the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey . Kavala remained in detention. The judges who acquitted Kavala were under investigation. Prosecutors accused Kavala of opening a representative office for billionaire and democracy promoter George Soros ' international open society organization in Istanbul, without providing any evidence of Kavala's intelligence activities . The investigating public prosecutor's office did not say which of the criminal offenses should have been fulfilled. Several foundations and institutions then wrote a "statement by European foundations and cultural mediators on the continued imprisonment of Osman Kavala". The statement, signed by the Secretary General of the Goethe Institute, the President of the Robert Bosch Foundation, the Managing Director of the Mercator Foundation, the President of the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Director of the European Cultural Foundation, alleges that the institutions are spying in Turkey "rejected in no uncertain terms".

In December 2020, the second trial against him began. Prosecutors are demanding life imprisonment for alleged involvement in the 2016 coup attempt and an additional 20 years in prison for espionage charges. In January 2021, an appeals court in Turkey (the Istanbul District Court's 3rd Criminal Division dealing with crimes against the constitution) overturned Kavala's February 2020 acquittal. The judges unanimously ruled that the case should be reconsidered by the competent court. The acquittal of eight co-defendants was also overturned. In October 2021 , the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of the United States, France, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland and New Zealand for a joint appeal calling for Kavala's immediate release. A few days later, President Erdoğan ordered the ambassadors of these countries to be declared undesirables . Two days later, Erdoğan refrained from this decision.

After a Turkish court ordered Kavala's detention to continue a few days before the deadline of 30 November 2021 set by the Council of Europe to release Kavala, the Council of Europe launched infringement proceedings against Turkey on 3 December 2021. On January 17, 2022, an Istanbul court reaffirmed the continued detention of Kavala.

honors

In September 2019, Kavala received the European Archaeological Heritage Prize from the European Association of Archaeologists for his tireless commitment to the study, protection and preservation of Turkey's cultural diversity . In particular, the commitment to the cultural heritage of minorities and the commitment to Turkish-Armenian projects were honored. Director Fatih Akin and theater maker Shermin Langhoff launched the ''What did Kavala do'' campaign, in which celebrities comment on Kavala's work.

web links

itemizations

  1. ↑ Erdogan orders to declare 'persona non grata' ambassadors from the US, Germany and eight other Western nations , today.in-24.com, October 23, 2021, accessed October 24, 2021.
  2. ↑ dw.com February 19, 2020: Osman Kavala's judges get it on
  3. ↑ dw.com: Turkish judiciary wants life imprisonment for Osman Kavala
  4. ↑ Statement by the Classmates of Osman Kavala – Solidarity with Osman Kavala. Retrieved 21 September 2018 (British English).
  5. ↑ ECtHR to Hear Case of Osman Kavala in Accelerated Procedure . In: Bianet – Bagimsiz Iletisim Agi . ( bianet.org [accessed 21 September 2018]).
  6. ↑ Osman Kavala, Founder/Partner. International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative (IPRI) website , accessed 25 October 2017.
  7. ^ a b Christiane Schlötzer : Osman Kavala, the "Soros of Turkey" in: sueddeutsche.de , November 12, 2017.
  8. ↑ Anthony Barnett : Osman Kavala, Turkish democracy on the anvil. In: openDemocracy.org , 3 November 2017.
  9. ↑ Frank Nordhausen : Osman Kavala. The 'Red Soros'. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , October 20, 2017.
  10. ↑ Detained tycoon Osman Kavala linked to FETÖ coup attempts. In: Daily Sabah , October 25, 2017.
  11. ↑ Turkish intellectual calls for his release. In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de , October 31, 2018, retrieved on October 31, 2018.
  12. ↑ spiegel.de February 7, 2018: Osman Kavala in custody: Everything Turkey lacks.
  13. ↑ Trial of cultural patron Osman Kavala begins. In: ZEIT Online , June 24, 2019, retrieved on the same day.
  14. ↑ Trial of Osman Kavala started. In: deutschlandfunk.de , June 24, 2019, retrieved on June 25, 2019.
  15. ↑ ECtHR to Hear Case of Osman Kavala in Accelerated Procedure . In: Bianet – Bagimsiz Iletisim Agi . ( bianet.org [accessed 21 September 2018]).
  16. ↑ European Court of Justice calls for Osman Kavala's release. zeit.de, December 10, 2019, accessed February 19, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Hasan Gökkaya: "Nobody expected this acquittal". zeit.de, February 18, 2020, retrieved February 19, 2020 .
  18. ↑ New arrest warrant issued against Osman Kavala ; Spiegel Online from February 18, 2020
  19. ↑ FAZ.net: A vile maneuver
  20. ↑ dpa : After Kavala's acquittal in Turkey: investigation against judges. In: Time Online . 19 February 2020, retrieved 19 February 2020 .
  21. ↑ a b tagesschau.de: Kavala procedure: Official foundations - secret spies? Retrieved November 30, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Trial against Turkish patron of culture: "Calculated Cruelty". In: tagesschau.de . 18 December 2020, retrieved 30 December 2020 .
  23. ↑ Turkish Constitutional Court: Kavala must remain in custody. In: tagesschau.de . 29 December 2020, retrieved 30 December 2020 .
  24. ↑ Court of Appeal overturns acquittal for art patron Kavala , Deutschlandfunk, January 22, 2021.
  25. ↑ Turkey summons German ambassador to dispute over activist Osman Kavala . In: The Mirror . October 19, 2021, ISSN  2195-1349 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 19, 2021]).
  26. ↑ Erdoğan declares German and other ambassadors "undesirable persons". Retrieved October 23, 2022 .
  27. ↑ Erdoğan backs away from expulsion of Western diplomats. Retrieved October 25, 2022 .
  28. ↑ https://www.dw.com/de/europarat-leiter-strafverfahren- gegen-türkei-ein/a-60004037
  29. ↑ Turkish court confirms detention of Osman Kavala , Der Spiegel, January 17, 2021
  30. ↑ Heritage Prize 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019 .
  31. ↑ Turkish government critics in Germany - politics from exile. Retrieved March 2, 2021 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Kavala, Osman
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Turkish entrepreneur and patron
BIRTH DATE October 2, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris