Corruption, 301, Punishment For Tweets

All of this happened in just the past three days:
Parliament decided not to send ex-ministers to the Constitutional Court on charges of corruption. The ruling party MPs voted “no.” Criminal liability is of course personal; no institution can be blamed for the wrongdoings of its individual members. However, when an institution covers up alleged crimes or obstructs the delivery of justice, the institution assumes liability for its members' wrongdoings. In this sense, the ruling party has assumed liability for the corruption charges.

It is estimated that 40-50 members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) voted “yes” and were in favor of sending the ex-ministers to the high court. As soon as the vote was completed, some members of AKP started to make accusations of “treachery” against those MPs who voted yes. Apparently a witch-hunt is about to start within the AKP. Both the refusal to refer the ex-ministers for trial and accusations of treachery against MPs who voted “yes” indicate that Turkey's democracy is going downhill.
There are other quite concerning developments in the field of human rights this week. Eren Keskin, a veteran human rights defender and the former chair of the İstanbul branch of the Turkish Human Rights Association, was sentenced to 10 months in prison under infamous article 301 that punishes insults against Turkishness and the Turkish state. She was given this sentence for a speech she made in 2005 on the occasion of the killing of 12-year-old Uğur Kaymaz by security forces. The Çerkezköy Penal Court of First Instance decided not to adjourn the sentence, which means that if the appeal is not approved she will be sent to prison. It has been a long time since the courts pressed charges under this article.

Another concerning development was the introduction of an indictment seeking five years' imprisonment for a statement posted on Twitter by Sedef Kabaş, a journalist and TV producer. The tweet in question stated, “Do not forget the name of the prosecutor who decided not to pursue the proceedings in Dec. 17 probe.” She was referring to the prosecutor who decided not to follow the corruption charges against ex-ministers and their sons. Kabaş was taken into custody and is now under a serious threat of imprisonment.

The Ali Ismail Korkmaz case, in which police officers and some tradesman were tried for killing a 19-year-old university student in Eskişehir by punching and beating him with sticks, resulted in lenient sentences for the accused. Only one police officer -- the one who delivered the last kicks -- was found guilty of causing death. The others were punished for causing injuries. The police and tradesmen had been waiting for demonstrators who joined the Gezi Park protests in a dark corner of the city and were beating whoever passed that street. One police officer said during the trial that he was trying to suppress a coup attempt. He was referring to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's words regarding the Gezi protests. The attackers will go free after serving a couple of years in prison for a barbaric crime of beating a 19-year-old boy to death.

My list for this week's first three days continues like this. It is obvious that the situation of human rights and democracy in Turkey is deteriorating quite seriously and dramatically.

As I was about to finish this article, I saw the news about Erdoğan's pressure on African countries to close down schools affiliated with Gülen movement in these countries.

He is not only dragging Turkey into an authoritarian regime, but he also relentlessly pressures Turkish citizens, even abroad.

ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ (Cihan/Today's Zaman)