Gezi trial | Verdict to be protested in Berlin

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Writer Aslı Erdoğan, journalist Deniz Yücel, film producer and rights advocate Peter Steudtner, journalist-painter Zehra Doğan and journalist-writer Can Dündar have called for a march in Germany's capital city of Berlin on May 4 against the convictions in the Gezi retrial.

In their call to the protest march at 11 am tomorrow, they have said:

"To demand concrete action in favor of human rights, we will meet in front of the Prime Minister's residence. We will then go to the Parliament, demanding solidarity with Turkey's democratic forces.

"We will then move to the European Union Office to ask the European Court of Human Rights to act decisively to enforce its decisions.

"And our last stop will be the Turkish Embassy to protest Erdoğan and his party's repressive regime. A reproduction of a cell in Silivri Prison, Europe's biggest prison in the outskirts of Istanbul that symbolizes the repressive regime in Turkey, will accompany this march.

"Representatives from Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International will also be among us at this march to demonstrate their objections. We invite you all to follow this protest."

CLICK - Gezi trial: Aggravated life sentence for Osman Kavala, 18 years in prison for seven others

At the final hearing of the Gezi retrial on April 25, the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court sentenced Osman Kavala to aggravated life imprisonment and Mücella Yapıcı, Çiğdem Mater, Hakan Altınay, Mine Özerden, Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman, Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi to 18 years in prison.

'A punishment for nearly 10 million'

In their joint statement titled "We don't recognize the Gezi Park decisions", the five journalists, writers and rights defenders have said, "In Berlin on May 4, we are marching to protest the baseless convictions of Osman Kavala and seven human rights activists in Turkey."

Other highlights from their statement are as follows:

"Taksim everywhere, resistance everywhere!

"In the summer of 2013, Turkey was the scene of the most populated protests in its history. That summer, Erdoğan's government announced its decision to build a shopping mall in Taksim Gezi Park in central Istanbul and began cutting down trees to do it one night.

"That night, first environmentalist youths, then local residents, later the people of İstanbul flocked to the park to protect the trees. When the government retaliated and set fire to tents set on the park, Taksim Square became a resistance area where thousands of people met. This solidarity suddenly became a protest attended by millions all over Turkey. The agenda was no longer the park, but government pressure, environmental degradation, imposition of a uniform type of life. Peaceful protests ended in bloodshed as police brutalised crowds: 10 people were killed.

"Believing that Gezi Park protests were a revolution attempt provoked by the West to overthrow Erdoğan and his government tried to exact revenge by keeping businessman Osman Kavala, a pioneer of civil society, in prison for 4.5 years without a judicial decision.

"Last week, Osman Kavala was sentenced to life imprisonment by the decision of the judges panel, which included a judge who was a previous nominee for parliament by the ruling party. While seven human rights activists who struggled for the conservation of Gezi Park, Mücella Yapıcı, Can Atalay, Hakan Altınay, Çiğdem Mater, Tayfun Kahraman, Mine Özerden, Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi, were sentenced to 18 years in prison each and jailed.

"This was a punishment handed down not only for them, but for the nearly 10 million people who participated in the Gezi protests.

"Erdoğan and his government are taking advantage of the world's preoccupation with the war in Ukraine to increase pressure and extend his depleted political life. We, as those who were former inmates that experienced those prisons where tens of thousands of dissidents are still serving time in Turkey, declare that: We do not recognize the Gezi decisions of the regime's unjust judiciary. We are making a call to protect the human rights and civil society defenders convicted to show solidarity with the millions who participated in the protests." (EMK/SD)