Turkish Justice: ISIS Walks Free; Peace Activists Jailed
by Uzay Bulut • April 10, 2016 at 5:00 am
- Belonging to ISIS or trafficking in slavery evidently do not constitute serious crimes in Turkey. But signing petitions calling for peace and non-violence, or requesting political equality for Kurds, are unspeakable offenses.
- "We are not shocked that the defendants have been acquitted. This lawsuit has become one of the hundreds of other lawsuits in our country in which the criminals have been protected even though the evidence against them is obvious." — Association of Progressive Women, on the acquittal of six people charged with having ties with ISIS and trading in Yazidi sex slaves.
- "Requesting peace has become a crime in this country. The state of Turkey has committed the gravest rights violations against those who struggle for human rights, against the Kurds and against free thought." — Sebnem Korur Fincanci, President of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey.
- Turkish politics has therefore not been able to go beyond a clash between assorted Islamists whose worldviews are foreign to democratic values, and non-Islamist but still extremely oppressive political parties that operate under the shadow of a tyrannical military, whose worldview is also foreign to democratic values.
In Turkey, signatories of the "Academics for Peace" petition (pictured above) have been subjected to sustained attacks and threats from the Turkish government and nationalist groups. Four of the signatories were arrested. Meanwhile, 96 suspected terrorists currently standing trial on charges of belonging to an ISIS cell in Istanbul are not under arrest, and walk the streets freely.
Turkey's "fight" against the Islamic State (ISIS) continues. On March 24, Turkey released seven suspects who had been arrested in a case involving the Turkish branch of ISIS.
Halis Bayancuk, alleged to be the "Emir," or commander-in-chief, of ISIS, is among the suspects. This was the fourth hearing of the trial known as the "Istanbul ISIS trial." A total of 96 suspects are on trial. Only seven had been jailed; the others had not. Although those seven were released on March 24 at the end of the hearing, their trial is still ongoing; the final verdict has not been given. All of them are now outside jail, free, and living their lives as they wish.
The indictment prepared by the chief public prosecutor's office of Istanbul stated that the suspects
