In the marble corridors of the Istanbul Palace of Justice, dozens of people press against a metal barrier in the hope of catching a glimpse of a family member — a son, husband or brother — detained in the aftermath of the bloody coup attempt.
As a file of handcuffed soldiers is led in, the crowd surges forward. One woman shouts the name of her brother before he vanishes behind a courtroom door. When a lawyer makes her way toward the crowd, she is immediately surrounded and showered with questions: Will there be a decision? Who was detained and who released?
Since the coup attempt in Turkey on July 15 that left at least 265 people dead and more than 1,000 wounded, tens of thousands of military personnel, judges, prosecutors and civil servants have been detained or suspended from their jobs as part of the investigation into possible plotters. The Turkish government immediately fingered US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, a long-time ally of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan now turned foe, as the mastermind of the attempted military takeover.
Analysts have said that a coalition of several factions in the army is a more likely scenario, underlining that many questions concerning the failed military intervention remain to be answered. However, many are concerned about the massive purge launched last week and warn that the right to a fair trial is increasingly in peril as a result.
Late on Wednesday evening Erdogan announced a three-month state of emergency, enabling him and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Cabinet to bypass parliament, rule via decree, and suspend rights and freedoms as they deem necessary.
The first decree — implemented on Saturday — extended pre-charge detention from four to 30 days and ordered the closure of more than 2,000 private schools, associations, foundations, unions, health institutions and universities.
“The coup attempt did a lot of damage to the democratic opposition in Turkey,” a human rights lawyer said. “This could have been a chance for Turkey to overcome polarization and violence, to finally democratize the country, but instead it is used as a pretext for Erdogan to galvanize power.”
Emine and Ahmet Yildiz have traveled about 400km from their small hometown to Istanbul. For four days they have waited in the stone halls of the Istanbul Palace of Justice for news from their detained son, a professional soldier in his early 20s.
On the night of the coup attempt he drove a truck. That is all they know because they were able to speak to their son only once, over the telephone.
“He had just signed a contract a few months prior to these bad events,” said Ahmet Yildiz, who, as does his wife, works in a factory for the minimum wage. “He had finished his university studies and could not find a job. He was a simple recruit and he did what his commanders told him. I love my country. My son loves his country.”
He adds that he feels uneasy about the nightly “democracy watches” on public squares all over the country, to which the government has been inviting citizens via speeches, text messages and social media day after day.
“It was a terrible night. Many people died, all of them were our people. My son has been declared a terrorist, but my neighbors are celebrating in the streets. It’s not right. I, too, want to live in a democracy but it has to be a democracy for everyone,” Ahmet Yildiz said.
The family’s second son is doing his compulsory military service in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast, where violence has surged after a breakdown of the ceasefire between the Turkish government and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party in summer last year.
“We have not told him about his brother,” Emine Yildiz said. “We have lied to him for a week, for fear that he would desert to be with us here.”
She fights back tears.
“All these families here are poor. They would not send their sons to the army otherwise. Have you ever seen the son of a minister serving in the southeast?” Emine Yildiz said
By Saturday morning about 7,500 military personnel had been detained on accusations of being implicated in the coup attempt. According to the state-run Anadolu news agency, 133 of those detained were generals and admirals, of whom 126 have been formally arrested.
However, the swift purge did not only target the military. During the week, almost 1,000 judges and prosecutors were detained and at least 2,745 judges were suspended from duty. According to the head prosecutor in Ankara, 1,200 privates had been released from custody by Saturday morning.
Regular court hearings were delayed for hours due to a lack of personnel, and courts appointed to question the thousands of detained suspected coup plotters are working overtime.
“An already overstretched judiciary is now at breaking point,” one lawyer said. “How will they run a country after decimating so many state institutions? We simply don’t know.”
In addition, troubling reports have started to emerge of ill-treatment and torture of soldiers detained on charges of involvement in the coup plot.
“We have seen a very disturbing picture of severe ill-treatment taking place in places of detention, especially targeting officers,” said Andrew Gardner, Turkey researcher for Amnesty International. “There are reports of severe beatings, of the denial of food and drink, of having to remain in painful positions for extended periods of time. We have also received reports of sexual torture.”
The human rights group is expected to publish more detailed information on torture allegations.
Many have expressed concern that the AKP government will turn the investigation of the coup plot into a witch hunt against all opposition figures.
In addition to security and judiciary personnel, more than 50,000 civil servants were also suspended from their jobs, including 15,000 teachers. Thousands of passports of citizens employed in state institutions have been revoked.
Last week Turkey’s Council of Higher Education issued a foreign travel ban for all university employees. Several news Web sites with alleged ties to Gulen were shut down, and 34 government-issued press cards were canceled. Seven academics were formally arrested. Ten others, all of whom had signed a petition in January condemning the government’s brutal crackdown on Kurds, were fired.
On Thursday, police took prominent human rights lawyer and commentator Orhan Kemal Cengiz into custody at Ataturk Airport on unknown charges.
A day later, a court extended his detention by 24 hours and his lawyer Ali Koc said that he had not been able to speak to him and did not know what he was being accused of.
Human rights groups have warned that Turkey — even in a state of emergency — needs to remain within the framework of international law.
“We don’t have full evidence that the government will use this situation to get rid of all opposition,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director for Human Rights Watch. “However, there is a sense that the purge, especially the mass sacking of teachers and judges suspected of Gulenist sympathies, goes far beyond the legitimate investigation into the coup plot. The severity of the original crime is now used to justify this massive crackdown.”
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