Bad Theater in Istanbul: Turkish Court Performs Kafka
NEWS | AUGUST 6, 2013 4:10 PM
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By Muriel Mirak-Weissbach
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
ISTANBUL – Like any other day in the summer season, on July 31,
thousands of tourists were standing in lines in the blistering heat to
visit the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace and
numerous other sites here.
On the other side of the city, a smaller crowd of foreigners waited
outside the grandiose edifice housing the 11th High Criminal Court.
They, too, were rightly expecting to experience something of historic
significance, albeit more political in nature. The group of 30 people
had flown in from Germany as an observer delegation at the trial of
Dogan Akhanli, a renowned German-Turkish novelist and playwright, who
had been tried for a serious crime and acquitted by this same Istanbul
court in 2011. Then, in early 2013 the Supreme Court of Appeals in
Ankara surprisingly demanded the case be reopened. It argued that
Akhanli had been a member of a terrorist group at the time of the
crime (1989) and called for life imprisonment. Faced with this demand,
the Istanbul court had to respond: either buckle under the pressure
from above or reaffirm its sovereign verdict of acquittal for lack of
evidence.
What transpired in the brief, less than one hour hearing can only be
described as a piece of Kafkaesque theatre. The defense lawyers
presented their case convincingly and with passion: Akhanli had been
accused of involvement in the armed robbery of a money exchanger in
1989 and this same court had cleared him of all charges in 2011 for
lack of evidence. In fact, there had been no material evidence
gathered by the police investigation (they did not look for
fingerprints on the bag the assailants had left behind in their flight
from the crime scene), and witnesses who had named the accused in
interrogations later retracted their testimony in the trial, saying
they had been tortured.
This very court in Istanbul had therefore acquitted the defendant two
years ago, and it should, the defense lawyers argued, reconfirm that
decision. The judge, one of three present and the same one who had
ruled two years earlier, summarized the defense lawyers’ statements,
to have them entered in the record. Then the prosecuting attorney, who
had been looking on apathetically, acknowledged that he had not fully
read through the documentation, but nonetheless spoke in favor of
reversing the earlier acquittal and called for adjourning to a later
date. The judge obliged, declaring that the court would reconvene on
October 4. He added that the defendant should appear in person at that
hearing, and announced that the court has issued an international
arrest warrant for him.
In sum: the court ruled that Akhanli would be put on trial again,
although there was no new evidence against him, and that he would be
treated like a criminal fugitive, subject to an international arrest
warrant!
The fact that a substantial delegation of observers from Germany had
travelled to Istanbul made a difference. It was composed of well-known
intellectuals such as Günter Wallrath, human rights activists,
representatives of political parties (the Green Party, Left Party,
Social Democratic Party), trade unions, artists’ and writers’
associations, civil society groups, the German-Armenian Society, and
myself, as a Mirror-Spectator correspondent.
On the eve of the hearing, the group held a press conference, which
was attended by all leading German and Turkish press, as well as
international agencies. Ragip Zarakolu, a well-known publisher of
books on taboo subjects who has also been prosecuted and jailed,
presented the facts of the case, and Wallraff, who has attended
previous hearings in the case, said what was at stake here was the
nature of the Turkish state. If justice reigned, then Akhanli would be
freed; if not, Turkey would appear to be a state of injustice. He
criticized the labeling of dissidents as `terrorists’ in Turkey,
saying people like Akhanli and Pinar Selek, another persecuted
intellectual who broke taboos, are committed democrats, sorely needed
in civil society.
At the press conference, members of the observer delegation from
Germany donned t-shirts with a picture of the defendant and the
slogan: `We are all K.A.F.K.A. – Justice for Dogan Akhanli.’ Franz
Kafka’s classic, The Trial, relates the drama of a man, arrested and
tried, who never learns what the charges are up to the point of his
execution. Pictures of the group and several articles and interviews
appeared in the Turkish and German press, putting a public spotlight
on the trial and its Kafkaesque quality.
Following the judges’ ruling, which the support committee
characterized in a statement as `cowardly,’ the issue exploded in the
press. Wallraff told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper that the
entire affair was `a farce.’ He said, `If the court accepts so-called
evidence which was produced under torture and later retracted, that is
an open admission that Turkey is not a state under the rule of law,
but a police state.’ He pointed to the fact that there are currently
69 journalists and numerous lawyers in prison, a sign that the
opposition is being criminalized. More public exposure of such
repression is required, he said, especially in Turkey, and `pressure
from abroad can be effective.’
Many of the delegation’s personalities interviewed after the hearing
compared the proceedings to those against Pinar Selek, who was
acquitted four times before being sentenced to life imprisonment, and
now lives in exile in France. Like her, Akhanli has broken taboos,
especially regarding the Armenian genocide. Visitors to the
Tsitsernakaberd Genocide museum may recall that in one of the
showcases with books on the atrocities of 1915, there is a volume in
Turkish written by Dogan Akhanli. A novel of his, titled The Judges of
the Last Judgment, (which has been translated into German) is a
literary masterpiece, a profoundly moving account of the Genocide. His
most recent work is a monologue written for the stage called `Anne’s
Silence,’ which dramatizes the discovery a Turkish immigrant in
Germany makes of her Armenian roots. In addition to writing, Akhanli
has been active in educational work and in promoting dialogue and
research among Turks, Armenians, Germans and Kurds about their shared
history.
Akhanli followed the Istanbul theatrics from his home in Cologne and
was flooded with requests for statements and interviews after the
ruling. He compared the trial to a `piece of bad theater, in which the
authorities are trying to portray me as a criminal.’ He said, `I hoped
that they would finally stop this nonsense,’ he said, referring to the
judicial authorities. Asked about his response to the news the case
would be reopened, he said, `I feel like a football they can kick
around in different directions. The people doing it think it is okay
because it’s only a ball.’ As for the court’s issuing a warrant, he
quipped, `They know where I live! To put out an international search
warrant is as absurd as the fact that they want to put me on trial
again.’ In fact, the warrant appears to be illegal, considering that
the defendant had not been convoked or invited to attend the session –
not to mention the fact of the acquittal. This is an issue the defense
lawyers are following up. Repeatedly, Akhanli expressed his thanks for
the show of solidarity, through the delegation as well as the
supportive press coverage. `I don’t feel as if I were in exile here,’
he said, `it’s a gift to be able to stay here. Germany has saved me …
twice.’ As for his concrete reaction to the turn of events, he has
decided to start writing new works, both in Turkish and in German.
Where will it go from here? Although German diplomats were on hand at
the trial, they of course did not make any public statements. Later,
in Berlin, word came from the Foreign Ministry that, in accordance
with the Constitution, no German citizen can be extradited to a
country outside the EU, so there is no danger of his being sent to
Turkey. The Foreign Ministry told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper
that `it would intercede in Akhanli’s behalf also in the future,’ and
added that, in respect to Turkey, it has repeatedly `pointed to the
special character of this case and also to the great concern that the
case arouses in Germany.’ Given the ongoing domestic protest movement
of the Taksim Platform, associated trials against independent-minded
journalists, and growing tensions in the region focused on Syria, the
Turkish government is coming under increasing international scrutiny
and criticism. The next hearing on October 4 will be a test case for
the regime.
(Muriel Mirak-Weissbach has followed closely the case of Dogan
Akhanli. Her previous article in the Amrenain Mirror-Spectator on the
case appeared in the June 22 edition, titled `Turks Demand Democratic
Rights – and Justice.’)
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From: A. Papazian