ARE THERE ANY DISSIDENT VOICES IN TURKEY?
According to Mehmet Efe Caman yes.
Here is what he has to say about his exile from his birthplace:
“I know it is not only an unjust government that did this to my family and me. I am disappointed not only because a brutal regime jailed tens of thousands of people, journalists, academics, elected politicians, teachers, judges, prosecutors, police officers and many more. I am more disappointed by the fact that people got used to this constant injustice that happened over and over again, every day. It is their rapturous applause that disgusts me. I could understand if they had just been silent – passive but dignified. Did my neighbours applaud? How about my relatives? Did my students or my colleagues at my university applaud? Did the corner shopkeeper on my street who knows my children’s name also applaud? The people who applaud are so many, and those who do not are so few! Maybe that is why I would like to know who did not applaud... “
A DISSIDENT VOICE BRUTALLY SILENCED
Human rights Lawyer Ebru Timtik was convicted by Turkish courts of being a member of a terrorist organisation.
Having being sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment she went on hunger strike and after 238 days she died in prison.
Turkey's terrorism laws are very vague resulting in detainment of any dissident voice.
In a UN review, Turkey jailed 570 lawyers and prosecuted 1,480 in total after the 2016 coup.
According to the report, the counter terrorism law could “be used for politically motivated prosecutions of political opponents, human rights defenders, and journalists, particularly for alleged ‘membership of a terrorist organization.'”
