Cyprus-Forum.com

[Sotos]

Ankara is set to drag a Turkish Cypriot columnist before a Turkish court in unprecedented legal action that may signal a “dangerous” escalation in the persecution of dissenting voices in the occupied north.

No formal charges have yet been laid against London-based columnist Serhat Incirli, 38, who writes for independent daily Afrika.

But Turkish Cypriot police have questioned Incirli’s parents at their home in the north, seeking the columnist’s London address and telephone numbers.

If the trial does go ahead, it would be the first time that a Turkish Cypriot journalist is brought up on charges in a Turkish court that Incirli said would mark a “dangerous” turn in how Ankara deals with dissenters in the north.

“There’s a big danger for Turkish Cypriots because it would show that Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots have no common interests,” Incirli told The Cyprus Weekly from his London office.

Incirli said the trial would also lay bare a burgeoning rift between Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot community over Turkish policy as regards Cyprus reunification efforts.

Moreover, Incirli suggested a precedent-setting trial would make it easier for Ankara to lash out at Turkish Cypriots as mounting frustration over Turkey’s increasingly troubled EU entry bid reaches boiling point.

“Turkey could even start targeting Turkish Cypriots for assassination,” Incirli said.

Incirli said he “had no idea” why Ankara is preparing to sue him, but he suspects it pertains to his harsh criticism of Turkey’s double standards over Cyprus and the Kurds.

He said Ankara openly favours the partition of Cyprus, but it quashes any discussion over Kurdish demands for heightened autonomy within its own borders.

“I always believed that Turkey wants to opposite of what the Turkish Cypriots want…Turkey wants the division of Cyprus, they like it. But it’s hypocritical to want that and not talk about the rights of Kurds,” said Incirli who was born in occupied Pentayia.

Recent reforms pushed through by the administration of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan have given Turkey’s large Kurdish minority more rights, including the opportunity to broadcast and teach in their own language.

But Kurds appear to be facing a nationalist backlash, as a crackdown on recent unrest in the largely Kurdish southeast of Turkey has left at least 15 protesters dead, including four children.

Incirli – who said he has been “harassed” by Turkish officials through his entire 15-year professional career as a journalist – said he has learned Ankara is upset over two of his articles, but doesn’t know exactly which ones.

Trepidation

He said he faces his trip to the north this week for professional reasons with plenty of apprehension and trepidation because he doesn’t know how he’s going to be treated by Turkish Cypriot ‘police’.

Incirli, who holds a Republic of Cyprus passport, pondered the legal ramifications of Turkey trying a citizen of an EU-member country it doesn’t recognise.

It was Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Ferdi Sabit Soyer who confirmed that Turkey’s Attorney General is preparing a case against Incirli.

Soyer told journalists Ankara wants to file charges against Incirli for two of his articles published in Afrika that were deemed as a “directly insult” to the Republic of Turkey.

Soyer downplayed the illegal regime’s assistance in tracking down Incirli’s contact details, portraying it as routine procedural cooperation “between states”.

Afrika Editor-in-Chief Sener Levent pondered in an editorial run in his paper this week whether Turkey would treat Incirli the same as it did famed Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk who was sued for insulting the state.

Levent was arrested in 2001 for allegedly spying for Greek Cypriots. He was set free after a global outcry over his persecution.

Afrika has long been the target of nationalist and extremist elements within the Turkish Cypriot community. The paper’s printing press has been bombed twice.

No one has ever been charged in connection with those bombings.

Death threats

Levent and other Afrika writers have faced numerous criminal proceedings in which prosecutors have sought prison sentences amounting to hundreds of years.

The extremist paramilitary group “Grey Wolves” has in the past issued numerous death threats against the paper’s writers.

The most infamous case of a Turkish Cypriot journalist silenced for speaking his mind was that of Kutlu Adali who was gunned down in front of his house in occupied Nicosia on July 6, 1006.

Adali, a political columnist with the leftist daily Yeni Duzen who opposed the division of Cyprus, had received death threats prior to his murder.

The European Court of Human Rights last year faulted Turkey for a botched investigation into Adali’s murder.

The Court ruled Turkish authorities did not conduct an effective investigation, failing to even take fingerprints from the crime scene.

Turkish Cypriot ‘police’ fall under the exclusive authority of the Turkish army.

The court ordered Turkey to pay 20,000 euros in damages to his widow Ilkay Adali and another 75,000 euros in costs and expenses.