The KCK case theatre

The thing I remember most is the atmosphere in the court room. Not angry, not frustrated, but, amazingly enough, relaxed. Even though we are talking about one of the big show trials in Turkish history.

At the beginning of this month a series of hearings started in the case against dozens of prominent Kurdish politicians, mayors, local government employees and activists, …

The queen and the pioneer

President Gül paid an official visit to the Netherlands this week, to commemorate 400 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The Queen and the President both disappointed and surprised me.

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You could say the visit was a bit overshadowed by our national clown and racist politician, Geert Wilders. He was against the visit to begin with, because of Gül …

The Netherlands go where Turkey is coming from

“Abdullah Gül has no right to speak”, I hear all the time as a reaction to President Gül resisting the ideology of Dutch politician Geert Wilders, which discriminates against people and marginalises them. That’s because Gül has a problem handling minorities in his own country, the argument goes. Kurds and Christians in general and Armenians in particular are mentioned as …

Zehra

Some time ago I was in a bar in Istanbul with some Dutch people and some Turks. One of the Turkish women started to talk about some family affair, in which supernatural powers played a big role. Call me unfriendly, but I just can’t let that pass easily, especially after two, three glasses of wine. At some point, I just …

The wrong discussion about tear gas

‘It’s not harmful’, Interior Affairs minister Sahin said, referring to tear gas. Still, over the last couple of years, seven people have died in Turkey from the effects of tear gas. For example: two had a heart attack after they were sprayed with tear gas, one died after a tear gas canister hit his head. So, now there is a …

Arrest warrent for coup participants

ISTANBUL – In Turkey on Thursday morning arrest warrants were issued for the perpetrators of the ‘post-modern coup’ that ended the government of Prime Minister Erbakan in 1997. House searches were carried out at more than 31 addresses, according to Turkish media reports.

The arrest warrants concern 31 high, now retired, military officials, among them one of the leaders of …

Three anonymous Christians

Have you ever heard of Necati Aydin, Ugur Yüksel and Christian Tilmann Geske? Small chance you have, bigger chance you haven’t. They are three Christians (two Turkish, one German) who were brutally tortured and murdered in the East-Turkish city of Malatya in April 2007. This Monday, the court case against the killers and accomplices will resume. The murder is in …

Coup leader Evren doesn’t feel guilty

ISTANBUL – General Kenan Evren, the leader of the military coup in Turkey in 1980, was not present in the court when his trial started on Tuesday. But how he feels about his actions of thirty years ago is clear: he always said he didn’t want to do it, but had no choice.

Evren was born in July 1917 in …

Turkish coup wounds remain unhealed

ISTANBUL – Several thousand Turks protested Tuesday morning in front of the court house in the Turkish capital of Ankara, where the trial of two leaders of the military coup of 1980 started. They demanded that the coup plotters be held responsible for their actions. As well, they don’t only want the leaders of the coup to be tried, but …

Trials against elderly coup leaders in Turkey

On 4 April 2012 after 32 years the trial started of the two remaining leaders of the military coup in Turkey in 1980, Kenan Evren and Tahsin Sahinkaya. On Belgian national radio I explained why it took so long before the trial could start. You can listen to it here – in Dutch though, sorry!