ISTANBUL: Unzile Aksakoglu struggles to explain to her seven-year-old daughter why her father Yigit has spent four months in jail and may never leave, because of his alleged role in mass protests against Turkey’s government when she was just a year old.
After all, the people originally prosecuted over the 2013 protests — which began against the redevelopment of central Istanbul’s Gezi Park and grew into nationwide anti-government unrest — were acquitted.
A Turkish judge ruled in 2015 that the protesters were exercising the right of freedom of assembly in what turned out to be the biggest popular challenge to Tayyip Erdogan’s rule.
But in November, Yigit Aksakoglu was detained and is now facing trial with 15 other civil society figures, writers and actors. For a while Aksakoglu’s family hoped he would soon be released, but then on March 4, a 657-page indictment was released saying they had masterminded an attempt to overthrow Erdogan’s government.
“I say to her, ‘I promise I and your daddy’s friends will get him out. Don’t worry. This misunderstanding will end.’ But a part of me is really scared,” Unzile said.
Supporters of the detainees say the indictment contains no evidence and many bizarre accusations, and marks a new low for a country where 77,000 people already been jailed in a crackdown following a failed military coup in 2016.
The European Union said that by seeking life sentences, prosecutors were creating a climate of fear in Turkey, while the US State Department has said Washington is gravely concerned.
The arrests are the latest step in a crackdown which Turkey says is a necessary response to security threats that the country faces and which has involved widespread purges in the armed forces, ministries and state organizations.
In the summer of 2013, hundreds of thousands marched in Istanbul and across Turkey to protest against plans to build replica Ottoman barracks on Gezi Park by Istanbul’s Taksim Square, chanting “everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance.”
Eight young protesters and a police officer were killed in the unrest and 5,000 injured. The indictment, formally accepted by an Istanbul court on March 4, says hundreds of properties were damaged in the protests.
It also includes assertions that rights groups have dismissed as fanciful conspiracies.
It says the protests were organized by local extensions of “forces which control global capital,” singling out billionaire philanthropist George Soros. Erdogan has vilified Soros as “the famous Hungarian Jew ... who assigns people to divide nations.”
The indictment says the “Gezi Uprising” was fueled by Osman Kavala, a well-known civil society leader and businessman who has been in jail since October 2017.
A picture from Kavala’s phone taken from an academic book showing how different types of bees are distributed across the Middle East was described in the indictment as showing Turkey’s borders violated and redrawn.
It said the fact that defendants discussed bringing milk, juice and pastries to Gezi, as well as gasmasks to counter the effects of tear gas, showed they were financing the protests.
The Taksim Solidarity group, which includes some of the 16 defendants, poured scorn on the indictment, saying it portrayed the handing out of flowers to police and the provision of sandwiches to protesters as signs of guilt.
The demonstrations, the indictment says, were inspired by the worldwide “Occupy” protests and Arab uprisings starting in 2011 and a book by Boston-based academic Gene Sharp called ‘From Dictatorship to Democracy’.
The indictment cites Gezi protest acts that matched Sharp’s non-violent protest methods, such as Roger Waters’ “The Wall” concert in Istanbul in August 2013 when photos of people killed in the protests were displayed on a huge stage backdrop.
Amnesty International Turkey representative Andrew Gardner described the case as “an attempt to rewrite history” and said the request for life sentences without parole represented a “massive escalation” in Turkey’s crackdown on civil society.
“What we are facing is an existential crisis for independent civil society in Turkey,” he said. “It is a blatant attempt to scare and pursue critics on completely trumped-up, fanciful conspiracy theories.”
Erdogan equates the Gezi protesters with Kurdish militants and those accused of carrying out a failed coup in 2016. In campaigning for March 31 local elections he has often accused opposition parties of being allied with militants.
The protests began to prevent the redevelopment of a park in a city with limited green space, but Erdogan dismissed the idea of environmental motivation, saying: “Those who planned and financed the Gezi events, tried to overthrow the government using 12 trees as an excuse are giving account to the judiciary.
“No one in Turkey gets away with crimes they committed any more,” the president said in a speech last week.
Turkey escalates crackdown on dissent six years after Gezi protests
Turkey escalates crackdown on dissent six years after Gezi protests
- The EU said that by seeking life sentences, prosecutors were creating a climate of fear in Turkey
- Arrests are latest step in a crackdown which Turkey says is a necessary response to security threats
Stampede at central Damascus mosque kills three: governor
The Al-Watan newspaper said it happened during the distribution of free meals
DAMASCUS: A stampede at the landmark Umayyad Mosque in Syria’s capital on Friday killed three people, the governor of Damascus said.
The crush “during a civilian event at the mosque... resulted in the death of three people,” Governor Maher Marwan told state news agency SANA.
The White Helmets rescue group said the crush in the afternoon killed three women, adding that five children suffered fractures.
They added that they managed to rescue a girl from the crowd.
The Al-Watan newspaper said it happened during the distribution of free meals by a social media personality.
A YouTuber called Chef Abu Omar, who has a restaurant in Istanbul, had earlier posted a video of preparations for the distribution of free meals at the Ummayyad Mosque.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had visited the mosque in the morning.
Israel strikes Yemen Houthis, warns it will ‘hunt’ leaders
- “A short while ago... fighter jets struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime,” the Israeli military said
- It said it also struck military infrastructure in the ports of Hodeida and Ras Issa
JERUSALEM: Israel struck Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday, including a power station and coastal ports, in response to missile and drone launches, and warned it would hunt down the group’s leaders.
“A short while ago... fighter jets struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and inland Yemen,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
It said the strikes were carried out in retaliation for Houthi missile and drone launches into Israel.
The statement said the targets included “military infrastructure sites in the Hizaz power station, which serves as a central source of energy” for the Houthis.
It said it also struck military infrastructure in the ports of Hodeida and Ras Issa.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement after the strikes, said the Houthis were being punished for their repeated attacks on his country.
“As we promised, the Houthis are paying, and they will continue to pay, a heavy price for their aggression against us,” he said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would “hunt down the leaders of the Houthi terror organization.”
“The Hodeida port is paralyzed, and the Ras Issa port is on fire — there will be no immunity for anyone,” he said in a video statement.
The Houthis, who control Sanaa, have fired missiles and drones toward Israel since war broke out in Gaza in October 2023.
They describe the attacks as acts of solidarity with Gazans.
The Iran-backed rebels have also targeted ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, prompting retaliatory strikes by the United States and, on occasion, Britain.
Israel has also struck Houthi targets in Yemen, including in the capital.
Since the Gaza war began, the Houthis have launched about 40 surface-to-surface missiles toward Israel, most of which were intercepted, the Israeli army says.
The military has also reported the launch of about 320 drones, with more than 100 intercepted by Israeli air defenses.
Gaza war death toll could be 40 percent higher, says study
- Researchers sought to assess the death toll from Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza between October 2023 and the end of June 2024
- They estimated 64,260 deaths due to traumatic injury during this period, about 41 percent higher than the official Palestinian Health Ministry count
LONDON: An official Palestinian tally of direct deaths in the Israel-Hamas war likely undercounted the number of casualties by around 40 percent in the first nine months of the war as the Gaza Strip’s health care infrastructure unraveled, according to a study published on Thursday.
The peer-reviewed statistical analysis published in The Lancet journal was conducted by academics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Yale University and other institutions.
Using a statistical method called capture-recapture analysis, the researchers sought to assess the death toll from Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza between October 2023 and the end of June 2024.
They estimated 64,260 deaths due to traumatic injury during this period, about 41 percent higher than the official Palestinian Health Ministry count. The study said 59.1 percent were women, children and people over the age of 65. It did not provide an estimate of Palestinian combatants among the dead.
More than 46,000 people have been killed in the Gaza war, according to Palestinian health officials, from a pre-war population of around 2.1 million.
A senior Israeli official, commenting on the study, said Israel’s armed forces went to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties.
“No other army in the world has ever taken such wide-ranging measures,” the official said.
“These include providing advance warning to civilians to evacuate, safe zones and taking any and all measures to prevent harm to civilians. The figures provided in this report do not reflect the situation on the ground.”
The war began on Oct. 7 after Hamas gunmen stormed across the border with Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The Lancet study said the Palestinian health ministry’s capacity for maintaining electronic death records had previously proven reliable, but deteriorated under Israel’s military campaign, which has included raids on hospitals and other health care facilities and disruptions to digital communications.
Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals as cover for its operations, which the militant group denies.
STUDY METHOD EMPLOYED IN OTHER CONFLICTS
Anecdotal reports suggested that a significant number of dead remained buried in the rubble of destroyed buildings and were therefore not included in some tallies.
To better account for such gaps, the Lancet study employed a method used to evaluate deaths in other conflict zones, including Kosovo and Sudan.
Using data from at least two independent sources, researchers look for individuals who appear on multiple lists of those killed. Less overlap between lists suggests more deaths have gone unrecorded, information that can be used to estimate the full number of deaths.
For the Gaza study, researchers compared the official Palestinian Health Ministry death count, which in the first months of war was based entirely on bodies that arrived in hospitals but later came to include other methods; an online survey distributed by the health ministry to Palestinians inside and outside the Gaza Strip, who were asked to provide data on Palestinian ID numbers, names, age at death, sex, location of death, and reporting source; and obituaries posted on social media.
“Our research reveals a stark reality: the true scale of traumatic injury deaths in Gaza is higher than reported,” lead author Zeina Jamaluddine told Reuters.
Dr. Paul Spiegel, director of the Center for Humanitarian Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Reuters that the statistical methods deployed in the study provide a more complete estimate of the death toll in the war.
The study focused solely on deaths caused by traumatic injuries though, he said.
Deaths caused from indirect effects of conflict, such as disrupted health services and poor water and sanitation, often cause high excess deaths, said Spiegel, who co-authored a study last year that projected thousands of deaths due to the public health crisis spawned by the war.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) estimates that, on top of the official death toll, around another 11,000 Palestinians are missing and presumed dead.
In total, PCBS said, citing Palestinian Health Ministry numbers, the population of Gaza has fallen 6 percent since the start of the war, as about 100,000 Palestinians have also left the enclave.
Syria monitor says Assad loyalist ‘executed’ in public
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighters affiliated with the country’s new rulers executed Mazen Kneneh on Friday morning
- Fighters shot Kneneh in the head on the street in Dummar
BEIRUT: A Syria monitor said fighters linked to the Islamist-led transitional administration publicly executed a local official on Friday, accusing him of having been an informant under ousted president Bashar Assad.
Contacted by AFP, the Damascus authorities did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighters affiliated with the country’s new rulers executed Mazen Kneneh on Friday morning, describing him as “one of the best-known loyalists of the former regime.”
Fighters shot Kneneh in the head on the street in Dummar, a suburb of the capital Damascus, said the Britain-based monitor.
It said he was “accused of writing malicious security reports that led to the persecution and jailing of many young men” who were tortured in prison under Assad, whose rule came to an end on December 8.
A video circulating online, which AFP was unable to independently verify, purportedly showed the man’s slumped body tied to a tree trunk, his clothes bloodied from what looked like a bullet wound to the head.
Members of the public including children gathered around the body, according to the video, some filming with their mobile phones and others beating the body with sticks or high-kicking it in the head.
In recent days, Syrian authorities launched security sweeps targeting “remnants of the regime” of the deposed leader in several areas.
Anas Khattab, the new General Intelligence chief, has pledged to overhaul the security apparatus, denouncing “the injustice and tyranny of the former regime, whose agencies sowed corruption and inflicted suffering on the people.”
Japan congratulates Lebanon on electing new President
- The ministry also said that Japan will continue to support Lebanon
TOKYO: The Government of Japan said it congratulates Lebanon on the election of the new President Joseph Aoun on January 9.
A statement by the Foreign Ministry said while Lebanon has been facing difficult situations such as a prolonged economic crisis and the exchange of attacks between Israel and Hezbollah, the election of a new President is an important step toward stability and development of the country.
“Japan once again strongly demands all parties concerned to fully implement the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon,” the statement added.
The ministry also said that Japan will continue to support Lebanon’s efforts on achieving social and economic stability in the country as well as stability in the Middle East region.
