TESTIMONIALS. Presidential election in Turkey: before the second round, three victims of political trials confide their “deep hope for change”

With the approach of the second round of the presidential election in Turkey, the dreams of political alternation move away for the opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Given favorite, the Islamo-conservative, in power for more than twenty years, could re-enlist for another five years. And with it, the political purges launched in the mid-2010s, especially since the failed coup of July 15, 2016. The resumption of power had led to more than 150,000 dismissals of civil servants in the following months alone. , according to the United Nations (press release in English)who have denounced numerous lawsuits “completely arbitrary”.

In recent years, the Turkish power has continued to hunt down and judge thousands of people for “terrorism”, with two main charges: membership of the religious brotherhood of Fethullah Gülen, a former ally of Erdogan accused of having hatched the failed putsch of 2016, but also sympathy for the Kurdish people, a persecuted minority in Turkey.

Doctors, judges, academics, police officers, Koranic teachers: no environment has been spared by these procedures which have created a climate of mistrust in the country. Faced with the rise of the Erdogan regime, the protesters have sometimes had to pay a heavy price in the name of their commitments. Three of them confide.

Füsun Üstel, 68, academic imprisoned for a petition

A “lynching”. This is what Füsun Üstel, professor and figure of the University of Galatasaray, in Istanbul, says to have experienced. In January 2016, she launched with others the collective of Universities for peace, and signed a petition denouncing a “crime” as well as the government’s use of methods and weapons “normally reserved for war” against the Kurdish populations in the east of the country. The text provokes the ire of the Erdogan government, which cries out “propaganda in favor of a terrorist organization”, because the Kurdish cause is notably carried by an armed group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“We didn’t know it would have such serious consequences”, confides the political scientist and historian, who was quickly the target of lawsuits. Aware of the risk of imprisonment, she says she was “organized”. “I took early retirement a few months before the start of the trials, to avoid dismissal and to guarantee my pension and my retirement allowance”she explains.

Like her, more than 1,100 academics are facing justice for demanding peace. In her case, the ax fell in April 2018: she was sentenced to 15 months in prison, which she must serve after a rejected appeal. “I was sent to a high security and overcrowded ward”, she denounces.

“We had hot water twice a week, impossible to lead a decent and human daily life.”

Füsun Üstel, university professor imprisoned in 2018

at franceinfo

During his detention, Füsun Üstel held on thanks to the support of other signatories, numerous academics, and European and American organizations. She was finally released early on July 22, 2019, and saw her sentence canceled by the Court of Cassation. On her release from prison, however, she refused to return to the academic world. “I have no regrets, given the current state of universities and the damage caused by the government”loose the one who continues to work, independently, on her areas of research.

During the election campaign, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, presidential candidate of the opposition coalition, promised that the Academics for Peace would be rehabilitated “immediately” if he were to be elected. An announcement that satisfies Füsun Üstel, even if his hopes remain “moderate”. “I don’t expect radical democratization, but at least some reforms”explains the one who wants again “have a say”after these SLAPP trials. “Democracy is never a perfect and complete system. It is in the process of becoming, and we must constantly fight for it.”

Can Candan, 54, sacked teacher

Also a signatory to the Scholars for Peace petition, director and teacher Can Candan was the target of a trial, but was not thrown in prison. “They used the strategy of fear, hitting those in the front row to impress the rest of the group, he analyzes. It could very well have happened to me.” The filmmaker, however, remains shocked by the extent of the repression deployed in 2017. “There were so many cases that the press could no longer follow!” is still surprised by the one who has documented, camera in hand, many trials of his colleagues.

In 2019, his acquittal by decision of the Court of Cassation is far from signifying the end of the troubles for the documentary filmmaker, very attached to the University of the Bosphorus in Istanbul. Since the failed putsch, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indeed arrogated the right to appoint university rectors by decree, which he does in January 2021 in the establishment, often described as the “Turkish Harvard”. The decision provoked an outcry on campus and the organization of a major protest movement, of which Can Candan was a part.

“Despite the acquittal, these cases have shattered lives, through dismissals, confiscations of passports, suicides…”

Can Candan, filmmaker and academic sacked

at franceinfo

“The fight has been going on ever since”, underlines the director about the gatherings of professors who, every day, plant themselves on the university lawn, placards in hand and their backs to the rector’s building. In July 2021, Can Candan was suspended and kicked off campus, officially for sharing a media video on Twitter. “I was later accused of not having enough diplomas, or of working too few hours”chokes the one who had, at that time, nearly fifteen years of teaching in this university.

In his eyes, the presidential election represents “a deep hope for change”, even if he remains cautious. Because of the pressure on the opposition parties and the muzzling of the press, he does not consider the election as “completely free”. The filmmaker nevertheless judges that the struggle of the academics has been made “sufficiently visible” in the countryside. “Especially because we fought a lot”, recalls the one who finally regained, on May 23, by court decision, the right to teach at the University of the Bosphorus.

Despite this positive outcome, the teacher denounces the “toxic effects” of these cases in academia. “It tired everyone, and deterred many young people from continuing in teaching and research, he laments. We have lost so many brilliant people who have gone abroad.” At a minimum, he thus calls for the end of the appointment of rectors by decree. “The university is no longer free, it is vital that it regains its independence.”

Erol*, 27 years old, prosecuted during his studies

Met in a café in Istanbul, Erol* wants to remain discreet. “Just talking about my case to the press could get me a new trial”, he warns, nervous. While still a high school student, the young man, originally from eastern Turkey, saw his world fall apart. A few months before the final exams, his school – a specialized high school who trained police officers – was closed because it was reputed to be close to the powerful Gülen brotherhood, which had become Erdogan’s pet peeve.

“We learned it live by watching TV at boarding school”, Erol remembers. Without any other form of trial, the students then find themselves on the floor. “I didn’t necessarily dream of joining the police, but it was a good school, very selective. And a way to rise socially”, he regrets. Thanks to a good score in the national tests, he reoriented himself towards law studies. Many high school classmates do like him, but learn that they are “files”. “We knew there would be a kind of glass ceiling, that we could never become magistrates for example”explains the young man, who still feels today as “a second-class citizen”.

“Our cause does not interest the Turks. My own father still supports Erdogan despite what I suffered, ‘in the name of the national interest’.”

Erol, lawyer targeted by a political trial

at franceinfo

Following the failed coup of July 2016, an Ankara prosecutor orders the interrogation of Erol’s former comrades. At that time, the law student was in a roommate with friends, all from his closed high school. “As soon as we heard a knock at the door, we were afraid it was the police”, he recalls. The fears come true and the housemates will all, in turn, be taken away for questions. Placed in police custody, Erol comes out free. But others will be sentenced to six months in prison. He will have to wait until mid-2022 to finally be exempt from any prosecution – and recover in passing his lawyer’s license which had been suspended.

He does not wait “not much” of the presidential election, especially since the opposition candidate Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, the only hope of rehabilitation in his eyes, has little chance of winning the election. “However, in addition to having destroyed our careers, these trials have created great social suffering, broken relationships, forcing us to remain very discreet, even with our colleagues.explains Erol. I fear that if he wins, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will feel assured of the people’s trust and will go even further in his repression.” If such a scenario were to occur, Erol already has a plan: to leave “quickly” Turkey, as many of his friends have already done.

* The first name has been changed