​CHP deputy sent to prison, chairman hits the road

TURKEY - In Brief 15 Jun 2017 by Atilla Yesilada

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First, allow me to remind my audience that I'll be out of the country until 1st of July during which time my access to e-mail will be limited. If you need to contact me, GlobalSource Partners NYC office is your best bet. I had sincerely hoped that you wouldn’t have to, since up until a day ago, politics was calm in Turkey, albeit at the expense of the iron fisted rule of AKP reinforced by the dreaded State of Emergency. Alas, even that might not suffice to keep the “restless natives” at bay anymore. Trouble started when an Istanbul court convicted CHP deputy Mr. Enis Berberoglu to 25 years in prison for leaking state secrets in a case known as “National Intelligence Agency aid to Syria” case. Gendarmerie later linked to Gulen had intercepted civilian semi-trucks on their way to Syria presumably carrying civilian supplies which turned out to be full of arms. The story was widely circulated in the Turkish press, until a judge issued a gag order. Mr. Berberoglu is accused of giving documents on the case to opposition newspaper editor Mr. Dundar who subsequently published them and is currently in exile in Germany. Mr. Erdogan wowed to avenge this obstruction to his plans to defeat arch-enemy Assad. As far as I’m concerned, the judgment is an expression of his will, given Constitutional Court and High Court of Appeals precedents to the effect that citizens can not be held liable for the dissemination of information which has appeared elsewhere even if these can be deemed “a state secret”. Mr. Dundar had been released under a similar CC verdict. Let’s put the post-coup developments in a broader perspective. First after the dismemberment of pro-Kurdish HDP (opposition party) ...