Charges in Gezi Indictment: ‘Influence Agency’, ‘Using Method of Civil Insurrection’

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Being completed on February 20, the indictment filed as part of the investigation into the Gezi Park protests was accepted by the İstanbul 30th Heavy Penal Court yesterday (March 4).

CLICK - Gezi Indictment Against 16 People Including Kavala Accepted

Prepared by İstanbul Public Prosecutor Yakup Ali Kahveci, the 657-page Gezi indictment has charged 16 rights defenders, including Osman Kavala, with "setting up and planning the Gezi Park protests, engaging in influence agency by posting provocative messages and directing acts of violence."

The prosecutor of the indictment, Yakup Ali Kahveci, is also the prosecutor who prepared the indictments in the RedHack case filed against journalists for reporting on the mails of the then Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak, the FETÖ Prison Organization Case and the FETÖ Courthouse Organization Case.

Indictment starts with the Occupy movement

The indictment filed into the Gezi Park protests in 2013 starts with the social and global protest movement Occupy, which erupted across the world as a result of the Global Economic Crisis in 2008-2012.

The indictment charges 16 people with engaging in "influence agency."

198 methods of protest listed

In the indictment, the prosecutor has alleged that Gezi Park protests were set up with the support of OTPOR (Resistance) organization and the method of "civil insurrection" as it was put forward by Gene Sharp, one of the theoreticians of the Occupy movement, was used.

Listing all 198 methods of protest indicated in the book "From Dictatorship to Democracy" by Gene Sharp, the indictment has also drawn a parallelism between these activities and the Gezi Park protests.

'Staying at home', 'Witholding sex with partner'

Among these methods of protest listed in the indictment are "taunting officials", "Lysistratic non-action (Ex: Withholding sex with partner)", "social disobedience (A so-called communal life attempted to be established in Gezi Park)", "stay-at-home", "sanctuary (As a result of the intervention upon the refusal of demonstrators to disperse despite all warnings, they took shelter in the building of the DİSK, Dolmabahçe Mosque and Divan Hotel)", "protest emigration (Ex: hijrat)" and "International Sellers' Embargo."

Symbol of 'fist'

It has also been highlighted in the indictment that the emblem of "a raised and clenched fist", which is a symbol of the OTPOR organization, was widely used during the Gezi Park protests.

Adding a document written by the Department of Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime on June 15, 2013 and referring to it as one of the justifications for the charges, the prosecutor has also claimed that Gezi Park protests were "a planned scenario."

Accusations against Soros

The indictment has attributed the protests to George Soros, a finance speculator and liberal entrepreneur from the US. The indictment states,

"Considering that such activities have similarities with the protests in other countries in terms of their mentality, it has been understood that the insurrection of Gezi was also organized by the extensions of George Soros and other powers with the same targets operating in our country."

Accusations against Taksim Solidarity

The members of the Taksim Solidarity were detained on July 8, 2013, after İstanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu opened the Gezi Park. In the "Taksim Solidarity" case, all of the 26 defendants were acquitted in 2015.

However, in the Gezi indictment accepted by the court yesterday, the prosecutor has brought accusations against Taksim Solidarity for Gezi:

"In the onset, spread and continuation of the incidents despite losses of life and property, the activities of the group known as "Taksim Solidarity", which invited people on social media to stand against the government and security forces and made provocative calls, have come to the fore."

From Cairo to theater play 'Mi Minör'

The indictment has also referred to actor Memet Ali Alabora, his wife actress Ayşe Çınar Alabora, Defne Anter, Handan Meltem Arıkan and Melin Osasogie Edomwonyi as the "actors of the Turkey group" and stated, "It has been understood that [they] left İstanbul for the capital of Egypt, Cairo together on July 7, 2012 and returned to Turkey on July 15, 2012."

Indicating that Ivan Marovic from OTPOR was also in Cairo in the same period, the indictment has alleged that the meeting held in Cairo was related to the protests which would be attempted to be staged in Turkey. 

The indictment then states that "shortly after they returned to Turkey, the people in question started rehearsing for a theater play called 'Mi Minör' (e minor)" written by Handan Meltem Arıkan and directed by Memet Ali Alabora.

Drawing parallelisms between the content of the theater play and the Gezi Park protests, the indictment has stated,

"When the content of the play and the statements made by the artists within the frame of the play are considered, it has been understood that it was almost a rehearsal for the Gezi Park protests."

Osman Kavala went to 3 countries

Referring to the period when the above-mentioned people were in Cairo, the indictment has emphasized that Osman Kavala also went to Belgium, Germany and the US for 25 days during that period:

"It has been determined that with his aforementioned trips, Mehmet Osman Kavala was in Belgium, Germany and the United States of America with the aim of coordinating another part of the movement of insurrection." (HK/EKN/SD)