Ali Babacan: Osman Kavala's file is an utter travesty of law

* Photo: DEVA Party

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DEVA Party Chair Ali Babacan, also a former Deputy Prime Minister from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), spoke at his party's Elazığ and Bingöl Provincial Congresses yesterday (November 15).

Addressing a series of issues in his speech, including the arrest of businessperson and rights defender Osman Kavala and the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Turkey, Babacan briefly said:

"These days, they have started talking about the 'law'. Turkey has become a country of thought criminals. Who did so many unlawful deeds?

"Two days ago, the Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) requested the judgements from the court which put Osman Kavala on trial so that the ones who caused the violations of rights at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Constitutional Court could be identified.

CLICK - Judicial overseeing body to examine decisions about Osman Kavala's imprisonment

"We will see what will happen next. Osman Kavala has been in prison for over a thousand days. I had his case files examined by our fellow legists. They are pathetic, it is an utter travesty of law. They are holding Osman Kavala, Ahmet Altan and several other people in prison.

'At least 30 thousand cases a day'

"We said that a strong law was necessary for a strong economy. They have copied it from us. The student who copied is obvious. I hope that they will copy again and release them all. But it does not show that they abide by the law: First, imprison [people] upon an instruction, then release [them], again upon an instruction. This is not what the law is about.

"They are hiding the number of [COVID-19] cases. People cannot be tested so easily in order to prevent the number from increasing further.

"They have, unfortunately, managed the outbreak poorly. When we look at the number of diagnosed cases on a daily basis, Turkey ranks among the top five countries in the world. According to our estimates, there are at least 30 to 40 thousand new cases diagnosed in a day.

'Turkey is the only country deceiving its people'

"Turkey is probably the only country trying to deceive its people by differentiating between the number of cases and the number of patients. What is worse, as there is a media blackout in the country, this situation cannot be clearly seen in the press, either.

"But our citizens are having difficulty in finding a vacancy in intensive care units, they are losing their lives. The single measure taken by an entire state cannot be just saying 'Wear masks.' What needs to be done must be done by consulting with the relevant parties." (RT/SD)