Kavala: If they had had a rope in their hands, they would have hanged me

Click to read the article in Turkish

"Of course I was expecting. I was not expecting to be acquitted after they kept me behind bars for so long, but I was not expecting this much. The ones who were showing ropes to each other in the past would have hanged me if they had a rope in their hands." said businessperson Osman Kavala, one of the convicts of Gezi Trial who has been sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for "attempted overthrow".

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Group Deputy Chair Özgür Özel and other CHP MPs Turan Aydoğan, Candan Yüceer, Gökan Zeybek visited the convicts of Gezi Trial yesterday, on April 27, in Silivri Prison.

CLICK - Gezi trial: Aggravated life sentence for Osman Kavala, 18 years in prison for seven others

Kavala: Turkey lost reputation

CHP Group Deputy Co-Chair Özel issued a press statement in front of the prison gate after the visit. He quoted from Kavala:

"If they had had a rope in their hands, they would have hanged me, since in the past, capital punishment was replaced by aggravated life imprisonment. All of these evidence was investigated by the judges of European Court of Human Rights, by the objective judges of Europe and they were rebutted. It was ruled that keeping me in prison with these evidences is a violation of rights. However, they convicted me with these evidences."

Özel also noted that Osman Kavala thinks that Turkey has lost reputation with the ruling of the İstanbul Court.

"Some tried to gain time with this ruling, with keeping Osman Kavala behind bars. Yes, they gained time but Turkey lost reputation."

Can Atalay: We are sure that we are not guilty, our morale is high

CHP Group Deputy Chair Özgür Özel also spoke about the other convicts of the Gezi Trial.

Can Atalay, a lawyer for the Chamber of Architects and Taksim Solidarity who was sentenced to 18 years among other convicts of Gezi Trial said to Özel that "their morale is high."

Atalay referred to one member of the court board who was revealed to be a former prospective parliamentary candidate of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

"An unappointed MP candidate had sent us to Silivri" Atalay said to CHP MPs: "We know that we are not guilty so our morale is high."
Can Atalay has sent his greetings to all people who joined Gezi Protests.

Tayfun Kahraman sent his greetings to Kılıçdaroğlu

CHP MPs also visited Tayfun Kahraman, another convict of the Gezi Trial. Özgür Özel told that Kahraman was pleased for CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's statements regarding the trial and had sent his greetings to CHP leader.

Why is Turkey doing this against itself?

"Our last visit was with Hakan Altınay" said CHP MP Özel during the press release.

"I told him that his students who graduated from college have sent their greetings to him. He was very pleased for that. However, Altınay also told us that 'Turkey was a country which was not gaining friends easily, so why is Turkey doing this to itself'"

"Now we have lost many friends while Kavala was being kept behind bars. How can we forget the efforts given by Martti Ahtisaari who was awarded to Nobel Peace Prize? He worked a lot for Turkey's being accepted as a European Union member. Why would we lose an ally like him?"

Özgür Özel concluded that all of the convicts of Gezi Trial they had visited were pleased of Turkey's former President Abdullah Gül's position regarding the trial and his statements after the decision was announced.

During Gezi Protests in 2013 Abdullah Gül was the 11th President of Turkey. Gül had criticized the İstanbul Court's rulings and deemed it as "shameful" and said that "it bears burden for Turkey."

(EMK/TB/SD)