How Turkey deals with critics.

Catfish · 03-13-18, 04:33 AM

The original german article from the "Suddeutsche Zeitung" is here:
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/sc...ehen-1.3897579

Translation by Google:

"March 9, 2018, 4:15 pm
Writer Ahmet Altan
"I will never see the world again"
Ahmet Altan at the 2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival.

"My hero and I disappear together in the dark": The Turkish writer Ahmet Altan is to spend the rest of his life in prison. (Photo: picture alliance / Photoshot)

Ahmet Altan, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Turkey, tells in a text from prison about the tormenting moments before the sentencing.
Guest contribution by Ahmet Altan

Ahmet Altan is a journalist and novelist. On February 16, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with five journalist colleagues. It was the day Deniz Yücel was released from custody after 367 days. Altan was accused of broadcasting "subliminal messages" on the July 14, 2016 TV broadcast about the coup that took place the day after. The 67-year-old Altan was editor-in-chief of the now closed newspaper Taraf. In January, the Turkish Constitutional Court ordered its release - but a court in Istanbul blocked the decision. Ahmet Altan was convicted along with his brother Mehmet Altan, an economics professor, and journalist colleagues Nazlı Ilıcak, Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül, Yakup Şimşek and Fevzi Yazıcı. The Fischer-Verlag is currently publishing Altan's only translated novel in German, "Der Duft des Paradieses". The following text was written by Ahmet Altan in Silivri Prison, where he is now in solitary confinement.

They are sitting on a bench two meters high. They are wearing black robes with red collars. In a few hours they will decide my fate. I look at her all the time. They have loosened their ties out of boredom.

The presiding judge, who sits in the middle, spreads his right arm over the back like a piece of wet laundry and plays around with his fingers. He has a long, thin face. His eyes are under swollen eyelids, which are half closed. He regularly checks his cell phone to read his text messages.

When one of my co-defendants says he is about to have a bypass operation, the presiding judge pulls the microphone closer to him and says in a mechanical tone: "The hospital has informed us that nothing stands in the way of your stay in prison." Repeatedly he cuts the defenders off with his mechanical voice when they come to very central arguments: "You have two minutes, come to the point!" I remember what Elias Canetti wrote about such people: "In safety, in the right place, powerful, and then they hear the pleading of a human being and are determined from the beginning to pretend to be deaf - you can even behave more meanly ? "
Journalism "I'm ready to die in jail"
"I am ready to die in prison"
The great Turkish intellectual Ahmet Altan has always said openly what he thought. He is loved and feared for that. The life imprisonment against him is a scandal. By Tim Ne****ov more ...

While the defendants and their defenders speak, the plump judge, who sits at the right hand of the chairman and whose eyes look in two different directions, leans back in his chair and looks at the ceiling. The wellbeing that is reflected in his face shows that he is indulging in daydreams. When he is not dreaming, he lays his head on his hands and sleeps. The judge on the left is reading something on the computer in front of him all the time.

Around noon, they tell us that they are retreating to the consultation. Policemen surround us. They wear Robocop uniforms with breast armor and knee protectors. Each one of us is grabbed by one of the policemen and taken away by a trellis of guards. We have to go down a narrow staircase and get stuck in a tiled cell with iron bars. There we are five. The sixth defendant, because she is a woman, is taken elsewhere.

The Turkish Constitutional Court had looked at the charges against us and ruled that "no one can be arrested on the basis of such allegations." The journalists who are in court with me are optimistic on the basis of this ruling. Not me."

And Turkey with dictator Erdoghan is a NATO-member, being flattered by the West

Jimbuna · 03-13-18, 05:00 AM

I have a few Turkish friends who now live in the UK and they inform me that Turkey has changed....for the worse.

03-13-18, 04:33 AM	#1
Catfish Dipped Squirrel Operative Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: ..where the ocean meets the sky Posts: 16,897 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	How Turkey deals with critics. The original german article from the "Suddeutsche Zeitung" is here: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/sc...ehen-1.3897579 Translation by Google: "March 9, 2018, 4:15 pm Writer Ahmet Altan "I will never see the world again" Ahmet Altan at the 2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival. "My hero and I disappear together in the dark": The Turkish writer Ahmet Altan is to spend the rest of his life in prison. (Photo: picture alliance / Photoshot) Ahmet Altan, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Turkey, tells in a text from prison about the tormenting moments before the sentencing. Guest contribution by Ahmet Altan Ahmet Altan is a journalist and novelist. On February 16, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with five journalist colleagues. It was the day Deniz Yücel was released from custody after 367 days. Altan was accused of broadcasting "subliminal messages" on the July 14, 2016 TV broadcast about the coup that took place the day after. The 67-year-old Altan was editor-in-chief of the now closed newspaper Taraf. In January, the Turkish Constitutional Court ordered its release - but a court in Istanbul blocked the decision. Ahmet Altan was convicted along with his brother Mehmet Altan, an economics professor, and journalist colleagues Nazlı Ilıcak, Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül, Yakup Şimşek and Fevzi Yazıcı. The Fischer-Verlag is currently publishing Altan's only translated novel in German, "Der Duft des Paradieses". The following text was written by Ahmet Altan in Silivri Prison, where he is now in solitary confinement. They are sitting on a bench two meters high. They are wearing black robes with red collars. In a few hours they will decide my fate. I look at her all the time. They have loosened their ties out of boredom. The presiding judge, who sits in the middle, spreads his right arm over the back like a piece of wet laundry and plays around with his fingers. He has a long, thin face. His eyes are under swollen eyelids, which are half closed. He regularly checks his cell phone to read his text messages. When one of my co-defendants says he is about to have a bypass operation, the presiding judge pulls the microphone closer to him and says in a mechanical tone: "The hospital has informed us that nothing stands in the way of your stay in prison." Repeatedly he cuts the defenders off with his mechanical voice when they come to very central arguments: "You have two minutes, come to the point!" I remember what Elias Canetti wrote about such people: "In safety, in the right place, powerful, and then they hear the pleading of a human being and are determined from the beginning to pretend to be deaf - you can even behave more meanly ? " Journalism "I'm ready to die in jail" "I am ready to die in prison" The great Turkish intellectual Ahmet Altan has always said openly what he thought. He is loved and feared for that. The life imprisonment against him is a scandal. By Tim Ne***ov more ... While the defendants and their defenders speak, the plump judge, who sits at the right hand of the chairman and whose eyes look in two different directions, leans back in his chair and looks at the ceiling. The wellbeing that is reflected in his face shows that he is indulging in daydreams. When he is not dreaming, he lays his head on his hands and sleeps. The judge on the left is reading something on the computer in front of him all the time. Around noon, they tell us that they are retreating to the consultation. Policemen surround us. They wear Robocop uniforms with breast armor and knee protectors. Each one of us is grabbed by one of the policemen and taken away by a trellis of guards. We have to go down a narrow staircase and get stuck in a tiled cell with iron bars. There we are five. The sixth defendant, because she is a woman, is taken elsewhere. The Turkish Constitutional Court had looked at the charges against us and ruled that "no one can be arrested on the basis of such allegations." The journalists who are in court with me are optimistic on the basis of this ruling. Not me." And Turkey with dictator Erdoghan is a NATO-member, being flattered by the West __________________ >^..^<)))>{ All generalizations are wrong.

03-13-18, 05:00 AM	#2
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 181,170 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	I have a few Turkish friends who now live in the UK and they inform me that Turkey has changed....for the worse. __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!! GWX3.0 Download Page - Donation/instant access to GWX (Help SubSim)