Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

German newspaper on imprisonment of Austrian activist in Turkey

Werner Pirker, translated by Steve | 27.02.2005 10:27 | Repression | World

A commentary in the left-wing newspaper Junge Welt notes that the EU is reluctant to upset its relations with Turkey over the arrest of Sandra Bakutz. The left ought to support Sandra, however.
(Second attempt to download - first attempt failed)

Sandra Bakutz
Sandra Bakutz


Sandra’s Fate
In the talons of Turkish justice

For over two weeks, a young Austrian woman has been held in a women’s prison near Istanbul. Sandra Bakutz, a journalist and human rights activist, travelled to Turkey on February 10 to observe a trial of members of the Turkish cultural association Grup Yorum and the prisoners’ support organisation TAYAD. Now she is herself on trial. The 30-year-old woman has been accused of alleged membership in the DHKP-C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front). The accusation arises from Sandra Bakutz taking part in a demonstration in Brussels on October 26, 2002 opposing the EU “black list” which also describes the DHKP-C as a “terrorist organisation“.

The second court appearance for last Wednesday did not take place just like the first one didn’t. The basic right of any accused person to make a statement on the charges has so far been denied to Sandra Bakutz. Yet her case is still not a major public issue. Her imprisonment has not given rise to a lively debate about Turkey’s relationship to “basic European values”. The “highly sensitive” ties between Brussels and Ankara are not to be disturbed because of a left-wing activist. Austria’s Foreign Ministry, which at any rate summoned the Turkish ambassador, regrets not receiving any information from Ankara so far. It has not yet decided to lodge a formal protest.

While Turkey’s coming closer to Europe is roundly praised and its gradual introduction of democratic and law-based state norms is appreciated, an EU citizen is delivered up to the arbitrary justice of Turkey. What must it be like for the thousands of political prisoners in Turkey, for whose human rights Sandra Bakutz has steadily worked for years? Turkey has remained a military dictatorship behind a parliamentary façade. The coup generals of 1980 continue to determine its legal system.

Only as a highly repressive regime can Ankara carry out the role allotted to it as a guard over the Bosporus, overseeing the hegemonic interests of the West in Central Asia and the Middle East. The concept of justice in Turkey executes with Kemalist ruthlessness the EU black list’s judgment against alleged terrorist organisations. Sandra Bakutz has been caught in the wheels of this justice. The left’s alternative media and society should not abandon her.




Werner Pirker, translated by Steve
- e-mail: londra@post.com

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech