Ms. Bugra, your husband has been held in Turkey's high-security prison in Silivri since October 2017 without being found guilty of any of the charges against him.

Many describe his detention as a "disgrace to Turkey".

How is he?

Karen Krueger

Editor in the Feuilleton.

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My husband has found himself in a process that someone once described as "Kafkaesque."

Based on the same investigation file, three arrest warrants were issued against him, two dismissal notices issued and he was once acquitted of various charges.

Although the European Court of Human Rights ruled in December 2019 that his detention violated human rights and called for his immediate release, he remains behind bars.

Of course, all this is very painful for him, but he has retained his moral strength.

In order not to lose his mind, he reads a lot and tries to write even though he doesn't have a computer.

He is in a solitary cell with a toilet and shower.

There is a small yard

which he shares with other prisoners.

He doesn't complain.

But it's never been his style to complain.

The case has become a symbol of the devastating state of the Turkish judiciary and your husband's continued detention has become a dispute between Turkey and Western countries.

Due to the great media attention, everyone now knows Osman Kavala's face.

But what kind of person is he?

First of all, he is against violence without any ifs or buts.

He does not belong to any political party, organization or movement.

One could describe him as someone who firmly believes that artistic and cultural activities can build bridges between people.

He has attempted to use this agency to contribute to a culture of peace.

After the sudden death of his father in 1982, he had to give up his studies at the New School for Social Research in New York and take over the management of the family business.

In the early 2000s, he began to get more involved in civil society.

He founded the organization Anadolu Kültür, which supports local cultural initiatives by strengthening national and international cooperation.

Was he a critic of the regime?

Like many other intellectuals who want to contribute to the democratization of the country and the strengthening of the rule of law, he has spoken out in this connection and has occasionally criticized certain political decisions.

But, as I said, he was never a member of any political party, organization or movement, and his critical stance was never radical or anti-government.

What was he accused of when he was arrested in 2017?

The initial allegations and the subsequent court proceedings are very strange, difficult to understand legally and hardly comprehensible even with logic.

My husband was taken into police custody at Istanbul Airport on October 18, 2017.

He just came from Gaziantep, a city in south-west Turkey that has taken in a large number of Syrian refugees.

He was there to speak to city officials about a project involving refugee artists.

An arrest warrant was issued for him two weeks after his arrest.

The accusations were nothing short of absurd: attempted government overthrow and attempted subversion of the constitutional order through the use of force.

The first allegation related to the nationwide Gezi protests in 2013,

It is now being claimed that he is a spy.

However, the subsequently written indictment does not mention a single act that could constitute a criminal offense of espionage within the meaning of the Turkish Criminal Code.