Two weeks ago a Turkish court sentenced six defendants, including three prominent journalists, to life in prison for supposedly sending “subliminal messages” via TV appearances and newspaper columns urging the overthrow of the government. There wasn't much fuss because, well, this is life now in Erdogan's paranoid and increasingly authoritarian Turkey. It would have been more surprising if they'd been freed.
It has, though, prompted an open letter to Erdogan, signed by 38 Nobel Prize laureates:
On 16 February 2018, the Altan brothers and Ilıcak were sentenced to aggravated life sentences, precluding them from any prospect of a future amnesty.
President Erdoğan, we the undersigned share the following opinion of David Kaye [the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression]: “The court decision condemning journalists to aggravated life in prison for their work, without presenting substantial proof of their involvement in the coup attempt or ensuring a fair trial, critically threatens journalism and with it the remnants of freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey”….
During a ceremony in honour of Çetin Altan, on 2 February 2009, you declared publicly that “Turkey is no longer the same old Turkey who used to sentence its great writers to prison – this era is gone for ever.” Among the audience were Çetin Altan’s two sons: Ahmet and Mehmet. Nine years later, they are sentenced to life; isn’t that a fundamental contradiction?
No, it won't make any difference, but sometimes it's necessary to bear witness to the truth of what's happening in Erdogan's Turkey.
Mick Hartley 
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