Turkey’s execution list in Europe

The Turkish state also created an execution list in Europe, which included the names of dozens of people. The list, which was revealed in the press in mid-2021, included the names of journalists and activists. Lists containing the names of the people to be executed in many European countries have emerged. It was confirmed by the German police in July 2021 that there was an execution list of 55 people in Germany.

Journalist Erk Acarer, who was living in Berlin at the time the lists were released, was attacked with a knife at his home on July 6, 2021. Acarer said one of the attackers threatened “you won’t write”. Three people carried out the attack. While one was on guard, the other two attacked. There is an arrest warrant for him in Turkey. He has been living in Germany since 2017.

After this attack, an account called “Jitemkurt” shared that there is an execution list about 21 opposition journalists, artists, intellectuals and writers living in Europe and that they will be killed. Following a question in parliament, Ministry of Interior in Germany announced that they were “examining” this list which included the names such as Kurdish artist Ferhat Tunç and politician Hasip Kaplan, journalist Celal Inception, lawyer Mahmut Şakar, former Diyarbakır Mayor Osman Baydemir and Kurdish artist Şivan Perwer.

Gökhan Yavuzel, a member of the International Writers Union (PEN), who was mentioned on the execution list, announced in a post on July 26 that he was attacked by four people in Wales, where he lived, and that the attackers spoke Turkish and insulted him.
Journalist Can Dündar living in exile in Germany is also on the list. Dündar has been threatened many times directly by the Turkish President. While Can Dündar was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Cumhuriyet between 2015 and 2016, he published images of weapons shipments from Ankara to the jihadists in Syria. Images were from 2014. A lawsuit was filed against him and he was sentenced to 27.5 years in prison in December 2020. In particular, he was accused of espionage. He was directly threatened by Erdogan. He was subjected to an armed attack in front of the court before the verdict of the case he was tried in Istanbul in May 2016, but luckily escaped. Currently, he continues to broadcast on the internet platform called “Özgürüz”. Can Dündar remains to be the target of the Turkish government.

THOSE ON THE BOUNTY LIST

In addition to these lists, the Turkish state also puts “awards” on the heads of many dissidents, while making execution plans, on the other hand, it encourages ordinary people to murder. In Belgium, names such as Zübeyir Aydar and Bahar Kimyongür are on this red list. The Turkish Ministry of Interior has prepared “red”, “blue”, “green”, “orange” and “grey” lists for this purpose. The reward promised in the red list reaches up to 10 million TL. In a news report of the Turkish newspaper Sabah on March 9, 2012, it was announced that the “Anti-Terrorism Award Regulation” was issued in order to apprehend PKK leaders. A reward of 4 Million Turkish Liras was promised for anyone who caught 

any of the 50 people whose names were on the list. It was stated in the same list that 20 of these Kurds, who were mentioned as the “leading cadre”, lived in Europe.

DEATH THREATS

In addition to assassination attempts and execution lists, threatening messages are sent to many people, including European politicians. Sevim Dağdelen, a left-wing parliamentarian in Germany, is not on the wanted list, but she lives under police protection due to threats. This is also true for Berivan Aslan in Austria.

An investigation was launched in November 2020 after threatening messages in Turkish against the Flemish Justice Minister Zuhal Demir in Belgium. Demir was subjected to police stakeout at her home. It is stated that the threatening messages were sent in response to the statements of Minister of Justice Zuhal Demir regarding the mosques in Belgium affiliated to Diyanet, which are considered as the “extension” of the Erdogan regime. According to the prosecutor’s office, the person who sent the e-mail in Turkish threatened Demir, saying that he “knows where she lives, that he will rape her, that he knows where to find her if she does not keep quiet.”

ABUCTION ACTIVITIES

With the complicity of many countries, the Turkish intelligence agency abducted many people and took them to Turkey in recent years. Most of these people belong to the Gülen Community, a former accomplice of the Erdogan regime. In this context, Selahattin Gülen, the nephew of the leader of the community, Fethullah Gülen, mysteriously disappeared in Kenya at the beginning of May 2021. On May 31, Turkish authorities announced that they had Gülen. The Ankara regime says they have captured dozens of people in this way since 2016. In 2018, 6 people affiliated with the Gülen community were detained by the MIT in Kosovo. The Turkish state is putting pressure on many countries in the Balkans, Central Asia and Africa within this framework.

In September 2020, Kurdish asylum seeker İsa Özer was kidnapped in Ukraine and taken to Turkey. It was not clarified as to how this “operation” took place.

DEADLY SILENCE AGAINST THE THREAT

The information contained in this file constitutes a very small part of the dark activities organised and activated by the Turkish state in many parts of the world. Since its establishment, the Turkish state has committed serious crimes against humanity both at home and abroad. Western governments, teaching human rights and democracy lessons at every opportunity, either encouraged the alliance in the face of Turkey’s crimes or did not go beyond a verbal condemnation. Even though it is known that the Turkish state has intense relations with structures such as ISIS, which are considered as enemies of humanity, European governments continue to play the three wise monkeys. On the one hand, the expanding network of espionage and the threat of attack, on the other hand, its undeniable ties with structures such as ISIS against all human values pose a serious threat to the freedoms and democracy around the world, especially the Kurds and the peoples of the Middle East.