Mehmet Osman KAVALA

Image Credit: Janbazian/WikkiCommons

Publisher, civil and cultural rights activist, and philanthropistOsman Kavala continued to serve a life sentence at the end of the year. His co-defendants Çiğdem Mater, Can Atalay, Mine Özerden and Tayfun Kahraman continued to serve18-year prison sentences. 

Kavala – detained continuously since 18 October 2017 – and eight co-defendants present in court were acquitted on 18 February 2020 of all charges related to alleged crimes committed by protestors across Türkiye during the 2013 Gezi Park protests. However, in January 2021, the Istanbul regional appeals court overturned the acquittals, and in April 2022, Kavala was convicted of ‘attempting to overthrow the government’ and sentenced to aggravated life in prison.  The Court of Cassation upheld his sentence and that of four co-defendants – Çiğdem Mater, Can Atalay, Mine Özerden, Tayfun Kahraman, sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment on 28 September 2023. Mücella Yapıcı, Hakan Altınay and Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi were acquitted in February 2025. 

In February 2022, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers voted to begin infringement proceedings against Türkiye over its failure to abide by a December 2019 ruling from the European Court of Human Rights urging Kavala’s immediate release. A second case lodged at the Court by Kavala in January 2024, concerning human rights violations perpetrated against him since December 2019 is due to be heard in March 2026 (see Case lists 2018-2025). 

Osman Kavala, born on 2 October 1957, has dedicated his life to promoting open dialogue and peace, human rights, and democratic values in Türkiye. He is a prominent businessman who helped establish a number of civil society organisations, including Anadolu Kültür. He also helped found İletişim Publishing in 1983, which has since become one of Türkiye’s largest publishing houses.