Turkish intellectual Kavala, Erodgan’s unlikely sworn foe

Osman Kavala, sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, has been thrust from relative obscurity into a symbol of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s intolerance of dissent in the wake of a failed 2016 coup.

Bearded, tender-spoken, and gaunt, the 64-yr-old intellectual’s destiny modified the instant he landed in Istanbul from a journey to a German institute in southeastern Turkey in October 2017, whilst he became arrested after being charged with funding a plot to topple the authorities.

At the time, Turkey changed into the manner of locking up tens of heaps of human beings that Erdogan linked to a US-based totally Muslim preacher, an ally who grew to become a sworn opponent whom he accused of masterminding the failed putsch.

Kavala, born in Paris and educated in Britain, had been quietly heading a cultural center involved in projects promoting democracy and rebuilding trust between Turkey and its arch-nemesis Armenia.

That he, too, became swept up in the mass arrests stunned his supporters, underscoring to them the seemingly indiscriminate nature of Erdogan’s retribution for the coup attempt.

“The case against Kavala is so absurd, and the international calls for his freedom are so strong, that one day he will be released,” Tom de Waal, a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe who sent books to Kavala that he could read in jail, wrote days ahead of the sentence.

“Sooner, we hope, and not later.”

Born in Paris in 1957, Kavala graduated from the University of Manchester after studying economics.

He took over his father’s tobacco business after his death in 1982 but has said little in public about his line of work.

Instead, he appeared to spend most of his time focusing on social projects, traveling the world, and picking up awards for his work on preserving Turkey’s cultural heritage.

His friends view him as a bridge-builder between communities in a country that is often fiercely divided, a man that is humble but stubborn, polite but direct, bossy but never patronizing.

“I would rather describe him as a colleague than a boss. Osman bey has never patronized us,” Asena Gunal, director-general of Anatolian Culture, told AFP, using an honorific title to show her respect for him.

“He has never boasted of his wealth but has a humble personality who feels embarrassed of whatever he owns,” said Gunal at the Depo arts center in Istanbul’s upscale Tophane district, a former tobacco depot that Kavala inherited and restored.

Umit Kivanc, an author whose friendship with Kavala dates lower back over 40 years, brushed off caricatures in state media of him as a wealthy bourgeois guy.

“Rich, bourgeois, businessman? No, Osman is a stubborn leftist,” said Kivanc.

Convinced of Kavala’s innocence, human rights defenders nonetheless war to understand why Erdogan made him into his private sworn foe, as soon as branding him the agent of the Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros.

“He is the remaining character to assist any coup to try and it’s miles truly appalling to look him focused as he has been and made the pawn in a few incomprehensible political recreations,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb of Human Rights Watch.