The Belgian-Turkish activist and journalist Bahar Kimyongür announced that he has submitted a complaint about the Turkish Home Affairs Minister for defamation through the press on Saturday. He said it’s because he supports Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, two teachers who were sacked during the purges within the Turkish public sector after the failed Coup in July 2016. They were both arrested and accused of being part of the DHKP-C, a forbidden extreme left group.
“I have tried to alert the public to the injustice suffered by Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça via tweets and protests in Brussels, for the last 150 days. They have been fighting their dismissal for more than nine months and started a hunger strike in March”, says Bahar Kimyongür.
“The Erdogan regime has not succeeded in breaking up the movement supporting them. In July, it published a book in Turkish and English called “The never-ending scenarios of a terrorist organisation”, to try and criminalise them and sow the seeds of doubt among their millions of sympathisers. In the book, edited by the Home Affairs Minister’s Research and Study Centre, I am called ‘a firm representative of a terrorist organisation, the founder of a terrorist organisation, the DHKP-C’, and they say I am wanted due to an Interpol red alert”.
“I have not been wanted by Interpol since 2014 and no tribunal in the world has convicted me for being part of a terrorist organisation”, he said. “Through my complaint, I hope to get this book pulled from sale on the Internet, get the truth out there, and get them to respect my dignity. I also want to protect Nuriye and Semih’s legitimate fight”, he said.
(Source: Belga)
