Turkish President Erdogan: 10 ambassadors who supported the activist are “persona non grata” | world News

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 10 ambassadors, including those from the United States and France, were “persona non grata” after they issued a statement supporting a jailed activist.

Osman Kavala, 64, is a Turkish businessman, publisher and activist who has been detained for more than four years despite not having been convicted of a crime.

He was acquitted last year in connection with nationwide protests in 2013, but was later re-arrested over an attempted military coup in 2016.

A joint statement calling for Mr. Kavala’s release was jointly issued this week by the United States, France, Germany, Canada, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.

“The continued delays in his trial, including by merging different cases and creating new cases after a previous acquittal, casts a shadow over the respect for democracy, rule of law and transparency in the Turkish judicial system,” the statement said.

The embassies of the signatory countries called for a “fair and quick solution to his case…in line with Turkey’s international obligations and domestic laws.”

“Referring to the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in this regard, we call on Turkey to secure his immediate release,” the statement added.

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The European Court of Human Rights called for Mr Kavala’s immediate release two years ago, finding that there was no reasonable doubt that he had committed a crime and accusing Turkey of holding him in order to silence him.

The Council of Europe, the 47-member human rights body that drafted and now endorsed the European Convention on Human Rights, said it would initiate abusive proceedings against Turkey if Mr Kavala was not released.

In response to the joint statement, President Erdogan told the audience on Saturday that foreign ambassadors “do not dare to come to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and issue orders.”

He said, “I gave the necessary order to our foreign minister and said what to do. These ten ambassadors must be declared persona non grata at once. You will resolve them immediately.”

“They will know and understand Turkey,” Mr. Erdogan added of the ambassadors, telling the jubilant audience in Eskisehir: “On the day they don’t know and understand Turkey, they will leave.”

The host country may declare foreign ambassadors persona non grata (Latin meaning “person unwelcome”) “at any time and without having to explain its decision” under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Doing so usually serves as a mechanism to expel the ambassador by stripping him of his diplomatic immunity, but no official notification of the declaration has been received by the respective embassies so far.

Seven of the ambassadors represent fellow NATO members and their expulsion threatens to cause the biggest rift between Turkey and the West in Erdogan’s 19 years in power.

Six of them are EU members, and European Parliament President David Sassoli tweeted: “Expulsion of ten ambassadors is a sign of the authoritarian drift of the Turkish government. We will not be afraid. Freedom for Osman Kavala.”

Reuters quoted a source from the German Foreign Ministry as saying that the ten countries are consulting with each other.

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