Turkish delegation slams PACE prize to FETO suspect

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) - The Turkish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe condemned on Monday the EU body's attribution of the 2017 Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize to a Fetullah Gulen Terrorist Organization (FETO) suspect.

PACE announced earlier on Monday that the prize "has been awarded to Turkish supporter of the independence of the judiciary Murat Arslan".

Talip Kucukcan, chairman of the Turkish delegation, slammed the decision in a statement.

Kucukcan explained that Arslan was the "former president of the now dissolved Association for the Union of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV) who was by profession actually a commissioner of audits and not a judge as announced, has been detained as the result of evidence that indicates his strong ties and membership to the Fetullah Gulen Terrorist Organization (FETO), which orchestrated the coup attempt on July 15, 2016."

Ankara accuses FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen of having orchestrated last year's defeated coup, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

"This political decision lacking sufficient reasoning and identifying a former commissioner of audits as 'a well-known and reputed judge' is recognized, unfortunately, as a purely hostile attitude towards Turkey and the Turkish people," Kucukcan said in a statement.

"I strongly condemn such a decision of the Selection Panel and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) which gives credit to a terrorist organization, namely FETO, that is responsible for the 15th July 2016 coup attempt.

"It is unacceptable for PACE to legitimize the rewarding of those who attempted coup d’etat to overthrow the elected civilian government and to suspend the constitutional order," he added.

"The Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly, in partnership with the Vaclav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation, to reward outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights in Europe and beyond," according to the PACE website.

The prize consists of a €60,000 ($70,516) sum, a trophy and a diploma.