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    Turkish Artist Zehra Doğan Sentenced to Prison for Painting of Kurdish Town Attack

    "Have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against any form of tyranny over the mind of man"..Thomas Jefferson

    Turkish Artist Zehra Doğan Sentenced to Prison for Painting of Kurdish Town Attack
    Doğan has been given a sentence of 2 years and 10 months by a Turkish court. Perwana Nazif, March 24, 2017 Zehra Doğan. Courtesy the Voice Project. The Turkish-Kurdish painter and journalist Zehra Doğan has been sentenced to two years, nine months, and 22 days in prison for creating a painting which depicted the destruction caused by Turkish security forces in the Nusaybin district of Mardin province, a Kurdish region in Turkey. 4 Things to Know About Turkish Artist Zehra Doğan and the Painting That Landed Her in Prison By Caroline Elbaor, March 29, 2017 According to Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, the Mardin Second High Criminal Court in Turkey handed down the sentence because she drew Turkish flags on buildings destroyed by Turkish forces. However, according to Artforum, the court expressed that Doğan’s sharing of the image of her work, featuring current military operations, was the cause for her prison sentence. Work by Zehra Doğan. Courtesy the Voice Project. “I was given two years and 10 months [jail time] only because I painted Turkish flags on destroyed buildings. However, [the Turkish government] caused this. I only painted it,” Doğan posted in a now-deleted tweet as reported by online Turkish journalism and human rights platform Turkey Purge. According to the Art Newspaper, authorities arrested Doğan at a cafe late July, claiming that her artworks proved that she was connected to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by the Turkish government. “Art and paintings can never be used in such a way,” said Doğan’s lawyer, Asli Pasinli, according to Voice Project, an international organization committed to freedom of expression and creative activism. “This is an attack on art and artistic expression.” Turkish Sculptor Mehmet Aksoy Faces Prison for Insulting President Erdogan By Henri Neuendorf, Jun 25, 2015 After a two-year cease-fire between Turkish security forces and PKK militants ended, the former have been attempting to clear cities of the latter since July 2015. According to Amnesty International’s report in December 2016, after violent crackdowns by Turkish authorities, about half a million people were forced from their homes over the past year—which may be considered collective punishment. Cultural Leaders Urge Angela Merkel to Act for Release of Jailed Artists in Turkey By Hili Perlson, Nov 8, 2016 In a statement for Fairpress, Doğan said: “[The judge has] punished the wrong actor: Not the one who destroyed the town, […] not the one who shot the photo, but the one who painted the photo. They made this painting, not me.” https://news.artnet.com/art-world/pa...wsletter%20USE Tillerson just told erdogan we stand behind him - many human rights issues in turkey, also threatening of EU over not being able to promote to turks, dual citizens living in EU, to vote for him. Tillerson tells frustrated Turks: U.S. faces tough choices in Syria By Lesley Wroughton and Ece Toksabay | ANKARA U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged on Thursday that Washington faced difficult choices in the fight against Islamic State in Syria but sought to downplay differences with NATO ally Turkey over support for Kurdish militia fighters. Speaking after meetings in Ankara with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and senior government ministers, Tillerson said there was "no space" between Turkey and the United States in their determination to defeat Islamic State. Erdogan and his government have been incensed by U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, seen by the Pentagon as a reliable partner but by Turkey as a hostile force with deep links to Kurdish PKK militants who have waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. It is particularly frustrated by the use of YPG fighters in a planned U.S.-led offensive to retake Islamic State's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, an operation in which Ankara has long said it wants to play a role. "What we discussed today are options that are available to us. They are difficult options. Let me be very frank, it's not easy, they are difficult choices that have to be made," Tillerson told a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. Cavusoglu said Washington accepted there was no difference between the YPG militia and the PKK. Tillerson condemned recent PKK attacks in Turkey but made no such acknowledgement. He said his talks focused on the creation of "stabilization zones" in Syria so refugees could return home and that a number of options on how to secure such areas were being explored. Turkey, sheltering more than 2 million Syrians, has long called for such safe areas but the idea has gained little traction among Western allies who question how such zones can be carved out without a significant foreign military presence. STRAINED TIES Tillerson's visit comes at a difficult time in U.S.-Turkish relations. Ties soured under former U.S. President Barack Obama and officials in Ankara have been hoping for a reset under Donald Trump, but there have been few signs of improvement. Aside from differences over Syria, relations have also been strained by the continued presence in the United States of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Erdogan for a failed coup last July and whom Ankara wants extradited. Cavusoglu said Turkey expects Washington to take concrete steps on Gulen's extradition, including his temporary detention. U.S. officials have in the past said that is a matter for the U.S. judicial system. Related Coverage

    Tillerson's trip was further clouded by the arrest in New York on Monday of an executive of Turkey's state-run Halkbank (HALKB.IS), who is accused of conspiring with Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab in a multi-year scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. Cavusoglu described the arrest of the banker as a "political" move and said the U.S. attorney who launched the case against Zarrab had close ties with Gulen's supporters. Tillerson's visit comes less than three weeks ahead of a referendum at which Erdogan is seeking constitutional change to boost his powers, a move which his opponents and some European allies fear will bring increasing authoritarianism. Tillerson did not meet members of the Turkish opposition during his visit, apparently avoiding domestic issues while trying to keep the focus on the fight against Islamic State. It was a change in tone from U.S. visits under Obama. Then Vice President Joe Biden said during a Jan. 2016 visit that Turkey was setting a poor example for the region by intimidating the media and curtailing internet freedoms. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mi...-idUSKBN1710WD
    Last edited by artist; 04-02-2017 at 09:50 PM.

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