Amnesty’s Turkey chief denies terror charge

ANKARA, Turkey — The head of Amnesty International in Turkey rejects allegations of links to the Muslim cleric blamed by Ankara for last year’s failed coup as his trial opened on Thursday.

Taner Kilic was detained in June over claims he was a member of the group led by US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who is accused of ordering the attempted overthrow of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The hearing comes a day after Kilic also went on trial in another case along with 10 rights activists including Amnesty’s Turkey director Idil Eser who were detained at a workshop run by the rights group on an island off Istanbul.

While Kilic is voluntary chairman of Amnesty’s board of directors handling administrative affairs, Eser is in charge of day-to-day business including Amnesty Turkey’s campaigns for human rights.

Eser and seven others were freed for the duration of their trial after the first hearing in Istanbul on Wednesday on charges of “aiding” an armed terror group. They are accused of links to outlawed groups including Gulen’s organization as well as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984 and the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).

— AFP