Osman Kavala, the anti-Erdogan at the heart of a diplomatic imbroglio

2021-10-26T15:57:11.745Z

PORTRAIT - A true antithesis of the Turkish president, the philanthropist has been languishing in prison for four years. The recent support given to him by several ambassadors almost cost them their posts.

His name almost sparked a major diplomatic crisis. On Saturday October 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to expel ten Western ambassadors, including those from France, Germany and the United States, for their support for Osman Kavala, a Turkish philanthropist imprisoned for four years in Istanbul. Finally, the head of state reversed his decision on Monday evening, declaring that diplomats had "

retreated

" and that they "

will be more careful in the future

". In the meantime, Osman Kavala remains in prison, at least until November 26, when he will appear again. At the beginning of October, he had been kept in detention by an Istanbul court which had judged "to

lacknew elements to release him

Read also Erdogan hardens the standoff with the West

Nothing, however, predestined Osman Kavala to spend long years in the shade.

Born in Paris in 1957, "

for medical reasons

", as

his friend the Turkish political scientist Ahmet Insel

specifies in

Le Figaro

, the young man quickly inherited

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