The Washington Post - USA (2021-10-26)

A16 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26 , 2021

BY KAREEM FAHIM

istanbul — A b rewing diplomat-
ic crisis between Turkey and
10 Western countries appeared to
pass Monday after President
R ecep Tayyip Erdogan backed off a
threat to expel their ambassadors
for advocating on behalf of an
imprisoned Turkish activist.
The dispute spiked on Saturday
when Erdogan declared the en-
voys, including the U.S. ambassa-
dor, to be “persona non grata”
because their embassies had
signed a letter calling for the re-
lease of civil society activist Os-
man Kavala.
But on Monday, in what ap-
peared to be a c arefully choreo-
graphed exchange of gestures, the
embassies of the United States,
Canada and other nations that
had signed the Kavala letter
p osted one-sentence statements
on Twitter reiterating their “com-
pliance” with diplomatic norms
against interference in the inter-
nal affairs of host states.
“In a new statement made by
the same embassies today, the
blasphemy against our country,
our judiciary has been reversed,”
Erdogan said later, after a c abinet
meeting. T he ambassadors, he
added, “will be more careful in
their statements.”
His threat had raised concerns
of another blowup between Tur-
key and its NATO partners, adding

to the strains on the alliance creat-

ed by Ankara’s purchase of a R us-

sian missile defense system and

ongoing tensions between Turkey

and Greece in the Eastern Medi-

terranean.

I n Turkey, there was also worry

that the episode would further

damage the economy, which has

suffered repeated shocks as a re-

sult of Ankara’s increasingly rou-

tine squabbles with the United

States and other Western allies.

Erodgan’s interventions with Tur-

key’s central bank have further

unsettled the economy.

E arly Monday, the Turkish cur-

rency, the li ra, fell to an all-time

low before recovering somewhat

later in the day.

A nalysts said Erdogan’s impuls-

es during the Kavala episode —

tacking toward escalating a for-

eign policy dispute rather than

tamping it down — revealed his

anxiety about his slipping popu-

larity as well as his desire to dis-

tract from an economic crisis he

has been unable to solve.

T he Twitter messages from the

embassies contained no apology

or retraction of the sentiments

contained in the Kavala letter,

which had been critical of Turkey’s

judiciary. But the gesture itself

appeared to have been enough to

avert a crisis no one seemed to

want.

“ It appears like the ten Ambas-

sadors threw a rope to get us out of

the pit we fell into,” Namik Tan, a

former Turkish ambassador to the

United States, wrote on Twitte r.

The statements did nothing to

resolve the case of Kavala, who has

been imprisoned for more than

four years and is still on trial on

espionage charges that he and his

advocates say are politically moti-

vated.

His case remains a flash point in

relations between Turkey and E u-

rope. Even some of Erdogan’s al-

lies have questioned why the gov-

ernment continues its pursuit of

Kavala, a p hilanthropist, civil soci-

ety activist and businessman who

was not especially well known be-

fore his arrest in 20 17.

I nitial charges against Kavala

cast him as an organizer and finan-

cier of nationwide protests against

Erdogan’s government in 2013,

which are viewed by the Turkish

leader as the first real challenge to

his rule. T he demonstrations were

sparked by a government plan to

construct an Ottoman-style bar-

racks in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Kava-

la was also accused of supporting a

2016 coup attempt against Erdo-

gan’s government.

L ast year, a Turkish court ac-

quitted Kavala and other activists

on the Gezi-related charges and

ordered him released. But pros-

ecutors leveled new charges and

said he would remain in custody.

“He was a c onstructive member

of civil society who always pur-

sued dialogue and advocated dia-

logue with the government,” said

Emma Sinclair-Webb, the Turkey

director for Human Rights Watch.

And while Kavala was a “cham-

pion for democracy and human

rights,” he never pursued the kind

of political ambitions that had put

other Turkish activists in the gov-

ernment’s crosshairs, she added.

In the prosecution of Kavala,

“you have got this open meddling

in the cases, going on all the time.

It’s not even disguised,” she said.

“What are the gains for Turkey in

all of this? Turkey has so much to

lose.”

[email protected]

Turkey’s Erdogan drops threat to expel envoys of U.S., other Western allies

ADEM ALTAN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Members of the Youth Union of Turkey gather at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara to support President

Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his threat. Their sign reads: “A new route in Turkey. Farewell to A tlantic!”

Health Products Act.”

While vaccine misinformation

and disinformation often take on

localized contexts, anti-vaccine

movements have effectively used

social media to magnify their

messaging across borders and

communities.

Inconsistent public health mes-

saging on issues such as vaccine

safety for those who are pregnant

— immunization is safe and rec-

ommended — and the effective-

ness of the vaccines against infec-

tion — never a foolproof guaran-

tee — also created openings that

anti-vaccine movements could ex-

ploit. Though pharmaceutical

companies did accelerate the final

leg of researching and developing

the shots, for example, the tech-

nologies behind the vaccines had

been in the works for years.

“These materials are from un-

verified and dubious sources, and

individuals who heed the advice

of ‘Truth Warriors’ can endanger

themselves and the people

around them,” the Health Minis-

try said.

About 84 percent of Singa-

pore ’s population is fully vaccinat-

ed, according the country’s Straits

Times newspaper. The govern-

ment has begun administering

booster shots to those eligible.

Singapore is mainly offering

vaccines produced by Pfizer-

BioNTech and Moderna, which

use messenger-RNA technologies

that studies have shown are the

most effective in cutting coronavi-

rus transmission and covid-

hospitalizations. The Chinese-

made Sinovac vaccine is also

available, but Singapore will re-

quire a third dose for a person to

be considered fully vaccinated be-

cause of its lower effectiveness.

[email protected]

BY MIRIAM BERGER

The Singapore-based website
Truth Warriors falsely claims that
coronavirus vaccines are not safe
or effective — and now it will have
to carry a correction on the top of
each page alerting readers to the
falsehoods it propagates.
Under Singapore’s “fake news”
law — formally called the Protec-
tion from Online Falsehoods and
Manipulation Act — t he website
must carry a notice to readers that
it contains “false statement of
fact,” the Health Ministry said
Sunday. A c riminal investigation
is also underway.
Singapore has one of the
world’s farthest-reaching anti-
misinformation laws enacted in

recent years. Rights groups, how-

ever, have warned that the law’s

broad scope could be used to hin-

der free speech and target govern-

ment critics.

That’s a p articular concern in a

place such as Singapore, which

severely restricts political speech.

Other countries have modeled

similar legislation after Singa-

pore ’s.

The Singapore law “is especial-

ly appealing to other authoritari-

an governments that are looking

for less-draconian ways to control

the narratives, stifle dissenting

voices and legitimize their ac-

tions,” Masato Kajimoto, an assis-

tant professor at the University of

Hong Kong’s journalism school

who researches misinformation

in Asia, previously told The Wash-

ington Post.

At the same time, governments

have struggled to combat the pro-

liferation of false and misleading

information about the coronavi-

rus and vaccines against it. People

in many communities are also

hesitant to get the shots because

of long-standing distrust of their

governments, health systems and

Western pharmaceutical compa-

nies.

Materials on the Truth War-

riors website “mislead people into

thinking that covid-19 vaccines

are not effective in reducing

transmission rates,” contrary to

“the weight of international evi-

dence” showing that the shots

safely reduce the risk of infection

and serious illness, Singapore’s

Health Ministry said in a state-

ment.

The website also promoted

false information about ivermec-

tin, an antiparasitic drug that is

promoted by vaccine skeptics as

an alternative to vaccination

without any scientific evidence

that it cuts transmission of the

coronavirus.

“Ivermectin is a prescription-

only medicine registered in Singa-

pore specifically for the treatment

of parasitic worm infections,” the

Health Ministry said in a state-

ment. “Anyone convicted of the

illegal sale of these medicines fac-

es a penalty fine of up to $50,

and/or imprisonment for a period

of up to two years under the

Singapore uses ‘fake news’ law against anti-vaccine website

Protecting Public SafetyPr

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser

D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III

Thursday, October 28 at 2:00 p.m.

D.C.’s mayor and police chief

discuss the challenges of policing

amidst the national rise in violent

crime and the city’s strategies to

keep communities safe.

Do you have questions for

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and

D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III

about how the District is keeping

communities safe?

Submit your question when

registering for the virtual program:

wapo.st/publicsafetyoct