Turkish philanthropist and businessman Osman Kavala, who has been jailed since 2017, will receive the 2026 Gilel Storch Prize from the Stockholm-based Judisk Kultur i Sverige (Jewish Culture in Sweden) association for his contributions to democracy, humanism and cultural dialogue, Deutsche Welle Turkish service reported.
In its statement the association cited Kavala’s work promoting shared European values and his cultural initiatives, saying they had helped build bridges between societies. It described the 68-year-old philanthropist as a strong advocate of universal humanism and democracy and recalled that he is serving an aggravated life sentence despite two European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings finding the accusations against him baseless.
The award ceremony will be held on September 7 at the Stockholm Concert Hall, where Kavala’s wife, Ayşe Buğra, will accept the award on his behalf.
Kavala was arrested in October 2017 on charges related to the 2013 anti-government Gezi Park protests and sentenced to life in prison in 2022 for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government of then-prime minister and current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. His conviction, widely criticized as politically motivated, was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeals in September 2023. The Justice Ministry rejected a request for a retrial in July 2024.
The Gezi Park protests, which began over an urban development plan in central İstanbul in the summer of 2013 and spread to other cities in Turkey, posed a serious challenge to Erdoğan’s rule. The protests were violently suppressed, and Erdoğan later labelled them as a “coup attempt” against him. At least seven protesters were killed in clashes with police and hundreds were later prosecuted.
Turkey has refused to release Kavala despite a 2019 ruling by the ECtHR which said his detention pursued an “ulterior motive,” and violated his rights, ordering his immediate release. In a 2022 infringement judgment, the court ruled that Turkey had failed to comply with that earlier decision.
The top European rights court also held a hearing in March after Kavala’s second application challenging his continued imprisonment and conviction.
The prize, awarded annually since 2018, is named after Gilel Storch, who is known for helping save many Jews during the Holocaust before his death in 1983. Last year’s recipient was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Previous laureates include former German president Joachim Gauck, former Swedish prime minister Göran Persson and writer Salman Rushdie.
Kavala was previously awarded the Vaclav Halev Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in 2023, the Prize for Freedom by Liberal International and the Goethe Medal in 2025.
