"insulting Turkish identity"

[Joseph]

Newer Charges against Dink

New Investigation Opened Against Hrant Dink for 'Insulting Turkish Identity'
By Cihan News Agency
Published: Tuesday, July 18, 2006
zaman.com

The chief public prosecutor of the Sisli district of Istanbul has initiated an investigation into ethnic Armenian journalist and writer Hrant Dink for allegedly insulting and denigrating the Turkish identity in a statement he made to Reuters news agency on July 14.

Hrant Dink, editor of the Agos newspaper which serves Turkey's Armenian community, told Reuters on July 14, "Of course I call this a genocide because the result defines itself and gives itself the name. You can see for yourself that a people that have lived on this land for 4000 years no longer exists in that region due to these events."

The fate of the Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during WW1 and after remains a sensitive issue in Turkey.

Armenians claim that 1.5 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed as part of an intentional and systematic campaign of genocide during World War I.

Turkey denies the allegations claiming that 200,000 Armenians died during the forced migrations due to cold weather and poor transportation conditions.

Last week, the Turkish Appeals Court upheld a suspended verdict against ethnic Armenian editor Hrant Dink. In October last year, Sisli Court in Istanbul had given Dink a 6-month suspended sentence on charges of insulting the Turkish identity.

In his column for the Turkish Armenian daily Agos dated February 13, 2004, Dink had likened Turkish nationalism to carcinogenic tumors and poisoned blood in its responsibility for genocide.

Today's Appeals Court statement said that there was no doubt that Dink's statement ridiculed and insulted ‘Turkishness’.


For further information please visit http://www.cihannews.com

[Hovik]

EUROPEAN ARMENIAN FEDERATION
for Justice and Democracy
Avenue de la Renaissance 10
B-1000 Bruxelles
Tel: +322 732 70 26
Tel/Fax: +322 732 70 27
Email: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
July 18, 2006
Contact: Vartenie ECHO
Tel: +322 732 70 26


ARMENIAN GENOCIDE : THE TRUTH STILL BANNED IN TURKEY

- Journalist Hrant Dink under arrest
- Catholicos of all Armenians prosecuted
- Patriarch of Constantinople forced to denial

The Turkish Court of Appeal, on the 12 July, confirmed the suspended
jail sentence which faced Hrant Dink, the Armenian journalist. Mr Dink
was initially condemned in October 2005 under article 301 of the Turkish
penal code for an article published on 13 February of 2004. In that
publication, he had called upon the Armenians to "turn toward the
renewed blood of independent Armenia".

The European Armenian Federation is highlighting this new incident
against freedom of speech as it occurs only a few days after legal
actions were taken by Turkish extremist organisations against Karekin
II, the Catholicos of all Armenians. His Holiness Karekin II was in fact
giving a pastoral visit to his flock in Turkey at the end of June.
During an interview with the Turkish press, when interrogated on the
Armenian genocide, he had stated that 'historians committees' are no
longer relevant since the "Armenian genocide has been studied by
scholars for more than 90 years".

After the declaration of His Holiness, and in order to protect the
Armenian minority from the threats it had received, the Armenian
Patriarch of Turkey, Mgr Mutafyan felt obliged to iterate the denials of
Ankara by stating that "the 1915 issue should be submitted to historians
and scholars from each side to achieve a better understanding of the
sensitivities of each side".

< It is now clear to everyone that beyond the usual attacks against
freedom of speech, Turkey targets specially the truth about the Armenian
genocide" said Laurent Leylekian, the executive director of the European
Armenian Federation.

"We hail the reaction of the European Commission against this blatant
violation of the right to freedom of speech. However, to follow the
process to its logical conclusion, the Commission should now assess the
Turkish denial policy as such, as it does for freedom of speech,
minority rights or gender issues. It is politically incorrect that this
criterion is left out of the assessment process and that it is only
skimmed over in the regular reports" concluded Leylekian.

[Hovik]

War of nerves



War of nerves
By Kris Evans

Friday 28 July 2006, 17:31 Makka Time, 14:31 GMT

Perihan Magden, one of Turkey's most prominent novelists, has joined a long list of intellectuals to face trial for what the state deems offensive writing.


Magden's novels The Messenger Boy Murders, and Two Girls, have been widely praised around the world, but it is her work as a columnist for Yeni Aktuel magazine that raised the ire of the Turkish military.

Magden had faced a possible three-year jail term for "discouraging people from military service".

Talking on the phone from Italy where she is attending a film festival screening of Turkish director Kutlug Ataman's film adaptation of Two Girls, she describes her situation as a "war of nerves" with the Turkish authorities.

In the offending article, published at the end of last year, she supported the idea of conscientious objection and defended the case of Mehmet Tarhan, a young man who at the time was in prison for refusing military service.

A Turkish court acquitted her on July 27.

Aljazeera.Net: Did you feel your article was inflammatory while you were writing it?

Perihan Magden: The whole article was logically written. I said that the Turkish military was so rich, so omnipotent that we really don't need these unnecessary numbers of people in service. The period [of conscription] is too long and the number [of conscripts] is too high.

I also defended Mehmet Tarhan who at the time was in military prison in Sivas because he is a conscientious objector. He is gay and the authorities wanted to examine him - a medical examination - as if you can discover a person is gay from that!

Were you surprised by the reaction to your article?

I was, because I'm a columnist and this is my job, and conscientious objection is such a normal human right, so I thought of course I can write about it.

But you always expect something to happen because writers have been sued so much; I have been in court so much but still you hope for the best and you don't want them to stop you from writing.

This is what they [the authorities] want; they want to give us all this trouble. It's a long process, even the simplest case in Turkey - it's a sort of psychological torture.

Will this court case discourage other Turkish writers from freely expressing their ideas?

I think the problem with Turkish writers is that they apply an incredible amount of self-censorship anyway. They don't want to get themselves into trouble and they're not politically involved. Some of them are very old and for 40 years they've been writing the same stuff - that's the majority of columnists.

But there are a couple of [more rebellious] writers, and we've become constant trouble. In a way, it was good that they chose me because the case became mainstream - the most conservative columnists wrote articles backing me because the things that were said in court were scandalous.

A lynch mob demonstrated there for two hours, taunting me, calling me a xxxxx. It was such an ugly scene.

So far your novels have gone under the radar as far as the authorities are concerned.

My fiction doesn't get me into trouble because they [the authorities] don't have the patience to read books. But in the future I think I will get into trouble because now I've attained this black sheep status. At the moment I'm writing a novel and at the end of it I have a great surprise for the military!

Will this case stop you from writing columns?

I was trying to quit to concentrate on my novel but because of this case I don't want to because I don't want them to say 'she's a quitter'.

But I'll be quitting at the end of August so I can concentrate on my novel.

Are you optimistic about the outcome?

I believe strongly they will acquit me. But the thing is, they want you to show up in court, they want the lynch mob to humiliate you, they want to show you can't speak your mind, write your mind.

It's a war of nerves.


Aljazeera
By Kris Evans

You can find this article at:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1836029F-217E-427B-B617-89E0A2DC39AA.htm

[Hovik]

Turkish author cleared over draft



Turkish author cleared over draft
by
Thursday 27 July 2006 4:04 PM GMT

A Turkish court has acquitted an author and journalist of charges that she tried to deter people from doing their military service.

Last December, Perihan Magden wrote a column in Turkey's Yeni Aktuel magazine defending a conscientious objector who was sentenced to four years in a military jail for refusing to wear his uniform.



The column angered the country's conservatives and led to a complaint from the Turkish armed forces general staff.



The prosecution was seeking up to three years in jail for Magden for "prompting, encouraging or spreading propaganda to deter people from accomplishing military service".



In Turkey, all men over the age of 20 are required to serve up to 15 months in the armed forces. The law does not allow conscientious objection.



However, the court in Istanbul ruled that Magden's opinions fell within the scope of freedom of expression and therefore did not constitute a crime under Turkey's revised penal code.



Magden, famous for her column and novels The Messenger Boy Murders and Two Girls, was not in court to hear the verdict.



'War of nerves'



In an interview with Aljazeera before the court ruling, Magden said that the case was a form of "psychological torture" to stop her from writing.



"They want you to show up in court, they want the lynch mob to humiliate you, they want to show you can't speak your mind, write your mind," she said.



"It's a war of nerves."



Dozens of writers and journalists face prosecution in Turkey accused of insulting the state and its institutions.



Last month, the EU urged Turkey to amend an article in its penal code in order to guarantee freedom of expression, however Turkey, which is seeking EU membership, has so far resisted the call.


Aljazeera + Agencies
By

You can find this article at:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0CFA7202-2FBA-4AD9-B50D-1F1D4E6444A4.htm

[Joseph]

My favorite lawyer

In Turkey, ultra-nationalist lawyer wins supporters as enthusiasm for the EU falls

The Associated Press

Published: September 5, 2006



ISTANBUL, Turkey Kemal Kerincsiz believes Turkey is one of the greatest, freest countries in the world. Insult it, and you could find yourself facing him in court.
To some in this country of 70 million, the ultra-nationalist lawyer is the voice of a proud people against a patronizing West. To others, he is the voice of intolerance and excessive patriotism — a major embarrassment that could derail Turkey's more than 40-year-old bid to join the European Union.
As the ubiquitous, mustachioed leader of the Turkish Lawyers' Union, Kerincsiz is the reason writers and intellectuals are regularly put on trial in Turkey. When the European Union talks about slow progress on democratic reforms, they're largely talking about him.
Kerincsiz gained international notoriety this year for dragging celebrated novelist Orhan Pamuk to court for allegedly insulting Turkishness. Pamuk, often cited as a candidate for the Nobel prize in literature, was acquitted.
But the lawyer has met with success in less high-profile cases, winning a conviction against an Armenian-Turkish journalist for the same offense.
He has also opened dozens of other cases against journalists, writers and intellectuals, including one set to go to court this month against Arizona-based Turkish novelist Elif Shafak. And he recently leveled charges of insulting the Turkish military against Dutch European Parliament member Joost Lagendijk, a frequent official observer of Turkish affairs whom Kerincsiz calls a "foreign invader."
"The Lawyers' Union is behind nearly all of them," the disarmingly polite lawyer said of the cases in an interview with The Associated Press at his cluttered, lightless Istanbul office. "We have several cases open against writers. Most of them are for insulting Turkishness, insulting Ataturk (the founder of modern Turkey), cooling the people's willingness to serve in the army, you know. There are dozens of cases we have running."
Kerincsiz and his organization of some 700 nationalist lawyers have exasperated not only EU officials — who have said the cases must be stopped or Turkey will jeopardize its hopes of joining the EU — but also Turkey's Western-looking intellectuals and its leadership.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul complained once that the freedom of expression cases hurt Turkey's image as much as the 1978 film "Midnight Express," in which an American drug smuggler is sent to a hellish Turkish prison and brutalized, tortured and raped by Turkish guards.
But nevermind, Kerincsiz says, there's not much use in trying to improve Turkey's image in the West anyway.
"The Turk is not a race to live with the European. He is always the other, the rival," the thin, smooth-talking Kerincsiz explained from behind stacks of files on his desk.
His office was decorated with Turkish flags and featured a tree chart in the waiting room showing various branches of the Turkic races.
Kerincsiz believes Turkey's future is in the East and represents a growingly powerful faction of Turkish society tired of being told it must aspire to be more like the West. Recently, his view appears to be gaining traction in the government, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Egdogan increasingly making foreign policy overtures to the Middle East — and away from Europe.
"The Easterner has to insult himself and degrade his own culture to ingratiate himself with the West," Kerincsiz said. "Our place is in Eastern culture, our real aim is finding allies among our own people."
By that he meant primarily the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, which he hopes to see included one day in the "Turkish Union" led by Turkey. He admits this is a far-off dream, but it's possible, he says, especially when one looks at the mishmash of different cultures joined together in the EU.
He denied the court cases were attempts to derail Turkey's EU bid. But Kerincsiz makes no effort to hide his view that the European Union is an enemy of Turkey, one intent on breaking it apart and keeping it from becoming a major world power.
In the year that has followed Turkey's opening of EU negotiations last Oct. 3, it has become clear that even if they don't entirely share Kerincsiz's view, Turks are cooling in their enthusiasm for accession, and he is tapping into the sources of their discontent.
The latest Eurobarometer survey found only 44 percent of Turks surveyed thought EU membership would be a good thing for Turkey, compared to 55 percent last autumn. Last spring, 66 percent said they supported EU membership.
Analysts suggest the drop is a backlash against Europe's disapproval of Turkey — a backlash from which nationalists like Kerincsiz who play up Turkey's strengths and disparage the EU's "insults" are likely to benefit most.
There are indications that it's already happening. "More Turks think their membership would be primarily in the interest of the Union than of mutual interest to both," reads the text of the July Eurobarometer survey.
This growing mutual resentment is not likely to be improved by the latest draft of Monday's EU progress report on Turkey, which said reforms had slowed and accused Turkey of "regression."
The author of the report also urged Turkey to recognize the killings of Armenians by Turks around the time of World War I as "genocide" and to reform its penal code.
But Kerincsiz isn't worried.
"The EU won't last long," he says, and dares any Turkish government to try to change the laws against insulting Turkishness or the Turkish republic. Kerincsiz and his Lawyers' Union believe such laws have great support among a population increasingly frustrated with Europe and looking to its own potential greatness.
"Don't worry, we won't be unemployed," he says with a smile. "The only salvation will be a nationalist government."

[Joseph]

The way I see it, Kerincsiz is the one "insulting Turkishness"; with his brute displays of nationalistic populism. Armenians have been given a free gift, albeit unintentional, from their Turkish enemies. Alll we have to do is point to this guy and say "look, see here, this is what we've been trying to tell you all this time". Perhaps Europeans and others will begin to understand the mentality of Turkey. His type of mentality is on the rise and I saw it myself very clearly when I was there last summer.

[Gavur]

Fear mongering lawyer wannabe.
In civilized countries , the law is practiced by the letter of the law and the spirit of the law is argueable based on precedent or a lack of.
in Turkey it seems to be the opposite if the spirit of the law is profitable to certain powers the letter of the law is ignored or twisted.
Turkey has always been like this accept now the hooligans are in the courtrooms.

[Hovik]

Erdogan Welcomes Shafak's Acquittal

ERDOGAN WELCOMES SHAFAK'S ACQUITTAL

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.09.2006 15:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has
welcomed the acquittal of renowned Turkish novelist Elif Shafak in the
case for which she was accused of insulting Turkishness. PM Erdogan
told reporters on Thursday that he was happy that Shafak was acquitted
in the controversial case. Recalling that he phoned Shafak yesterday to
congratulate her on the birth of her baby daughter, Erdogan stated that
he exchanged his views with her on the case. Erdogan also signaled an
amendment on the much debated Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code,
under which many well-known Turkish writers and authors had been
tried or sued. In response to a question on whether the government
thought of an amendment on the controversial article, Erdogan pointed
out that it would be possible provided that the ruling and opposition
parties reach an agreement, reported Zaman.

[Gavur]

Historian takes Article 301 to ECHR to protest threat to academic research

Date: 12 July 2007
Source: IPS Communication Foundation (BIANET)

Target(s): academic(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): legal action , harassed
Urgency: Bulletin



(BIANET/IFEX) - Taner Akcam, a professor of history at Minnesota University, in the United States, who had been investigated for his claims of an Armenian genocide, has decided to take Article 301, which has put around 100 academics, journalists and writers on trial, to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to protest against the law's threat to academic research.


Akcam argues that the investigations Turkey launches into academic research, using Article 301, are contrary to the European Convention of Human Rights ( http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en...s/Html/005.htm ), endorsed by Turkey.

Article 301 contravenes, in particular, articles 7, 10 and 14 of the Convention because it limits freedom of expression.

Facing history is not a crime but a necessity, Akcam says.

"My goal is to see Turkey become a totally free and democratic country. However, as long as academic discussions are considered criminal in Turkey, this is not possible. Facing history and human rights violations of the past cannot be a crime. Rather, they are a precondition for peace and regional rapprochement," he said.

Akcam sees his role as facilitating this process.

Akcam's lawyer for the ECHR application is International Law Professor Dr. Payam Akhavan of McGill University (Montreal, Canada, who was an advisor on the international crime courts formed to deal with the war crimes of Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

According to Dr. Akhavan, "Freedom of speech should only be limited in cases of expressions of hate, not in discourses against hate."

Akcam himself almost fell victim to the notorious law. After a complaint to a chief public prosecutor's office in Eyüp, Istanbul, by a person named Recep Akkus, an investigation against Akcam was instigated by the Sisli chief public prosecutor's office (also in Istanbul). This investigation was dismissed in March 2007.

Public prosecutor Muhittin Ayata of the Sisli office had evaluated an article entitled "Hrant Dink, 301 and a Criminal Complaint", which was published in the weekly "Agos" newspaper on 6 October 2006. In the article, Akcam had written, "I believe that what happened between 1915 and 1917 was a genocide." No suit was brought against Akcam.

In the dismissal of proceedings, the court said that "the suspect is a history professor who, in all his articles and conference papers, has expressed the idea that the events of 1915-1919 can be defined as a genocide. When the article which is subject of a complaint is considered as a whole, it becomes clear that there are no attempts to degrade Turkishness, that the text remains within the framework of freedom of thought as defined by Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, that there is no incitement to crime, no praise of crimes or criminals, and no incitement to hatred and hostility".

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/84775/

[Gavur]

Date: 13 July 2007
Source: IPS Communication Foundation (BIANET)
Person(s): Sirri Ozturk, Osman Tiftikci
Target(s): publisher(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): legal action
Urgency: Threat


(BIANET/IFEX) - The 4 July 2007 hearing in the trial of Sirri Ozturk, publisher of Sorun Publishers, and author Osman Tiftikci, author of the book "The evolution of the army from Ottoman Times Until Today", was postponed.


The trial under Article 301, which was brought to court by the General Staff, will continue on 3 October. An arrest warrant was issued for Tiftikci in order to bring him to court.

MORE INFORMATION:



For further information contact Nadire Mater at BIANET, Faikpasa Yokusu, No. 41, Antikhane, Kat: 3, D.8-9, Cukurcuma, Beyoglu, Istanbul, Turkey, tel: +90 212 251 1503, fax: +90 212 251 1609, e-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.bianet.org

**Updates IFEX alert of 28 June 2007**

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/84803/