Kemal Kerincsiz- Genius

[Joseph]

For those of you who can't read Turkish, this is a recent interview with
the infamous lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz who is getting ready to sue the
Nobel Foundation for giving the prize in literature to Pamuk only on
political grounds.

http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/387968.asp

[Gavur]

Turkish lawyer threatens to submit charges against Dutch official




/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz threatens to submit charges against Nebahat Albayrak, Secretary of State of the Dutch Justice Ministry. He warns the Secretary of State that she may not offend her native country. According to the nationalist lawyer best thing to do for Albayrak is to hand in her Turkish passport, because she is a member of a government that condemns the Armenian Genocide. Kerincsiz said so in the Dutch news program “Een Vandaag”. The threat of a charge coincides with the discussion in the Netherlands about the double nationality issue.

As PanARMENIAN.Net came to know from the Federation of Armenian Organizations of the Netherlands, beside Dutch nationality Secretary of State Albayrak has also a Turkish passport. In a response through her spokesman she said she will wait and see if she will be really charged.

In the past Kerincsiz has already started actions against Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk and ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was assassinated last January. In the case of Dink the charge led to a condemnation, while the Istanbul court cancelled the case against Pamuk under international pressure.

The lawyer calls upon the controversial article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code, which makes insult of the Turkish identity punishable. Albayrak being a member of Dutch Parliament in 2004 supported a motion, which called for recognition of the Armenian Genocide. That request was passed unanimously and was also taken over by the Dutch government.

[Gavur]

Some of Kerincsiz's gang (funny coincedence Guven Akkus suspect of the Ankara bombing yesterday kind of looks like Recep Akkus)who specialize in assault of Armenian's and Turkish intelects and they are allowed to walk around freely in so called Turkey.

Muammer Kocadağlı, Ramazan Kırkık, Recep Akkuş, Ramazan Selçuk, Ramazan Bakkal...

[Joseph]

More on my friend Kerincsiz below


Assyrian International News Agency
Christianity on Trial in Turkey
Posted GMT 4-30-2007 22:27:54

ROME -- The blood of martyrs continues to be shed in Turkey. The April 18 killing of two Turks and a German at a Christian publishing house in Malatya, in eastern Turkey, renewed concerns over the fate of Christians in the country. The three victims were found with their hands and legs bound and their throats slit.

The three men worked at the Zirve publishing house, which had previously been the object of protests for allegedly distributing Bibles and proselytizing, reported the London-based Times newspaper April 19.

The same day the BBC reported that 10 people were arrested in connection with the murders. The BBC added that many commentators noted the similarity of the latest killings to the murder of a Catholic priest by a teenage gunman last year and the shooting of the Armenian journalist, also a Christian, in January. In each case the killers were young, apparently Islamist ultra-nationalists.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said the killings were "an attack against Turkey's stability, peace and tradition of tolerance," according to the BBC.

In February, the Pope's vicar for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, visited Turkey to commemorate the anniversary of the murder of Father Andrea Santoro. The Italian missionary was shot dead Feb. 5, 2006, in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Trabzon, northeast Turkey.

Cardinal Ruini said during his homily Feb. 5 in the church where the priest had been murdered: "We have come to help promote peace among peoples and religions, respect for the beliefs of each person and love for the brother or sister present in every human person created in the image and likeness of God," reported the Fides news agency the same day.

"We have come to promote religious freedom everywhere in the world, and to ask God to illuminate all minds and hearts to understand that only in freedom and love of neighbor can God be truly adored," the cardinal added.

Islamic extremists

Malatya, like Trabzon, is an Islamic stronghold, observed Mechthild Brockamp in an April 19 commentary published by the German agency Deutsche Welle. He noted that journalist Hrant Dink was also killed in Malatya earlier this year, and underlined the Islamic element in the shooting of Father Santoro, which took place during fevered protests against the caricatures of Mohammed.

Each time one of these attacks occurs authorities call it an exceptional case, said Brockamp. But the number of such cases means that it is more a pattern than an exception, he observed. Brockamp called upon the government to resolve the underlying issue of religious freedom and to ensure that the Christian minority is able to practice its faith without putting their lives at risk.

These are sentiments shared by the German magazine Der Spiegel, in an article published online April 23. The latest murders reveal a deep-seated problem, the magazine argued. The article quoted Ertugrul Ozkok, editor-in-chief of the leading secular Turkish daily Hurriyet, who noted that in Germany, Turks residing there have opened up more than 3,000 mosques. He asked in an editorial: "If in our country we cannot abide even by a few churches, or a handful of missionaries, where is our civilization?"

An article published April 25 by the Christian Science Monitor cited Christian missionaries in Turkey as saying that they now have more freedom to carry out their work due to reforms enacted as part of the country's attempt to enter into the European Union. At the same time violent attacks against Christian targets are becoming more frequent.

Last year, the article noted, several evangelical churches were firebombed, and a Protestant church leader in the city of Adana was severely beaten by a group of assailants.

The report also opined that while there is a religious dimension to the recent murders of Christians, some experts also attribute them to the influence of extreme nationalism and anti-Western xenophobia that are on the rise in Turkey.

Nevertheless, other news reports testify to the considerable difficulties Christians face when they try to practice their faith. Both Christians and intellectuals are frequent targets of legal action taken under article 301 of the penal code. The article allows people to be charged for denigrating "Turkish identity," explained a report by Compass Direct News last Nov. 27.

Compass Direct is a Christian news service based in California, reporting on religious persecution. The report presented the case of Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal, who appeared Nov. 23 before the Silivri Criminal Court, located in northwestern Turkey.

As Muslims converted to Christianity, they were accused not only of denigrating Turkish identity, but also of reviling Islam. "We don't use force to tell anyone about Christianity," Tastan said to the media outside the courtroom according to Compass Direct. "But we are Christians, and if the Lord permits, we will continue to proclaim this," he added.

Christians likened to terrorists

Compass Direct also reported that attorney Kemal Kerincsiz, who intervened for the prosecution, is notorious for his actions against intellectuals using article 301. "Christian missionaries working almost like terrorist groups are able to enter into high schools and among primary school students," Kerincsiz told reporters. The court case against the two Christians is still underway.

Further difficulties were reported in an article published by the Boston Globe last Dec. 9. The newspaper referred to the difficulties faced by Metropolitan Apostolos, a Greek Orthodox bishop.

In 1971, the government shut down the Halki theological seminary on Heybeliada, an island in the Sea of Marmara. The school had trained generations of Orthodox leaders, but authorities closed it, along with other private religious schools. In the meantime the Greek Orthodox community in Turkey has dwindled to 3,000, from 180,000 in 1923.

In general, noted the Boston Globe, Turkey's religious minorities including about 68,000 Armenian Orthodox, 20,000 Catholics, 23,000 Jews, and 3,000 Greek Orthodox face numerous legal restrictions.

Catholics, for example, encounter considerable difficulties when it comes to obtaining legal rights over property and work permits for clergy and nuns, explained Otmar Oehring, in an article written for the Forum 18 news service Jan. 18. The Norwegian-based Forum 18 reports on issues related to religious freedom.

Places of worship of minority communities which are allowed to maintain legally-recognized community foundations -- such as the Greek Orthodox, the Armenians, the Syrian Orthodox and the Jews -- are owned by these foundations, commented Oehring.

But Catholics and Protestants are not allowed to set up such foundations. Consequently, title deeds indicate that the congregations or church communities themselves own the buildings. Yet the state often refuses to recognize this. Additional legal obstacles include problems in setting up bank accounts and in publishing religious books and magazine.

At the time of Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey at the end of last year, Vatican representatives and government officials discussed the possibility of establishing a mixed working group to resolve the Catholic Church's problems in Turkey, according to Oehring. There has been little or no progress on the matter, however.

During his visit, the Pope held a meeting with the president of the government's religious affairs directorate. In his address, given Nov. 28, the Pontiff called for an "authentic dialogue between Christians and Muslims, based on truth and inspired by a sincere wish to know one another better, respecting differences and recognizing what we have in common."

The Pope also called for freedom of religion, "institutionally guaranteed and effectively respected in practice." A call that takes on greater urgency after the recent attacks.

By Father John Flynn

https://www.zenit.org

[Joseph]

Kerincsiz the genius...a sensitive genius

http://www.bianet.org/english/kategori/english/101556/lawyer-on-trial-for-insulting-kerincsiz

Lawyer on Trial for Insulting Kerincsiz
Lawyer Yücel Sayman has joined the list of people who have been brought to court by Kemal Kerincsiz and his Great Lawyer's Union.
b?a news centre
04-09-2007

Erol Önderoglu


Yücel Sayman, the former president of the Istanbul Bar Association, is being tried for insulting nationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz's lawyers.
The insult is alleged to have taken place at a trial against journalists of the "Agos" newspaper for influencing the judiciary.

Trial in February 2008

Sayman is to be tried in February 2008 for words he allegedly used at a court hearing on 16 May 2006, when "Agos" editor-in-chief Hrant Dink, his son and editor Arat Dink and the newspaper licence holder Serkis Seropyan were on trial.

Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code is being applied in Sayman's case and a sentence of up to two years imprisonment will be demanded.

Alleged insults in 2006

The trial in 2006 had been turbulent; when the defendants had appeared in court the first time, their lawyers had had coins and pens thrown at them and had been threatened and insulted when leaving the hearing.

During the hearing, Kerincsiz, the representative of the Great Lawyers' Union, and other plaintiffs tried to limit defendant Hrant Dink's time to speak, arguing that he had talked too much. When defense lawyers said that there was pressure on the defendants and their lawyers, they had been threatened.

During the argument, Kerincsiz had called towards the journalists' defense lawyers, "We are watching you too!" Sayman is now on trial for what he said on that occasion.

Not the first complaint

Kerincsiz and his Lawyers' Union are well-known in Turkey, and by now internationally, for the trials they have instigated.

The last was against journalist Ayse Önal of the "Star" newpaper, who was sentenced to paying compensation and a prison sentence converted to a fine for allegedly insulting Kerincsiz.

In an article on 30 December 2005, the journalist had criticised Kerincsiz for filing a suit against Joost Lagendijk, the chair of the EU Joint Parliamentary Committee with Turkey.

Kerincsiz has also filed suits against writers such as Orhan Pamuk and Elif Safak.

Eight months after the "Agos" trial, editor-in-chief Hrant Dink was murdered. (EÖ/AG)

[Joseph]

What a guy

Journalist Convicted of Insulting Kerincsiz
Journalist Ayse Önal of the Star newspaper has been sentenced to paying compensation and to imprisonment after Kemal Kerincsiz of the Great Lawyers Union had filed a suit against her.
bia news center
09-08-2007
"Star" newspaper journalist Ayse Önal has been convicted of insulting lawyer Kerincsiz and has been ordered to pay compensation. In addition, she has been sentenced to imprisonment converted into a fine.

Compensation for Kerincsiz

Önal has been sentenced to paying Kerincsiz compensation by a penal court in Istanbul. He had demanded 8,000 YTL, and the court has agreed on 3,000 YTL with added interest since the publication of the article, resulting in a payment of 4,750 YTL.

Criticised the suit against Lagendijk

In an article published on 30 December 2005, Önal had criticised Kerincsiz for filing a suit against Joost Lagendijk, the co-chair of the EU Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee. In the article, entitled "A New Year's Wish", she had used the expressions "a suspicious copy of a lawyer" and "insane". She has also been found guilty of writing about Kerincsiz, "Making more noise that could be expected from a dwarf, the smear campaign of an ill future assassin is hitting the real Turkish law."

Kerincsiz has achieved national and international notoriety for filing suits against intellectuals such as Orhan Pamuk, Elif Shafak and Hrant Dink.

The court applied Article 126 of the Penal Code, which says that "even if the aggrieved person's name is not openly referred to and allegations are insinuated, it is considered that the name was given and that an insult took place if there is no hesitation in identifying the person."

Önal has declared that she paid Kerincsiz's lawyer the compensation together with 750 YTL even before the court case was decided. She has also been sentenced to a three-month prison sentence converted into a fine. Önal has said that she is as yet undecided on whether to pay the fine. (EÖ/AG)

[phantom]

This is turning into a good business for Kerinsiz. If he sues 2 or 3 people who don't like him per month, he'll become a rich man in no time. There's certainly no shortage of people who don't like him. I'm seriously considering investing in him as a business venture! I think we should pool our money and try to get a 20-30% stake in his winnings !

[Steph]

This is turning into a good business for Kerinsiz. If he sues 2 or 3 people who don't like him per month, he'll become a rich man in no time. There's certainly no shortage of people who don't like him. I'm seriously considering investing in him as a business venture! I think we should pool our money and try to get a 20-30% stake in his winnings !

I'd rather pool our money and use it to pay fines for insulting this barsteward!

[phantom]

Well, there's no money to be made in that, but I grant you, it would pay for itself in moral gratification!

[Joseph]

http://www.bianet.org/english/kategori/english/104374/a-portrait-of-a-nationalist-lawyer-kemal-kerincsiz

A Portrait of a Nationalist Lawyer: Kemal Kerincsiz
Kemal Kerincsiz, the nationalist lawyer taken into custody in relation to a secret weapons arsenal found in Ümraniye, Istanbul in June 2005. Kerincsiz is a brand name among nationalists.
Bıa news centre
24-01-2008

Nilüfer ZENGIN
Kemal Kerincsiz is a lawyer and founder and administrative board member of the “Lawyers’ Union.”

Stopped Armenian conference

He first came to public attention when he filed a complaint to stop a conference entitled “The Ottoman Armenians in the Period of the Declining Empire” scheduled for May 2005. The conference finally took place on 23 September, but only because the organisers were able to circumvent the ban by hosting the conference at a venue not mentioned in the ban.

Nationalists from the Great Union Party (BBP) and the Workers’ Party then stood in front of the conference venue to throw eggs and tomatoes at the participants.

Demanded more severe punishment for Hrant Dink

When Agos editor-in-chief Hrant Dink was sentenced to a suspended sentence of six months imprisonment for “denigrating Turkishness” in 2005, Kerincsiz appealed against the decision, demanding a more severe punishment. In his letter of appeal, Kerincsiz argued that “the defendant has a tendency to commit crimes” and that “his actions have created a wave of anger in Turkish society.”

Filed complaint against Orhan Pamuk

In the same year, Kerincsiz filed a criminal complaint against writer Orhan Pamuk for “denigrating the army.” He also appeared on television, arguing that the controversial Article 301 was a “necessity.”

Intimidation in court

When Hrant Dink, Agos journalist Aydin Engin, section editor Arat Dink and responsible manager Serkis Seropyan were taken to court as defendants in a case of “attempting to influence the judiciary” on 16 May 2006, they were verbally and physically attacked at the court hearing. Kerincsiz and his associates applied to become joint plaintiffs in the case. Coins and pens were thrown at the defendants and their lawyers. Kerincsiz called for the judge to be withdrawn, accusing him of bias. The prosecution refused both the application for joint plaintiff status and a change of judges.

Assault at TESEV book launch

On 6 July 2006, the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) launched its book “Facing Forced Migration: The Construction of Citizenship after Displacement in Turkey”. Kerincsiz and seventeen others verbally abused some people and some people were physically attacked.

Speaking to bianet after the attack, which he himself only watched, Kerincsiz said: “We do not approve of violence. Do not connect us to violence. This is not the inquisition trial that you can judge without trial here. The things TESEV said at this meeting were the same as the statements of the PKK. Naturally, the citizen’s reactions are justified reactions.” (NZ/TK/AG)