KurdishMedia, UK
July 29, 2004

IPA concerned about dangers threatening publishers in lead up to
consideration of Turkey’s membership in the EU.

BIA (Geneva) – The International Publishers Association (IPA) is
deeply concerned about the dangers that threaten Turkish publishers
when pursuing their profession.

“We call upon the Turkish authorities to implement the many reforms
that were passed. Implementation is key and must not surrender to
bureaucratic conservatism or any other hurdle,” says Ana-Maria
Cabanellas, President of the IPA.

On 15 July 2004, eight international NGOs met with Enlargement
Commissioner Günter Verheugen in Brussels to discuss the progress
made by Turkey in the field of Human Rights.

The Commission will issue a recommendation this September on whether
EU member states should start membership negotiations with Turkey in
December 2004 or not.

It is indeed in December that Heads of States and Governments will
decide on this. They have already indicated that they would follow
the recommendation issued by the Commission.

The IPA recalled that last year 43 books were banned and 37 writers
and 17 publishers were put on trial. To date in 2004, at least 15
books have been banned in Turkey.

While welcoming the legislative and constitutional changes in Turkey,
the IPA expressed its three main concerns:

1. The legal impediments to the practice of the right to freedom of
expression in Turkey;

2. The current tendency of Turkish Security Courts to harass writers,
journalists and publishers by putting them on trial more and more
often, fining them or just postponing their trials indefinitely;

3. The lack of implementation of legal reforms regarding freedom of
expression.

Lars Grahn, Chairman of IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee, says,

“The six following taboos are obvious hurdles to freedom of
expression and to publishing in Turkey: Position of the Military,
Kurdish Question, Armenian Genocide, Kemalism, Women’s Liberation and
Islamic Law.

“Treating writers, journalists and publishers as potential terrorists
or criminals and judging them in the same courts as drug traffickers
and/or real terrorists is unacceptable.” (YE)

* The IPA press statement was released on July 19, 2004

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress