Financial Times, UK
Oct 7 2005
Court sentences Turkish editor for insulting the state
By Vincent Boland in Ankara
Published: October 7 2005 16:35 | Last updated: October 7 2005 16:35
A Turkish court yesterday sentenced the editor of an
Armenian-language newspaper in Istanbul to six months in prison after
finding him guilty of insulting the state in a series of articles he
published last year.
The sentence was announced three days after Turkey began accession
negotiations to join the European Union. Olli Rehn, the EU’s
enlargement commissioner, said earlier this week that Turkey had to
work hard to improve its human rights record.
The court found Hrant Dink, editor of the bilingual Turkish- and
Armenian-language weekly Agos, guilty of `insulting and weakening
Turkish identity in the media’.
The sentence was suspended, so he will not have to serve time in jail
unless he repeats the offence. Mr Dink, who is a Turkish citizen and
who denied the charge, said he would appeal to a higher court and, if
necessary, to the European Court of Human Rights.
Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s most acclaimed novelist, faces a similar charge
in a case due to come to court in December. He has criticised
Turkey’s stance on the mass killings of Armenians 90 years ago, and
faces up to three years in prison if he is convicted. The Armenian
diaspora claims this was an act of genocide, which Turkey denies.
Mr Dink said his articles argued that the Armenians had allowed the
genocide claim to `poison the blood’, and that he had not insulted or
denigrated Turkey in any way. The court, however, said Mr Dink
`intended to be insulting and offensive’ to Turkey.
It has long been a criminal offence in Turkey to slander the state or
to argue publicly against the official position on certain matters of
political or historical sensitivity. Armenia is one; other areas
that have attracted official opprobrium include discussion of
Turkey’s role in Cyprus or the position of the Kurdish minority in
Turkish society.
Revisions to Turkey’s penal code, made at the request of the EU, are
in theory supposed to have reduced the gravity of the offence of
insulting the state, although they have not abolished it. Some
prosecutors, acting independently of the government, still seek to
pursue these cases in deference to nationalist opinion.