TURKISH WRITER ON TRIAL FOR DEFENDING CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
June 7, 2006 Wednesday 10:14 AM EST

The trial of Turkish newspaper journalist Perihan Magden on charges
of “encouraging people to refuse to do their military service” began
in Istanbul Wednesday with small scuffles between nationalists and
Magden’s supporters.

Magden was charged after writing an article last December in which
she defended Mehmet Tarhan who had been imprisoned for refusing to
do military service.

If found guilty Magden faces up to two years’ imprisonment.

A number of people outside the Istanbul court who described themselves
as “the families of those martyred” shouted slogans such

as “every Turk is born a soldier” before getting involved in minor
scuffles with Magden’s supporters and police.

The case is the latest test of Turkey’s acceptance of freedom of
speech as it tries to convince the European Union that it has not
just legislated for, but has actively implemented human rights reforms.

Turkey has been criticized for the way in which zealous prosecutors
lay charges whenever they detect a slight against the state.

In a similar case earlier this year, charges against novelist Orhan
Pamuk for “insulting Turkishness” were dropped on a technicality.

Pamuk was charged after being quoted in a Swiss newspaper as saying
that “30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians were killed in these
lands, and nobody but me dares talk about it.”

Despite constant criticism from human rights groups and the European
Union the government has refused to change the notoriously vague
Article 312 of the penal code under which many journalists have
been charged.