PRIME MINISTER WARNED THAT TERROR LAW CHANGES COULD IMPOSE CENSORSHIP OF KURDISH ISSUES
Int’l Freedom of Expression eXpress (IFEX), Canada
July 11 2006
Reporters Without Borders has written to Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Erdogan voicing concern about amendments to the anti-terrorism law
that have just been passed by parliament. The organisation roundly
condemns articles providing for prison sentences for the
dissemination of statements and propaganda by "terrorist
organisations," fearing they could lead to arbitrary prosecutions of
journalists covering issues related to these organisations.
The amendments are sufficiently vague that any member of a news media
organization producing a contested report or article could be
prosecuted, especially as several journalists are already charged
with collaborating with the successor to the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) and face stiff sentences for covering military
operations or pro-Kurdish demonstrations.
Paris, 6 July 2006
Dear Prime Minister,
Reporters Without Borders, an organisation that defends press freedom
worldwide, would like to share with you its concern about the
situation of free expression in Turkey, a country currently holding
negotiations with a view to joining the European Union. We are
worried about amendments to the 1991 Law on the Fight against
Terrorism (Act 3713) that were passed by parliament on 29 June, as
they introduce new restrictions on press freedom and above all target
the pro-Kurdish media, whose very existence you are threatening.
Article 6, paragraph 2 of this law now provides for a three-year
prison sentence for "any dissemination of statements and communiques
by terrorist organisations." The owners and editors of news
organisations risk a heavy fine.
Article 7, paragraph 2 of the law says that: "Whoever makes
propaganda for a terrorist organisation will be sentenced to five
years in prison. If the crime is committed by means of the press, the
penalty may be increased by half. Owners and editors will also be
sentenced to a heavy fine."
Reporters Without Borders would very much like the term "terrorist
organisation" to be precisely defined in order to avoid any abuse of
this provision for the purpose of arbitrary arrest or imprisonment.
For example, an official list of organisations considered to be
terrorists could help avoid misunderstandings.
Parliament also added a new article (article 8, paragraph b)
providing for "chain liability," under which, for example, a
newspaper report with no byline could result in a prosecution being
brought against the editor in charge, the editor-in-chief, the
newspaper’s owner, the printer and even the translator if it was
translated from another language. The amendment says "persons
responsible for a programme" or "persons responsible for an issue of
a publication" can be prosecuted and sentenced to heavy fines.
Parliament introduced this extremely dangerous concept with the aim
of extending the range of editors, executives and others liable for
prosecution. The entire chain of command becomes potentially guilty.
The persistent legal obstacles to free expression in Turkey have been
highlighted by Reporters Without Borders in the past. The government,
the armed forces, militant nationalists and any state institution can
abuse the law to target journalists commenting on sensitive or
controversial issues or episodes in Turkish history such as the
Armenian genocide, the withdrawal of the Turkish armed forces from
Cyprus or the Kurdish question.
The fight against terrorism is, of course, necessary and legitimate,
but Reporters Without Borders is concerned about the possible
intention of these new amendments. We think they are especially
targeted at pro-Kurdish journalists who are often accused of
terrorist collaboration with the outlawed Kurdish separatist
organisation PKK/Kongra-Gel.
We could cite the case of Rustu Demirkaya, a reporter with the
pro-Kurdish news agency DIHA, who has been held in Tunceli prison, in
eastern Turkey, since 14 June on a charge of "collaborating with the
PKK/Kongra-Gel." A former PKK activist reportedly accused him of
supplying PKK members with a laptop computer and 10 blank CD-ROMs and
of tipping them off about an ongoing military operation. He could be
sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
The police handling the investigation have not produced any concrete
evidence in support for the allegations made by the former PKK
member. It is completely unacceptable that Demirkaya should have to
remain in prison while the investigation continues.
We could also cite the case of Evrim Dengiz and Nesrin Yazar, two
young women working for DIHA who were stopped by anti-terrorist
police on 15 February in Mersin as they returned from covering a
demonstration marking the seventh anniversary of the arrest of the
PKK/Kongra-Gel leader Abdullah Ocalan. We have been told that the
police took them some distance away from their car, which they then
proceeded to search and claimed to have found two home-made petrol
bombs inside.
Dengiz and Yazar were accused of making the bombs for the
demonstration. The judge in charge of the case has classified it on
security grounds. The Mersin prosecutor has requested life
imprisonment for a "threat against state unity and territorial
integrity" under article 302-1 of the criminal code. Their lawyer,
Bedri Kuran, who has not been allowed to see the prosecution case
file because it has been classified, says the search violated legal
procedure because it should have been carried out in a judge’s
presence. He also says there is no forensic report on the petrol
bombs.
Prime Minister, we cannot help being troubled by the speed with which
journalists are placed in pretrial custody in Turkey even when the
evidence against them is very slim. Free expression and press freedom
are inviolable democratic principles that must be respected.
We urge you, Prime Minister, to ask parliament to revise the
amendments to the Law on the Fight against Terrorism so that they
meet international standards.
We trust you will give this matter your careful consideration.
Respectfully,
Robert Menard
Secretary-General