Turkish Author Cleared Of Turning People Against Military

Easy Bourse (Communiques de presse), France
July 27, 2006

ANKARA (AP)–A court Thursday acquitted a Turkish author of charges she
turned people against military service by defending a conscientious
objector in a weekly magazine column – a decision rights groups
hailed as a victory for freedom of expression. A court in Istanbul
ruled Perihan Magden’s article amounted to "heavy criticism conveyed
within the scope of freedom of expression" and didn’t constitute
a crime. Magden was among a string of writers and journalists
to stand trial for expressing opinions, despite pressure from the
European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, to scrap repressive laws
and improve freedoms. She is the second person to be acquitted in
recent months. In November, a court acquitted Internet journalist
Rahmi Yildirim of charges of insulting the military. In her column,
published in the weekly Yeni Aktuel magazine in December, Magden
defended conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan who was sentenced to
four-years in a military prison for disobedience after he refused to
wear his military uniform. She argued Turkey needed to establish a
civilian service as an alternative to compulsory military conscription.

Conscription in Turkey is obligatory for men over 20, and the country
doesn’t recognize the right to conscientious objection. Objectors
have also been prosecuted on charges of turning people against
the military. Had she been convicted, Magden faced up to three
years in prison. The lack of "press freedoms had become unbearable
in recent months and put Turkey in a humiliating position," said
Ahmet Abakay, the head of the Contemporary Journalists’ Association.

"I want to congratulate the judge that gave this decision. It should
be an example to other judges and prosecutors." Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s government has said it has no plans to change such
laws, saying where appropriate the charges are eventually dropped and
defendants are acquitted. E.U. officials argue, however, that even
if the charges are dropped the threat of prosecution deters people
from expressing opinions. Late last year, a court dropped charges
against novelist Orhan Pamuk, who faced trial on charges of insulting
"Turkishness" for commenting on the mass killings of Armenians by
Turks around the time of World War I. The charges were dropped for
technical reasons amid intense international pressure. Earlier this
month a high court confirmed a six-month prison sentence imposed on
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink for attempting to influence
the judiciary after his newspaper criticized the law that makes it
a crime to insult Turkishness. Dink’s sentence, however, was suspended.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress