TURKISH COURT DROPPED CASE AGAINST AUTHOR OF BOOK ABOUT ATATURK’S WIFE

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.12.2006 13:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A court yesterday acquitted Ipek Calislar, author
of the first comprehensive biography of Ataturk’s wife of two years
Latife Ussaki, of insulting the country’s founder by saying he fled
an assassination attempt dressed in women’s clothing.

The book, which came out this June, became quite popular, having sold
56,000 in a short time.

Hurriyet’s interview with Calislar, who is a journalist of 36 years,
included an excerpt based on the accounts of Latife Hanim’s sister
Vecihe Hanim regarding Ataturk who, according to the book, in the
face of an assassination attempt, left the Presidential Palace in a
chador disguised as a woman.

The European Union has said such laws inhibit free expression and that
Turkey must change them if it hopes to be successful in its membership
bid. Most cases brought under the insult clauses have either been
dropped on a technicality, including the one against Pamuk, or the
writers have been acquitted, reports The New Anatolian.