NEWSPAPER OWNER GUNNED DOWN: "INSULTING TURKISHNESS" STILL A CRIME
IFEX, Canada
International Freedom of Expression eXpress
Oct 3 2007
Turkey:
A newspaper owner was shot to death in southeastern Turkey on 22
September, reports IPS Communication Foundation (BIANET).
Kasim Ciftci, owner of the "Hakkari Province Voice" newspaper, was
found dead near the ruins of old Van City on 22 September. According to
"Yuksekova News", eyewitnesses saw two men arguing near the ruins.
The argument turned into a fight, and Ciftci was shot twice.
Meanwhile, Turkey continues to use the judicial system to curb free
expression. Journalists are still being charged under Article 301
of Turkey’s Penal Code, which makes "insulting Turkishness" a crime
punishable by prison terms. Turkish rights groups, including BIANET
and the Initiative for Freedom of Expression, have been reporting on
the numerous trials and actively campaigning to abolish the law.
According to International PEN, ARTICLE 19 and the International
Publishers Association (IPA), 18 trials against 24 people under
Article 301 were heard between April and July 2007.
Just last week, Haci Bogatekin, owner of the local paper "Gerger Firat"
in Adiyaman, southeastern Turkey, was accused under Article 301 for
his March 2007 article entitled "Turkey has made mistakes".
Bogatekin blamed the state for the deaths of "millions of Armenians
and Syriac Christians," and other ethnic and religious groups across
the country.
Last month, International PEN, ARTICLE 19 and IPA issued an open
letter to the newly-elected President of Turkey Adbulah Gul calling
for the abolition of Article 301.
The letter laments that the article was not abolished in the wake of
the assassination of Hrant Dink in January 2007. Dink, editor of the
Armenian-Turkish weekly "Agos", had been convicted under Article 301
for comments on mass killings of Armenians a century ago. Critics
say his conviction led to him being targeted.
The full text of the letter can be can be downloaded at:
/en/content/view/full/86721/