PROSECUTION TURNS PLAINTIFF INTO "SUSPECT"
Erol Onderoglu

BIA, Turkey
ics/103251/prosecution-turns-plaintiff-into-suspec t
Nov 30 2007

The Bakirkoy prosecution dismissed proceedings after historian Akcam
filed a complaint against journalist Colasan and called the plaintiff a
"suspect".

The Bakirkoy Chief Public Prosecution has decided to drop proceedings
against Emin Colasan, former journalist with the "Hurriyet" newspaper
for an article against historian Prof. Dr. Taner Akcam, who also
writes for the Turkish-Armenian Agos newspaper.

Complaint dismissed, plaintiff "suspicious"

Colasan had said about Akcam that "he insults his country", "he ran
away from Turkey years ago", and "he is being fed by the Armenian
lobby"; in response, Akcam had filed a complaint against Colasan.

The decision to drop proceedings was announced on 7 November. The
prosecution decided that no trial should be opened against Colasan and
"Hurriyet" newspaper’s responsible editor Necdet Tatlican.

In its justification of the dismissal, the prosecution spoke of Taner
Akcam as "suspicious" and argued that "there was no insult contrained
in the criticism of the suspicious person as a scientist."

Appeal by lawyer

Akcam’s lawyer Murat Bobrek objected against the dismissal of
proceedings on 22 November. In his appeal to the Eyup Heavy Penal
Court, Bobrek said, "The real victim of the dismissal of proceedings
is not Taner Akcam but the state of law."

He added, "[This] expression clearly shows the subconscious opinions
of the honourable prosecutor and how the event is being considered
from outside the law. According to the prosecutor, the suspicious
person is, unfortunately, my client."

"The reason why my client, who is the ‘plaintiff’ is considered a
‘suspect’ by the prosecutor is "his publicly known works and some
statements". In other words, the prosecutor believes that the ‘suspect’
client has to accept all kinds of insults because he did not argue in
congruence with the opinions of official state authorities in his works
as a scientist and historian, and that it is permissible to call him
‘a traitor’, ‘a man fed by the Armenian lobby’, etc."

In an article published on 23 June 2007 and entitled "Well done Atilla
Koc [Minister of Culture]! Turkey Should Be Introduced Like This!",
Colasan had criticsed the fact that Taner Akcam was listed as a famous
Turkish writer on the website of the Ministry of Culture.