FREEDOM OF PRESS WOES, SELF-CENSORSHIP IN US STATE DEPT REPORT

Today’s Zaman
March 13 2008
Turkey

The US State Department’s annual human rights report on Turkey has
highlighted a case filed against prominent defense analyst and Today’s
Zaman columnist Lale Sarýibrahimoðlu in its section covering freedom
of speech and the press as part of respect for civil liberties in
the country.

"The law provides for freedom of speech and of the press; however,
the government continued to limit these freedoms in occasional cases.

The government intimidated journalists into practicing
self-censorship," the report released on Tuesday maintained.

"In April an Ýstanbul court began investigating journalists Lale
Sariibrahimoðlu of Today’s Zaman newspaper and Ahmet Þýk of Nokta
newsmagazine under Article 301, after Þýk published a Nokta story
in which Sariibrahimoðlu expressed concern about the ‘mentality’
of the military and its role in internal security. The court held
its first hearing on Nov. 12; the case continued at year’s end,"
the report noted.

"The government, particularly the police and judiciary, limited
freedom of expression through the use of constitutional restrictions
and numerous laws, including articles of the penal code prohibiting
insults to the government, the state, ‘Turkishness,’ Ataturk or the
institutions and symbols of the republic," the report said.

It referred to the notorious Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code
(TCK) many times, particularly in relation with freedom of speech
and the press. The vague article, which foresees imprisonment for
"insulting Turkishness," has been used in the prosecution of a number
of writers and intellectuals, including slain Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink and Turkey’s Nobel Prize-winning novelist
Orhan Pamuk.

–Boundary_(ID_NOBlQY6Y2nAlsSh6hyRAtw)–