BIA, Turkey
May 8 2008
Civil Disobedience Restarts: 200 People Commit The `Thought Crime’.
The Initiative Against Thought Crime restarts its activities as a
reaction to the increased number of law suits targeting people who
simply express their opinions. 200 people report themselves to the
authorities for the same `crime’.
Bia news servıce
08-05-2008
The new lawsuits and the nearly completed trials forced the
13-year-old Initiative Against Thought Crime to restart its `civil
disobedience’ activities to draw attention to the arrangements against
the freedom of expression. They announced their decision yesterday
(May 5) at a press release given at Ã`sküdar Hall of Justice
in Ä°stanbul.
Following the press release, more than two hundred people denounced
themselves by stating that they agree with the `criminal’ thoughts of
the individuals like the lawyer Eren Keskin, the former Democratic
Society Party (DEP) deputy Mahmut Alınak, the former editor of
Agos, an Armenian-Turkish weekly, Aris Nalcı, the license
holder of the same newspaper Sarkis Seropyan, and the singers
Bülent Ersoy and Ferhat Tunç.
Yurdatapan: Peaceful expression of a thought cannot be sued
The individuals who took part in the civil disobedience act signed a
proclamation that said they knew the meaning and outcome of what they
were doing and signed it with their free will. The initiative
spokesperson Å?anar Yurdatapan reported their crimes to
Ã`sküdar public prosecutor’s office on behalf of the
activists.
Yurdatapan explained that the civil disobedience activities of1995 are
restarted, that they will continue reporting themselves to the
prosecutors by becoming a party to the crimes of the people who are
sued for expressing their opinions in a peaceful manner, whatever
their opinions may be.
Keskin: I hope this activity will help our voice be heard
According to Keskin, `When the topic is the freedom of expression, we
should look at which thoughts are banned. These are thoughts related
to the Kurdish, Armenian, Cyprus and the Turban (Headscarf) problems.
Everyone who thinks differently from status quo commits a thought
crime. I am also one of these people. I hope this activity will help
our voice be heard.’ The journalist Erol Ã-zkoray, the artist
Ferhat Tunç, the actor Mehmet Atak and some civil disobedience
activists joined Keskin as well.
Keskin, Allınak, Nalcı, Seropyan, Tunç are
accused, Ersoy is under investigation
Following the demand by the general staff, the lawyer Keskin was sued
for her interview with the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel on June
24, 2006, which was construed as `denigrating the Turkish Armed
Forces.’
The former DEP deputy Alınak was sued for being in violation of
the 1928 Law of the Acceptance and Application of Turkish Letters,
according to Article 222 of the Turkish Penal Code.
The legal proceedings about Nalcı and Seropyan for `obstructing
the just trial proceedings’ is continuing. They are on trial for their
article titled `Akıllı Tahta’ (The Smart Board) that was
published on the November 9, 2007 issue of Agos, in which they
critiqued the decision that was reached regarding Hrant Dink’s Article
301 case.
The singer Bülent Ersoy’s words during a television program are
under investigation for `alienating people from doing their military
service.’ The singer Ferhat Tunç is accused for `doing the
propaganda of a terrorist organization’.
Civil disobedience again¦
Since the beginning of the `civil disobedience’ activity at the time
when YaÅ?ar Kemal, a famous writer from Turkey, was called to
the State Security Court in 1995 for his article published in Der
Speigel, more than eighty thousand people have taken part in the
`crimes’ of the others by giving signatures to seven books and
forty-eight booklets. (EÃ-/TB)
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
