OSCE SLAMS TURKEY FOR ZARAKOLU CONVICTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.06.2008 14:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on
Freedom of the Media, today condemned the five-month prison sentence
handed down to Turkish publisher Ragip Zarakolu for "insulting the
institutions of the Turkish Republic" despite the fact that Article
301 of Turkey’s Penal Code was recently reformed.

"It is disappointing that despite recent changes in the law, serious
obstacles to free speech in Turkey remain. People are still jailed
for publishing peaceful ideas," said Haraszti. "Freedom of debate in
Turkey will increase only if the government stops trying to control
the debate in the first place.

Article 301 must be abolished altogether."

Following a reform of Article 301 in April, the maximum prison
sentence was reduced from three years to two, and the crime of
"insulting Turkishness" was changed to "insulting the Turkish nation".

On 17 June, an Istanbul court found Zarakolu guilty of "insulting
the institutions of the Turkish Republic" for publishing a Turkish
translation of "The Truth Will Set Us Free" by British author George
Jerjian.

The book covers the killings of Armenians in 1915.

"Publishing a book critical about a country’s history should not be
criminalized in a democracy. The Helsinki principles, to which OSCE
participating States including Turkey have committed, provide for
the free flow of information and ideas," said Haraszti, the OSCE
Communication unit reports.

In May 2008, Zarakolu was the recipient of the International Publishers
Association’s Freedom to Publish Prize.