CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR DISPLAY OF RACIAL SIGN

Hurriyet
Feb 20 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – A prosecutor has sought a one-year prison term for a man who
has been charged with racist behavior, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Niyazi Capa, chairperson of the Osmangazi Cultural Foundations
Federation, is facing a possible one-year prison term, daily Radikal
reported yesterday.

Capa was charged with a racist offense following an incident last
month when he released a press statement in the presence of members
of his foundation who each held a dog on their laps and banners that
read "Jews and Armenians cannot enter" and "Entrance is free for dogs."

Racial discrimination The prosecutor’s office in the Anatolian city of
EskiÅ~_ehir, where the incident occurred, has filed a case against Capa
charging him with "discrimination against people based on language,
race, color, sex, political ideas, philosophical beliefs, religion
and other similar reasons." The case is set to be heard in May. Capa
will not be detained for the period leading to his trial.

In his defense, Capa released a statement to the prosecutor that said
he did not act in a racist manner. "The banners that read ‘Jews and
Armenians cannot enter’ and ‘Entrance is free for dogs’ were hung on
the foundation’s gates at the same time but weren’t related. But the
media interpreted this as ‘Dogs can enter, but Jews and Armenians
cannot.’ "

Actions a response Capa also said his press statement was in response
to Israel’s attacks on Palestine and the apology campaign to Armenians
for the events of 1915. "I did this to protest the Armenian-American
rock band, "System of a Down," which put up a banner at their concert
in France that read, ‘Turks and dogs cannot enter,’" he said. Capa
claimed that he had no problems with Jewish or Armenian people.

The accusation regarding the banner displayed by the American band,
whose members are of Armenian origin, is considered to be a fabricated
tale made up in Turkey and the same accusation was leveled at European
bands such as Saxon and Sodom in the past. The existence of such
banners were never witnessed or photographed in any event by any of
the three bands.