NOBEL LAUREATE BACK IN THE DOCK
Hurriyet
May 15 2009
Turkey
ANKARA – The country’s top appeals court rejects a ruling by a lower
court and says the case involving Nobel winner Orhan Pamuk will have
to be reassessed by the lower court. Pamuk was originally standing
trial for insulting Turkishness but the case was rejected
Complaints filed against Turkey’s only Nobel laureate, Orhan Pamuk,
for insulting the Turkish nation were valid and it was wrong for
an Istanbul court to dismiss them, the country’s top appeals court
announced yesterday.
In addition to the prosecutors original charges, six other complaints
were filed against Pamuk, including from Istanbul Martyrs’ Mothers
Support and Solidarity Association and nationalist lawyer, Kemal
Kerinsiz, after Pamuk’s remarks in a Swiss magazine became public.
The 2006 Nobel Literature Prize winner Pamuk, speaking to the Swiss
magazine said: "We killed a million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds. No
one in Turkey has the courage to say this. I do."
Charges were brought by an Istanbul prosecutor’s office against Pamuk
for insulting Turkishness based on the controversial Article 301 of
the penal code for his statement, but an Istanbul court had dropped
the case because of the Interior Ministry’s failure to approve of
the trial.
Complaints filed were dismissed by another Istanbul court, which
argued the complainants could not be accepted as representing the
whole nation. It said those who filed the complaint, while members of
the Turkish nation, could not be personally harmed by Pamuk’s remarks.
Judiciary decides
Later, the Supreme Court of Appeals fourth court revoked the court’s
decision. It said: "The judiciary decides the limits of individual
rights that include physical, emotional and social values, occupational
pride, honor, freedom, spiritual rights, health and citizenship. When
assessed from this angle, citizenship is seen as a right that must
be protected and the statement directed at the whole nation gives
individuals the right to file such complaints."
It argued that constitutionally, every citizen of Turkey was accepted
as a Turk and their rights as well as their feelings of solidarity
with the nation they belonged to were protected by the Constitution.
The Istanbul court, in the retrial, insisted on its earlier verdict,
dismissing the case. On the second appeal, the case went to the
Supreme Court of Appeals General Council, which decided to revoke
the lower court’s decision again. The lower court will now have to
assess the case on its merits, and if found guilty, Pamuk will have
to pay compensation to the complainants. The decision allows every
citizen to file complaints against individuals who make statements
they deem insulting to the nation.