HARSH CRITICISM PART OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

BIA Net
Feb 15 2010
Turkey

The Judicial Office decreed to account journalist Mustafa Balbay’s
pronouncement as part of freedom of expression, regarding his reference
to Prof. Baskın Oran as an example of "bought-out intellectuals". The
comment was assessed as "harsh criticism".

Erol ONDEROÄ~^LU hukuk@bianet.org Ankara – BÄ°A News Center15 February
2010, Monday The Court of Appeals 4th Judicial Office decreed to
account journalist Mustafa Balbay’s pronouncement referring to Prof.

Baskın Oran as part of freedom of expression. Balbay had said "Buying
out the spirit of Turkish intellectuals, journalists and writers is
a very serious strategy", giving Oran as an example.

The Judicial Office assessed Balbay’s comment as a reaction to articles
written by Oran for Armenian Agos newspaper on the Armenian question.

In a talk show broadcasted by ART television on 26 November 2006
hosted by Emin CölaÅ~_an, Balbay said, "Money is paid to contribute
to the division of Turkey in the name of freedom of thought and press".

The journalist added, "This is a crucial situation. This is buying out
the spirit of Turkish intellectuals, journalists and writers… This
is a very serious strategy. Right now I am talking to some of them…

They used to be different people, how did they become like this now I
wonder. I do not like polemics but if I have to name somebody it is
Prof. Dr. Baskın Oran, a person who is currently receiving special
education in the UK".

On 5 November 2009, the Court of Appeals overruled the decision of
the Ankara 16th Criminal Court of First Instance from 6 May 2008
regarding a 3,500 Turkish Lira (TL) compensation fine. The latest
decision was communicated only recently.

Freedom of thought for writer and critic likewise Prof. Baskın Oran
was invited to St. Anthony’s College of Oxford University between
October and December 2006 for research and six conferences on Turkey.

The Court of Appeals reasoned its decision related to Oran as follows:

"According to the content of the file, the complainant wrote articles
for Agos newspaper concerning the Armenian question and carried out
academic studies abroad. In the scope of this case publishing as
a whole was reviewed. We came to the conclusion that the complaint
is about one part of a speech which was held as a reaction to the
articles written by the complainant for Agos newspaper and in line
with the then current topics. If the complainant is free to declare
his thoughts as an academic, he should also accept harsh criticism
against such thoughts. If the defendant’s speech is evaluated as a
whole, the criticism stays within the legislative protection and does
not constitute an attack on the complainant’s individual rights."

The Judicial Office and the Court of Appeals Criminal and Law
General Council had also been subject to reaction with their previous
decisions. Those decisions included sentencing writer Orhan Pamuk
to compensation for saying "On this region 30 thousand Kurds and
1 million Armenians have been killed", sentencing journalist Fatih
Altaylı to a minimum compensation by reason of his statement "I am
a coward if I don’t sexually abuse him the first instance I see him"
referring to lawyer Eren Keskin, and deciding to account Keskin’s
statements about journalist Nadire Mater with insulting content as
"within criticism".