ACTIVISTS SLAM TURKISH PUBLISHER’S CONVICTION
By Emma Ross-Thomas
Reuters
June 19 2008
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Activists condemned on Thursday the conviction
of a Turkish publisher under a controversial law which Ankara reformed
just two months ago in a bid to satisfy EU demands for greater freedom
of expression.
Writers’ organization International PEN said the conviction of Ragip
Zarakolu for insulting Turkey showed that Ankara’s reform of penal
code article 301 was meaningless.
The reform removed a reference to "insulting Turkishness," for which
dozens of writers including Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk had been put
on trial — but it is still a crime to insult the Turkish nation and
state. Justice Ministry approval is now needed to open a case.
"This is a very clear example that the so-called amendment of 301 is
good for nothing. It was just a bad joke," International PEN chief
Eugene Schoulgin told Reuters, adding that there were more than 80
such cases pending against writers and journalists.
Turkish writers had warned before the April amendment that they would
continue to be targeted by nationalist prosecutors.
"This court decision seems to bear out our worst fears that the
changes to the law won’t necessarily make a difference," said Human
Rights Watch’s Turkey researcher Emma Sinclair-Webb.
The ruling AK Party defended the changes to article 301 saying that
other members of the European Union, which Ankara wants to join,
have similar rules. Brussels welcomed the reform as a step forward
but called for further moves.
Turkey has several other laws limiting free speech and this week a
popular transsexual singer, Bulent Ersoy, was on trial for "turning
people against military service" for comments she made on television,
local media reported.
Publisher Zarakolu was sentenced to five months in jail, convertible
into a fine, but will appeal, Schoulgin said. Zarakolu was not
available to comment.
He was tried for publishing a translation of a book about the Armenian
massacres, which Ankara denies amounted to genocide. George Jerjian’s
"The Truth Will Set Us Free" is a call for reconciliation between
Turks and Armenians and tells the story of how a Turk saved the
writer’s Armenian grandmother.
Pamuk was also tried for his comments about the Armenian massacres, but
his case was dropped. Armenian-Turkish editor Hrant Dink was convicted
under 301 for his calls for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians
before he was shot dead in Istanbul by a teenage nationalist last year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
