MEDIA ALLOWED TO USE KURDISH LANGUAGE BUT STILL FORBIDDEN TO DISCUSS KURDISH ISSUES FREELY
AZG DAILY
26-11-2009
Turkey
Reporters Without Borders hails the lifting of the last restrictions
on the use of the Kurdish language by the Turkish news media. "This
is an important and symbolically-charged step but its impact will
be very limited as long as the media cannot tackle Kurdish issues
without risking prosecution," the press freedom organisation said.
The government gazette published a directive on 13 November
indefinitely lifting all remaining restrictions on the broadcast
media’s use of minority languages. Use of Kurdish had been allowed in
the print media and the national public TV station TRT 6 since January
2004, but privately-owned radio stations were limited to five hours
of Kurdish programming a week while privately-owned TV stations were
limited to four hours.
Furthermore, all Kurdish-language TV programmes had to be subtitled
in Turkish, which made live broadcasts impossible. As a result, only
TV stations offered any Kurdish programmes, the local station Gun TV
and, in the past two months, the satellite TV station Su TV.
"What is the point of broadcasting in Kurdish if coverage of Kurdish
issues from an independent or activist viewpoint is banned in
practice," Reporters Without Borders said. "The lifting of language
restrictions must not be allowed to eclipse the fact that the media
are still the victims of intimidation and self-censorship when they
try to tackle sensitive issues."
The press freedom organisation added: "There will be no real progress
for free expression in Turkey until the repressive legislation has
been repealed and the media are finally allowed to tackle the subjects
that the Turkish state has declared off limits."
More than 15 journalists are currently being prosecuted under
Anti-Terrorist Law No. 3713 and criminal code article 216 (on inciting
hatred) just for referring to the demands of the outlawed Kongra-Gel,
also known as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), or for quoting its
leaders, even in an article that criticises them.
The Turkish legislative arsenal – including criminal code article
301, under which "insults to the Turkish nation" are punishable by
up to two years in prison – imposes considerable restrictions on
democratic debate by defining the limits that cannot be crossed as
regards such subjects as the armed forces, police, judicial system,
torture, secularism and the republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
And in practice this legislative arsenal allows many local judges
and prosecutors to resist the government’s declared policy of making
Turkish society more open.
Around 20 charges of "PKK propaganda," condoning criminal activity and
membership of an illegal organisation have been brought against Vedat
Kursun, the editor of the only Kurdish-language newspaper, Azadiya
Welat. Although he has been detained since January, the first hearing
in his trial was not held until 10 September. And he will continue to
be detained until the next hearing, which has been set for 2 December.
His lawyer, Servet Ozen, told Reporters Without Borders, "he is in
prison for comments that his newspaper was the first to make, but
which are now being debated in all the Turkish media."
Pro-Kurdish publications are even silenced online. Access to the
website of the daily newspaper Gunluk was blocked on 18 November.
Gunluk itself, like the weekly Ozgur Ortam, has repeatedly been closed
temporarily under the Anti-Terrorist Law, while Gunluk’s owner, its
editor and one of its journalists are all currently facing possible
sentences of 7½ years in prison.
The newspaper Demokratik Acilim was closed in September, just a
few weeks after it had been launched to replace Gunluk, which was
itself closed at the time. On 20 October, the European Court of
Human Rights ordered the Turkish government to pay several hundred
thousand euros in damages to 26 journalists working for four other
pro-Kurdish newspapers that had been closed – Ulkede Ozgur Gundem,
Gundem, Guncel and Gercek Demokrasi.
Even media that show little sign of sympathising with Kurdish autonomy
demands are exposed to repression. Hasan Cakkalkurt, the editor of the
"Kemalist" daily Milliyet, and one of his journalists, Namik Durukan,
are facing possible 7½-year jail sentences and fines of 9,000 euros
for reprinting a local news agency interview with a PKK leader. The
next hearing in their trial is set for 26 January.
Hulya Avsar, a famous singer, and Milliyet journalist Devrim Sevimay
are being prosecuted on charges of inciting hatred because Avsar,
who has Turkish and Kurdish parents, said in an interview that the
government’s policy of openness should not "under-estimate or ignore
the rights of the Kurds" and that it would be "hard to convince the
terrorists of the separatist PKK to lay down their arms."
Aside from Kurdish issues, it is still very difficult for Turkish
journalists to criticise the behaviour of the judicial system, armed
forces or police. Haci Bogatekin, the editor of the fortnightly Gerger
Firat, was sentenced in absentia by a local court on 18 November to
26 months and seven days in prison under criminal code article 125
for allegedly libelling the former prosecutor and police chief of
the southeastern district of Gerger by accusing them of harassing
his newspaper and colluding with Islamists.
Worn out by a legal battle that has dragged on for more than a year,
Bogatekin did not attend the final hearing for health reasons. He
wrote a letter of apology to the court, but the court ignored it on the
grounds that it was not sent by recorded delivery, rsf.org reported.