Droits de l'Homme / Human Rights

301 Trial of Activist on “Military Request”

Following a complaint by the General Staff, the Kartal Chief Public Prosecution in Istanbul has started a trial against Eren Keskin, lawyer and former president of the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD). Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code has been cited, in this case the "denigration of the army."

Disciplinary investigation by Bar Association

In addition, the army has demanded that the Istanbul Bar Assocation initiate a disciplinary investigation against Keskin.

The Bar Association asked Keskin to defend herself on 15 February. Six days later Keskin sent an answer, saying that she believed that a disciplinary investigation violated the principles of democratic law.

"The army rules the country"

In a statement published in Germany’s Der Tagesspiegel on 24 June 2006, Keskin had argued that the attack on the State Council in 2006 had not aimed at destroying the state, but that it had served to strengthen the laicist, authoritarian and military state order. In fact, she said, in Turkey no government was able to carry out its programme because the country was being ruled by the “National Politics Document” prepared by the army, and that no government could oppose it.

Prosecutor Arzu Akgün has demanded up to two years imprisonment for Keskin.

"Do you believe thoughts should be punished?"

In her reply to the Bar Association, Keskin said, “In no democratic country can generals of the General Staff demand that a pofessional institution judge people, especially not lawyers, for their thoughts.”

Keskin pointed out that she had been tried many times before and been to prison for her thoughts, and was still facing trials:

“I will continue to say what needs to be said in order to get rid of the militarist pressure on the legislative, executive and the judiciary in Turkey for as long as I live.”

“If, as a legal professional institution, you believe that people should be punished for their thoughts, then you can give me whatever punishment you want. But I will continue to express my opinions ‘freely’.” ( news centre, Erol ONDEROGLU, February 28, 2008)

Civil Disobedience Once Again: To participate in Bülent Ersoy's 'crime'...

Civil Disobedience action has started the following campaign in solidarity with Bülent Ersoy:

An investigation has been launched against musician Bülent Ersoy over things she said at a TV show. She is examined under the claim that she “alienated the people from military service”. If it leads to a case Bülent Ersoy will be charged under TPC article 318 (prison sentence from 6 months to 2 years). The punishment maybe doubled when the crime is committed by the means of the media and press.

Bülent Ersoy’s words which led to the investigation:

“… “Martyrs never die, motherland never gets divided”... Always the same cliché, we say this all the time. Children go, bloody tears, funerals... I disagree with you. Why are we being toys?”
“... Okay, motherland would not be divided but so... Then all mothers give birth, and burry, is this it?”
“… I can not know like you what a child is. I am not a mother, I will never be one. But I am human; giving them to the soil... I can not comprehend how the hearts of those mothers burn in flames but mothers would know …”
“… If I had given birth to a child; some will say around a table ‘you will do this, they will do that’ and I will burry that child into a grave. Is that so?”

If you want to participate in this crime please send an e-mail to sivilitaatsizlik@antenna-tr.org, noting your name, surname and profession. Your name will appear in the list in 24 hours.

PS: “Civil Disobedience” actions which began with Yaşar Kemal’s trial in State Security Court in 1995, and led to the participation of 80.411 people participating in the crimes of 205 criminals of thought in 13 years, continues now. Each flowing title is about a civil disobedience action. You can sign under any crime(!?) and join the movement, contributing to the removal of all barriers before free thinking.

Prosecutors work so fast and file so many cases that we have difficulty putting all of them in CTL section, let alone participating in all of them. Hence this series of civil disobedience has to remain symbolic. We try to pick and participate in at least one of all kinds of “crimes of thought” without discriminating.

PS: 77.663 people participated in the biggest civil disobedience action in 2001 informing the prosecutors about them. The total capacity of Turkish prisons at the time was 73.815. Thus we produced in 2.5 months more criminals of thought than all prisons could take.

Musician Bülent Ersoy: "I am behind my Words"

Musician Bülent Ersoy who has been investigated for “alienating the people from military service” with her comments at a TV show, told the press “I am not a chameleon, whatever I said on that day I am behind it. If asking for a solution instead of death is a crime let them hang me”.
56 year old Ersoy said that she was “a nationalist in essence not in words” and added “I do not cliché”.

Bülent Ersoy said: “What has Bülent Ersoy said? She said that some write these, we are forced to play it out. Is it a lie? Blood has been shed; all right, we become one when it needed, we go to war if needed; because we are a soldier nation. Our ancestors carried the canons at their backs during Liberation War. They wrote history with their blood. They say that ‘Ersoy’s talk intends to alienate the youngsters at the age of conscription’. I did not say that…I am behind my words.

”I said solution instead of death, was that a mistake? Maybe I became a voice of the silence. If asking for a solution is a crime let them hang me, if not let them honour me. Would I say ‘do not you’re your kids to the army!’? I know my place. I say “solution’ instead of ‘death’. Because I don’t want to hear the screams of those mothers, I don’t want to see those coffins.”

Bülent Ersoy said she received support calls from other musicians. (antenna-tr.org, February 28, 2008)

Enlèvement et exécution d'un Kurde : la Turquie condamnée à Strasbourg

La Turquie a été condamnée mardi par la Cour européenne des droits de l'Homme de Strasbourg pour la mort d'un Kurde dont les proches affirment qu'il a été enlevé et exécuté lors d'une opération contre des militants du Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan en 1996.

Dans la région de Tunceli (centre-est) alors soumise à l'état d'urgence, Mazlum Mansuroglu, 24 ans, aurait été, selon ses proches, arrêté à son domicile et emmené par les forces de l'ordre, lors d'une opération pour arrêter trois militants du PKK.

Le cadavre de Mazlum Mansuroglu a ensuite été présenté par les forces de l'ordre aux côtés de ceux de deux des trois militants recherchés. Selon les autorités turques, il est mort en même temps que les deux autres, au cours d'un affrontement avec les forces de l'ordre.

Ses proches prétendent au contraire qu'il a été enlevé et exécuté.

Sans conclure que M. Mansuroglu ait été "sciemment assassiné" par les forces de l'ordre "pour le faire passer pour un présumé terroriste qui leur avait échappé", la Cour de Strasbourg estime que "la responsabilité de l'Etat se trouve assurément engagée faute pour lui d'avoir pu établir que la force meurtrière utilisée contre Mazlum Mansuroglu n'était pas allée au-delà du nécessaire.

"Le non-encadrement par des règles et l'abandon à l'arbitraire de l'action des agents de l'Etat sont incompatibles avec un respect effectif des droits de l'Homme", estime la Cour.

Elle conclut également que la mère de la victime, Emine Mansuroglu, a été maltraitée par les forces de l'ordre alors qu'elle tentait de s'interposer à l'arrestation de son fils.

Elle condamne la Turquie à verser près de 27.000 euros aux proches de la victime au titre des dommages moraux et matériels. (AFP, 26 fév 2008)

452 Claims of Torture in 2007, Says TIHV

The Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) has branches in Adana, Ankara, Diyarbakir, Istanbul and Izmir. According to its 2007 annual report, there has been a drastic increase in people claiming to have been tortured or maltreated, as well as an increase in people saying that they were abused in the same year, i.e. 2007.

According to a statement by the foundation, there were 337 applications to TIHV in 2006, and 252 of them said they had been abused in that year; in 2007, the number of applicants rose to 452, of whom 320 said that the relevant incident happened in the same year.

In 2007, 293 of the applicants were men, 159 were women and 33 were children.

The most frequently cited methods of torture in 2007 were serious beatings, humiliations and insults. They caused physical as well as psychological damage.

Other abuse which was reported included death threats, being forced to watch or listen to torture, being tortured in front of relatives, being forced to obey meaningless orders, continuously being hit on the same part of the body, tearing at hair, beards and moustaches, being forced to do extremely strenuous activity, being left in the cold, being sprayed with tear gas, sexual abuse, and violent acts carried out on sexual organs.

According to TIHV, there were many physical symptoms of torture and abuse, such as broken bones, injury to and loss of organs, rupturing of ear drums, etc. In addition, many of the applicants displayed acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as other psychological damage.

Four of the applicants had been wounded by plastic bulltes which are frequently used by security forces and are claimed to be “harmless.”

Of the 320 people saying they had been tortured in the year 2007, 98 said it happened in police offices, 61 in police stations, 17 in gendarmerie stations or headquarters, 112 in open spaces or in vehicles, and 32 in other places. (BIA news centre, Nilüfer ZENGIN, February 20, 2008)

DHKP/C leader Karatas to receive compensation for lengthy trial

The Ankara 9th Administrative Court ruled earlier this week that Turkey, often criticized for unfair trial procedures -- including unreasonably lengthy prison stays in excess of a decade pending trial -- should pay an YTL 1,000 compensation to DHKP-C Leader Dursun Karataş, who was tried in absentia for 27 years. The court concluded that a trial process of 27 years was far too long to adjudicate a case.

Karataş was being tried in absentia for membership in an outlawed organization and the unauthorized possession of guns and fake documents.

The court underlined that Turkish courts should adjudicate cases without losing too much time, in accordance with the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

"The Karataş trial process started at the Ordu Martial Law Court in 1981 and has not been concluded since then. We have decided that Turkey should pay compensation to Karataş for such a lengthy trial process," noted the court in its decision.

Karataş's lawyers, on the other hand, said they expected "apology" from the court, not compensation. (Zaman, Gökçer Tahincioğlu, February 21, 2008)

Turkey's Pressure on EU for Increasing "Anti-terror" measures

Turkey and the European Commission held their first ever meeting yesterday in Brussels on terror, justice and home affairs in the wake of increased Turkish complaints leveled against some European countries over what Ankara termed as indifference to Ankara's terror problem, which stems mainly from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkey and the EU have been holding talks on terror related issues under the Association Partnership agreement that Ankara signed back in 1963 with the union.

In addition, Turkey and the individual EU member countries have been holding bilateral talks on how to address the differences existing between the judicial systems of both sides that contradict with each other, particularly in the definition of terror organizations.

Yesterday’s Troika meeting in Brussels between Turkey, a candidate country to the EU, Slovenia, current president of the union and France, the next EU term president, at the ambassadorial level had taken place in the wake of the latest renewal of Turkish complaints about the EU’s handling of the PKK and the DHKP-C.

It is not clear yet whether this kind of meeting between Turkey and the commission will continue on a regular basis, but both sides tried to coordinate their measures against the terrorist organizations while the EU explained the European legal procedures in the fight against terrorism. The EU has also sought ways in which it could accommodate Turkish concerns on the PKK.

In a parallel effort to accommodate Turkish concerns on rendering the PKK terrorists ineffective in Europe, Frank Urbancic, US deputy counterterrorism coordinator of the US Department of State, was in Ankara almost two weeks ago.

This was followed by a visit from US Attorney General Michael Mukasey to Ankara last week.

In light of the differing legal systems in Turkey and in various European countries, with the latter having relatively stronger democratic norms in its judicial system, the ways in which terrorist elements in Europe could be caught on charges not necessarily of terrorism but, for example, on tax evasion, are cited among the methods to be looked at in helping to solve Turkey’s terrorism problem. (Zaman, LALE SARIİBRAHİMOĞLU, February 20, 2008)

FIDH: “Turkey Must End Impunity of Political Violence”

Following a mission in Turkey on the occasion of the third hearing of the Hrant Dink murder trial, the FIDH published a report on 13 February, calling for action on human rights.

The Paris-based  International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) undertook a mission in Istanbul from February 9 to 11, 2008, on the occasion of the third hearing of the Hrant Dink murder trial.

Hrant Dink, the founder and editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos newspaper, was shot dead in front of his office on 19 January 2007. This mission was deployed in follow-up to FIDH’s mobilisation alongside Hrant Dink’s family and lawyers, and in support of their struggle for justice.

Following the third hearing, FIDH welcomes the filming of the proceedings, as transparency is an essential element to guarantee the fairness of the procedure. Nevertheless, FIDH Secretary General Florence Bellivier has called on the Turkish authorities « to ensure full access to the documents related to the case to the lawyers of Dink’s family, in particular the results of the investigation into the behaviour of State security agents ».

Meanwhile, FIDH has expressed its satisfaction following the arrest, on January 22nd, and the opening of a judicial investigation against a group of ultra-nationalist individuals said to be members of the illegal paramilitary group Ergenekon. Among them is Veli Kücük, a retired general of the Turkish army.

Without prejudice to the results of the investigation, FIDH welcomes the opening of proceedings against individuals whose names have appeared repeatedly in a number of cases of political violence, notably the murder of Hrant Dink, the massacre of a Christian pastor and two of his practitioners in Malatya on April 18th 2007, and the killing of a Catholic priest on February 4th 2006 in Trabzon.

“FIDH hopes that these investigations will enable the determination of higher levels of responsibility in the instigation of these crimes, and break the cycle of political violence,” said Secretary General Florence Bellivier.

Beyond the trial, the mission was an opportunity to discuss several of the main human rights violations that Turkey is facing today. In this respect, FIDH wishes to highlight the following:

The Kurdish Question

FIDH and its Turkish member organisation, the Human Rights Association (IHD), express their deep concern about continuing human rights violations in the South-Eastern provinces. The organisations are particularly concerned with the bombing of civilian areas, in violation of fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. The organisations repeat their call to the authorities for a political and peaceful settlement of the Kurdish question, and urge the government to open talks with Kurdish organisations and civil society in this respect.

Freedom of opinion and expression.

FIDH has repeated its call for the abolition of Article 301 of the Penal Code. Freedom of expression should not be criminalised and Turkey should conform with the recommendations addressed by all UN special rapporteurs and treaty bodies in this respect. Newspapers such as Free-Agenda (Özgür Gündem), documenting the situation of Kurdish or other minorities as well as the consequences of the conflict in the South-East, should be able to publish their stories.

Situation of human rights defenders

FIDH is worried about the continuous harassment of human rights defenders, intellectuals and journalists who promote human rights. As documented by the Observatory for the protection of human rights defenders (FIDH-OMCT), Ethem Acikalin, the Chair of IHD’s section in Adana, as well as the former chair and an administrator of the Ankara section remain under arbitrary detention. FIDH calls for their immediate release.

FIDH further remains concerned about the judicial harassment against the Vice-President of the IHD, Reyhan Yalcindag, the pending court case to close down the Mersin section of IHD in southern Turkey, as well as about the prosecution of members of the National Commission on Human Rights, Professors Ibrahim Kaboglu and Baskin Oran, for having published a report on minorities in Turkey. FIDH calls for the suspension of all charges in these trials.

Counter-terrorism and human rights, use of torture

FIDH is finally worried about information reported by another Turkish member organisation, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV), on the broad and vague definition of the acts defined under the Anti-terror Act, in violation of the principle of legality of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The organisations further deplore the continuous use of torture with impunity and the light sentences resulting from the few condemnations. They call upon the Turkish authorities to comply with the recommendations of the UN Independent Expert on counter-terrorism and human rights, as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. (FIDH-BIA, February 17, 2008)

La prison à vie pour l'auteur d'un attentat contre le Conseil d'Etat turc

Un tribunal d'Ankara a condamné à une peine de prison à perpétuité incompressible l'auteur d'un attentat contre le Conseil d'Etat, qui avait coûté la vie à un juge en 2006, a annoncé l'agence de presse Anatolie.

Alparslan Arslan, un avocat de 30 ans, était jugé pour meurtre, appartenance à une organisation clandestine et tentative de renversement de l'ordre constitutionnel par la force.

Il avait fait feu sur cinq juges de la 4e chambre du Conseil d'Etat, la plus haute juridiction administrative turque, en tuant un et blessant les quatre autres.

La cour a également condamné pour meurtre trois complices d'Arslan à des peines de prison à vie incompressibles.

Deux autres comparses ont été condamnés pour divers crimes allant du transport d'explosifs à la participation à une organisation illégale à des peines de 17 ans, huit mois et 15 jours de prison pour l'un, 10 ans, deux mois et 15 jours de prison pour l'autre, selon Anatolie.

Trois accusés ont été acquittés.

Au cours d'une précédente audience, le principal accusé avait affirmé avoir attaqué le Conseil d'Etat en réaction à la vigueur avec laquelle cette institution fait respecter l'interdiction du port du foulard islamique dans les administrations publiques et les universités.

Il avait également admis avoir organisé trois attaques à la grenade perpétrées à la même époque contre le quotidien social-démocrate Cumhuriyet, qui n'avaient pas fait de victimes, en riposte à la publication d'une caricature montrant un cochon portant le voile islamique.

Les médias ont noté qu'Arslan pourrait être lié à un groupe ultra-nationaliste comprenant des retraités de l'armée arrêtés l'an dernier à Istanbul après la découverte d'une cache d'armes contenant des grenades similaires à celles jetées sur Cumhuriyet.

Ils ont suggéré que l'organisation avait pour objectif de déstabiliser le pays afin de préparer le terrain à un coup d'Etat militaire.

L'attentat contre le Conseil d'Etat avait provoqué de vives tensions politiques.  (AFP, 13 fév 2008)

La Turquie condamnée pour "traitement inhumain", dont des électrochocs

La Turquie a été condamnée jeudi par la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme pour le "traitement inhumain" infligé à trois personnes, dont l'une a été soumise à des électrochocs, pendant sa garde à vue.

L'un des plaignants, Mehmet Sait Dönmü, a affirmé à la Cour européenne avoir reçu des électrochocs à un orteil du pied droit, au pouce droit et au pénis, à la gendarmerie de Silvan en juin 2000. L'autre, Mehmet Ali Kaplan, aurait eu les testicules compressés et aurait été battu. Ils recevront chacun 8.000 euros pour préjudice moral.

L'arrêt de Strasbourg a conclu que les blessures sur les corps des requérants, corroborées par des preuves matérielles, constituaient une violation de la Convention qui interdit les traitements inhumains ou dégradants.
 Le gouvernement d'Ankara a récusé les accusations des deux hommes, qui avaient été interpellés pour assistance à une organisation illégale.

En octobre 2000, le parquet turc avait intenté une action pour mauvais traitements contre deux gendarmes qui furent acquittés et qui n'étaient pas les tortionnaires, selon les plaignants.

Les juges européens ont également condamné la Turquie parce que le parquet n'a pas entendu les responsables de l'interrogatoire des requérants, à savoir les agents du service des renseignements de la gendarmerie et des agents de la sûreté d'Etat.

Dans une autre affaire, Süleyman Erkan, soupçonné d'appartenir au Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK) et interpellé en 1999, s'était plaint d'avoir été frappé à la tête avec une matraque et d'avoir eu les testicules compressés par des agents de la section antiterroriste d'Istanbul. Il recevra 5.000 euros pour dommage moral, a décidé la Cour de Strasbourg. (AFP, 31 jan 2008)

HRW Report: Human Rights Trend is “Retrograde” in Turkey

The annual Human Rights Watch Report on Turkey is pessimistic about developments. The report condemns freedom of speech violations, harassment of the DTP, violence against minorities and civilians.

Recent trends in human rights protection in Turkey have been retrograde. 2007 saw an intensification of speech-related prosecutions and convictions, controversial rulings by the judiciary in defiance of international human rights law, harassment of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) officials and deputies, and a rise in reports of police brutality.

The state authorities’ intolerance of difference or dissenting opinion has created an environment in which there have been instances of violence against minority groups. In January 2007 Turkish-Armenian journalist and human rights defender Hrant Dink was murdered.

Armed clashes between the military and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rose in the lead-up to elections in July and intensified yet further in the second half of the year, with heavy loss of life; some attacks—such as a suspected PKK bombing in Ankara in May—have targeted civilians. 
 
Prior to the general election, the Turkish military intervened directly in the political arena by voicing opposition to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and by decisively influencing a constitutional court decision to block the presidential candidacy of the AKP’s Abdullah Gül. The AKP nevertheless won 47 percent of the vote in the early general election precipitated by the presidential crisis, and subsequently secured the election of Abdullah Gül as president. The AKP government embarked on plans for a new constitution to replace that put in place under the military regime in 1982.

Human Rights Defenders

The criminalization of speech remains a key obstacle to the protection of human rights in Turkey, contributing to an atmosphere of intolerance that assumed violent proportions in 2007. On January 19 the journalist and human rights defender Hrant Dink was shot dead outside his office. Dink came to public notoriety because he was repeatedly prosecuted for speech-related crimes and, in 2006, convicted for “publicly insulting Turkishness” under article 301 of the penal code. The trial of 12 suspects indicted for Dink’s murder, among them the 17-year-old gunman, began on July 2, but the authorities have to date failed to act on significant evidence of negligence or possible collusion by the security forces. 
 
Other public figures associated with human rights advocacy also received death threats. Burdensome registration procedures and legal restrictions on associations continued. The LGBT organization Lambdaistanbul, for example, was prosecuted for having aims that were against “law and morality” and faced possible closure.
Freedom of Expression and Assembly

After its electoral victory in July, the new AKP government failed to take immediate steps to restart the stalled reform process by lifting restrictions on freedom of expression such as article 301, and elements of the legal establishment opposed to reform continued to prosecute and convict individuals for speech-related offences, as well as for staging unauthorized demonstrations.

Over 2007 hundreds of individuals, among them journalists, writers, publishers, academics, human rights defenders, and, above all, officials of Kurdish political parties and associations, were prosecuted. Some were convicted. 
 
In October 2007 Arat Dink, son of Hrant Dink and editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos (Furrow), and the newspaper’s owner Serkis Sarkopyan were given one-year suspended sentences for “insulting Turkishness” under article 301. They had reported a July 2006 Reuters interview with Hrant Dink in which he had referred to the “Armenian genocide.” No other newspaper that reported Hrant Dink’s words to Reuters has been prosecuted. 
 
Officials of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP)—which stood independent in the election and gained 22 seats—were repeatedly convicted for speech-related offences during the year. Some were detained for several months pending trial. The number of prosecutions was significantly higher than in previous years, lending credence to suggestions that concerted efforts were being made to block their political activity and restrict their freedom of assembly in an election year. In November the closure of the DTP was pending before the Constitutional Court. Officials of the Kurdish party HAK-PAR were also sentenced for using the Kurdish language in their political party activities; a Constitutional Court closure case is still pending against the party.

Torture, Ill-Treatment, and Killings by Security Forces

Ill-treatment appeared to be on the rise in 2007 and was regularly reported as occurring during arrest, outside places of official detention, and in the context of demonstrations, as well as in detention centers. This trend was further exacerbated by the passing in June of a new police law granting wide-ranging powers of stop and search. After the new law came into force, cases of police brutality were also reported in the context of the routine identity checks permitted in the new law. There were continuing reports of ill-treatment in prisons and, in January, conscientious objector Halil Savda was ill-treated at the Tekirdağ military barracks. 
 
Fatal shootings of civilians by members of the security forces remain a serious concern. Although police typically state that the killing occurred because the individual has failed to obey a warning to stop, in some cases these may amount to extrajudicial executions. The fatal shooting of Bülent Karataş near Hozat, Tunceli, in September 2007, bore the hallmarks of a summary execution. His companion, Rıza Çiçek, who survived serious gunshot wounds, explained how he was shot by military personnel while on a beekeeping trip. Another suspected summary execution was that of the villager Ejder Demir, shot dead near Özalp, Van, in September. Nigerian asylum seeker Festus Okey died of gunshot wounds incurred while in police custody in Istanbul in August.

Attacks on Civilians

Suspected PKK bomb attacks targeting civilians have continued at intervals in 2007, including a suicide bombing in May in the shopping district of Ulus, Ankara, which resulted in eight deaths, and two bombings in Izmir in October, killing one man. In September a minibus was fired upon near a village in Beytüşşebap, Şırnak province, killing five civilians and seven village guards. As of this writing, the perpetrators had not been identified.

Impunity

Turkish courts are notoriously lenient towards members of the security forces who are charged with abuse or misconduct, contributing to impunity and the persistence of torture and the resort to lethal force. Many allegations of torture or killings in disputed circumstances never reach the courts and are not investigated. Some controversial court rulings in the first half of 2007 stand out.

In May the Court of Cassation quashed the 39-year sentences of two gendarmerie intelligence officers for the November 2005 bombing of a bookshop in the southeastern town of Şemdinli that resulted in one death. This bombing was widely condemned by human rights groups in Turkey as evidence of a resort to lawlessness in the name of counterterrorism. Controversially the court ruled that the crime had been committed in the course of a counterterrorism operation and that the defendants should be retried in a military court. The decision is on appeal. 
 
In April a court in Eskişehir acquitted four police officers for the killing of Ahmet and Uğur Kaymaz, in November 2004 in the southeast town of Kızıltepe. The court ignored substantial forensic evidence demonstrating that the father and son may have been the victims of a summary execution. The case is on appeal. 
 
There was no progress in the investigation into the widespread allegations of police torture following arrests during violent protests in March 2006 in Diyarbakır, into the deaths of 10 demonstrators (eight shot dead) during the protests.

Key International Actors

The European Union (EU) remained the most important international actor in fostering respect for human rights in Turkey. However, the December 2006 EU summit decision to partially freeze membership negotiations because of Turkey’s relations with Cyprus contributed to the perception in Turkey that EU member states were reneging on their commitment to Turkey’s candidacy.

After the election in France of President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007, who has repeatedly stated his opposition to Turkey joining the EU, in June France used its veto power to block two minor chapters of the accession negotiations. In its annual progress report, published in November, the European Commission commented on the failure to advance reforms in 2007, continuing restrictions on free speech, the interference of the military in political affairs, the need to strengthen the independence of the judiciary, and the failure to further minority rights. 
 
As of this writing, the European Court of Human Rights has issued 242 judgments against Turkey in 2007 for torture, unfair trial, extrajudicial execution, and other violations. In an October judgment that may have implications for the draft constitution, the court found that the failure to grant an Alevi schoolgirl exemption from constitutionally enshrined compulsory religious education classes focused on Sunni Islam constituted a violation of the right to education (Hasan and Eylem Zengin v. Turkey).

In a controversial decision in January the court ruled that the existence of the 10 percent electoral threshold, which has been argued to deprive in particular pro-Kurdish parties of political representation in parliament, did not violate the right of the people to freely express their opinion of the choice of the legislature (article 3 of protocol 1 of the convention). Two judges dissented, pointing to the fact that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe had in 2004 urged Turkey to lower the threshold, and that the threshold was twice as high as the European average (see Yumuk and Sadak v. Turkey). In November the case was heard by the Grand Chamber of the European Court and judgment is awaited. (Human Rights Watch, January 31, 2008)

Pression sur les médias / Pressure on the Media

Nationalist Uproar at Singer’s Anti-War Stance

Singer Bülent Ersoy’s courageous anti-war utterances on live TV have provoked a nationalist backlash and an investigation. Bülent Ersoy, a colourful transsexual singer, banned from performing on stage after the military coup in the 1980s, and now mostly in the magazine headlines for her outfits, young husbands and cosmetic surgery, expressed her opposition to the current cross-border operations in Northern Iraq on live TV on Sunday night (24 February).

Hundreds of lives lost

Since Friday, 22 February, the Turkish Armed Forces have stepped up attacks against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Northern Iraq by sending ground forces across the border to supplement the air attacks. So far, 19 soldiers and hundreds of PKK militants have died, and Turkey is watching the funerals of the “martyrs” on the evening news.

Young men mask their fears as they send off their friends to military service with shouted slogans of heroism and nationalism, one of them being, “Martyrs don’t die, the country can’t be separated.”

Only DTP opposed operations

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the opposition parties are united in their approval of the operations. An exception is the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) which has been marginalised by other parties to the point of trying to close it down.

To say that numerous cross-border operations in the past have not put an end to the PKK or to suggest that the country should mourn the deaths of Turkish soldiers and Kurdish militants as a sign of failed policies is equivalent to treachery in the eyes of many.

The mainstream media supports the war hawking nationalist discourse, and it has now turned its wrath on Bülent Ersoy.

"I am not a mother but I am a human being..."

What was it she said on live TV?

“If I had given birth to a child and someone sitting at a desk had said ‘You will do this, he will do that’, and I would have buried my child, would I accept that?”

This was greeted with applause from the studio audience. Ersoy continued:

“I cannot know exactly what it means to have a child. I am not a mother and will never be able to be one. But I am a human being; and as a human being, to bury them…I may not know how these mother’s hearts are breaking, but mothers understand.”

She continued, “This is not a war under normal conditions. It is written down and people are forced to play along. There is intrigue, and that is hard to cope with.”

"The happiness of being a soldier's mother..."

Another jury member, singer Ebru Gündes, answered in a well-worn phrase, “Let Allah grant everyone the happiness of being a soldier's mother. May I have a glorious son and send him to the military,” to which Ersoy replied, “...and then you get his dead body back.”

Gündes answered, “Martyrs don’t die, the country can’t be separated,” to which Ersoy said:

“Always the same clichéd words, we always say the same. Children go, bloody tears, funerals…I don’t share your opinion. Why do we take part in the game? Alright, the country can’t be separated, but…Should all mothers just give birth and bury their children, is that it?”
Preliminary investigation started

Following the programme, Bagcilar Chief Public Prosecutor Ali Cakir in Istanbul has started a preliminary investigation, accusing Ersoy of “alienating the public from military service.”

Should there be a trial, Ersoy faces between six months and two years imprisonment, with an increment by half because the "crime" was committed in the media.

Cakir’s name is not unfamiliar to us. He also initiated investigations against writer and journalist Ipek Calislar for her book on Atatürk’s wife,  “Latife Hanim”, in 2006, saying that it violated the Law on the Protection of Atatürk, as well as against writer and journalist Ertugrul Kürkcü in 2005 for his article entitled “Mustafa Kemal: Illusion and Reality”, arguing that it represented a crime against Atatürk.

Meanwhile, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has also decided to consider the event at its next meeting on 28 February.

"No politician or intellectual as brave"

Ahmet Türk, parliamentary group leader of the DTP reacted to Ersoy’s words by saying, “A singer expresses this attitude, but no politician or intellectual has been as brave as Bülent Ersoy.”

The mainstream media has been quick to condemn Ersoy, and the Hürriyet newspaper quickly reported that “DTP supports Ersoy”. With its known negative attitude towards the DTP, Ersoy has now been tarred with the same marginalising brush…

However, anti-war activists have come out in support for Ersoy, organising an internet signature campaign to be handed to the press. (BIA news centre, Nilüfer ZENGİN, Gökçe GÜNDÜÇ Anna ÇELİKER, February 27, 2008)

Civil disobedience of popular musician Bülent Ersoy

Musician Bülent Ersoy said at a TV show, something that many people would think but would not dare to say:

“… Martyrs never die, motherland never gets divided”... Always the same cliché, we say this all the time. Children go, bloody tears, funerals... I disagree with you. Why are we being toys?”

“... Okay, motherland would not be divided but so... Then all mothers give birth, and burry, is this it?..”

“… I can not know like you what a child is. I am not a mother, I will never be one. But I am human; giving them to the soil... I can not comprehend how the hearts of those mothers burn in flames but mothers would know …”

“… If I had given birth to a child; some will say around a table ‘you will do this, they will do that’ and I will burry that child into a grave. Is that so?...”

What happened to Yaşar Kemal in 1995, and to Orhan Pamuk in 2005 will happen to her now. An intense smear mixed with insults about her sexual identity will be made rain down on her. Of course the prosecutors will not wait for long. They sure are busy writing indictments as this is being written. In order to make Bülent Ersoy suffer in the corridors of justice halls, imprison her if possible and give a lesson to those who sound different.

We go back to the beginning, we have to defend Ersoy’s right to express her ideas whether we agree with her or not.

We have been running civil disobedience actions since 1995 to send the crimes of thought to the garbage. We have participated in the crimes of more than 250 people in 13 years. 80.411 people took the risk and participate in the crimes and informed the prosecutors getting them prosecuted for ideas they agreed or disagreed, for the sake of defending the right to express them. The state tried all ways to tackle them- except amending laws and practices, transforming Turkey into a democratic country. They tried to open a string of cases to intimidate people, it didn’t work. They made postponing laws saying “I forgive you this time but if you do it again you regret it”, nobody cared. They acquitted people, suspects appealed against it. It did not work, people wrote the same things over and over again, and informed the prosecutors. Penal Law has been amended completely, everything was made from scratch, yet it got worse due to worse laws, leading to bigger cases. Voluntary nationalist groups began attacking suspects in court rooms, scandal hit the roof.

The last attempt is to “turn a blind eye”. In 2005, prosecutors dropped the proceedings against suspects in a civil disobedience action where many article of the new Penal Code were violated at once. Despite the fact that at least one of the statements undersigned by the participants, namely Hrant Dink’s words, had been condemned as crime and received punishment, and the condemnation had been approved by the high court.

The prosecutor’s reply to the civil disobedient who said ”How can you ignore it, you have to file a case”, was pathetic: “Sure, I open the case so the whole world comes here, is that so?” It is really tough for us with these judges and prosecutors who do not feel responsible towards laws but feel obliged to “defend the state” in every situation.

Now 13 years later we are back at where we started.

You will find in the CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE section (flowing titles on the bottom right of the page) words, writings and other statements of Bülent Ersoy and others, which have been decided as criminal… You can support the civil disobedience action for any one of them you like, by sending an e-mail. But do not forget, this is not a petition campaign. Our aim is to inform the prosecutors about us, saying “If this is a crime we all commit that” leading to many cases; putting pressure on the authorities to correct anti-democratic laws and practices by taking the risk.

To many many crimes, warmest regards...

Şanar Yurdatapan
(www.antenna-tr.org, February 26, 2008)

What is the function of article 318 of the Turkish Penal Code? Why is it there?

Article 318 of Turkish Penal Code first invents an odd crime such as "alienating the people from military service" and then silences all criticism on conscription and the army affairs by using that article. However, objecting to “militarism” and questioning the mentality which wants to envisage the whole society in “rank relations” is a right and responsibility for everyone who wants a democratic society.

An outline:

1. This article is against even the Constitution of 1982

Article 318 states: 1) Those who commit activities, encourages or inspires the people or makes propaganda in a way to alienate them from military service shall be punished with a prison sentence of from 6 months up to 2 years. 2) If the act is committed through the medium of the press and media, the penalty shall be increased by half. Anti-Terror Law article 4 defines it as a terrorist crime when “committed as part of the activities of a terrorist organisation.”

However, article 25 of the Constitution secures the right to have ideas and opinion, article 26 secures the right to express and disseminate those ideas and opinion. Practicing those freedoms are possible through securing the rights of teaching, encouraging, and making propaganda. Freedoms secured by the constitution protect the acts which are banned by article 318 of TPC.

Restricting freedom of expression is possible under the circumstances defined by articles 13 and 26 of the Constitution. However article 318 does not conform to such circumstances and defines “teaching, encouraging and making propaganda in a way to alienate from military service” as “crime”, which is in violation of the principle of ‘the rule of law’.

2. TPC Article 318 is against International Law

Article 90/5 of the Constitution states clearly that when the provisions of an international convention is in conflict with a domestic law article, articles of international convention overrule. Article 9 of The European Convention of Human Rights, article 18 of Human Rights Universal Declaration and article 18 of Personal and Political Rights Convention all state that everyone has the right to have freedom of thought and expression. These conventions are accepted by Turkey and Turkey has the obligation to act accordingly, and comply with the decisions of European Court of Human Rights. Turkey violates those conventions by implementing article 318.

 “Freedom of expression is applicable not only to ‘information’ or ‘ideas’ that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population.

Such are the demands of pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no ‘democratic society’”. (European Court of Human Rights Judgement: ‘Handyside v. UK, 1976’)
(www.antenna-tr.org, February 26, 2008)

Kurdish Singer Tunc Detained for “Statement”

Two years ago, Kurdish singer Ferhat Tunc made a speech during a concert in the Nazimiye district of Tunceli, eastern Turkey.

In the early morning hours of Thursday (21 February), he was forcibly taken into custody with the justification that he has not yet given a statement concerning the investigation into that speech.

The Malatya Chief Public Prosecution had started an investigation after the concert on 12 August 2006, accusing the singer of “spreading Maoist Communist Party propaganda.”

"Dissident identity is being targeted"

The Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) has condemned the police for taking Tunc into custody, saying that there was no legal justification for it: “It is clear that the custody has been used in order to target Ferhat Tunc’s dissident identity, and in order to put pressure on his use of rights and freedoms.”

Tunc is accused of “spreading propaganda of an illegal terrorist organization” in a song dedicated to the memory of “the 17”, members of the Maoist Communist Party who had been killed in the Mercan Valley (in Tunceli province) in 2004. The fact that members of the audience chanted "Dersim [the old name for Tunceli] is proud of you" has been interpreted as proof for his crime.

Giving a statement at the Istanbul Public Prosecution, Tunc said that his speech at the first concert was expressing his opinion that the people of Turkey should coexist peacefully. As for the "17", he said that he had known most of them since their childhood, and that he was not able to ignore the event. When he had expressed his feelings about the gravity of the event in his song, he had not aimed at spreading propaganda.

"Say no to war"

Tunc had said at the concert, "We have to overcome and destroy the fears that are imposed on us. There are conflicts in our country, there are deaths. In order to oppose them, we first have to overcome our fears. We want to sing our peace songs on our own land, without fear, without worry. For that to happen, the conflict has to end and we have to work towards that with all our efforts. Let us all say no to war." Then he sang his song entitled "No to war".

Tunc is also being tried for being part of a human rights delegation which freed private Coskun Kirandi after he had been kidnapped by the PKK. He has also received death threats by a group calling itself the "Turkish Revenge Brigade" (TIT). (BIA news centre, Erol ÖNDEROGLU, February 21, 2008)

Hommage au politologue Semih Vaner mort à Paris

Faruk Bilici,
professeur des universités à l’Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (Inalco),
membre du comité de rédaction des Cémoti

Politologue reconnu et respecté par le monde scientifique, Semih Vaner est mort le mardi 12 février. Né à Istanbul en 1945, Vaner était diplômé de la faculté de science politique de l’université de Lausanne et avait obtenu, en 1976, son doctorat à la Sorbonne. Il a enseigné la science politique à l’université de Bursa (Turquie) avant d’intégrer en 1982, en tant que chercheur, le Centre d’études et de recherches internationales (Ceri).

Devenu directeur de recherche dans cette même institution, il n’a eu de cesse de réfléchir aux grands problèmes contemporains autour de la Méditerranée et plus particulièrement de la Turquie. Les ouvrages qu’il a rédigés ou dirigés - tels que le Différend gréco-turc ; Modernisation autoritaire en Turquie et en Iran ; la Turquie en mouvement ou encore l’Europe avec ou sans la Turquie - sont le fruit d’une observation attentive mais surtout l’expression d’un souci de démocratisation de ce pays et de son intégration pleine et entière à l’Union européenne.

Semih Vaner a inauguré, en 2005, la collection Ceri-Fayard avec la Turquie. Devenu un ouvrage de référence complet et dédié à un autre grand chercheur et ami, Stéphane Yérasimos, la Turquie a réuni une quinzaine de spécialistes, pour aborder de nombreux aspects contemporains de la Turquie et mettre en avant sa spécificité dans le monde musulman : la démocratie représentative comme régime politique. Le passage de l’Empire ottoman à la République y est étudié en profondeur, au travers des thèmes fondamentaux que sont l’islam, les disparités régionales, la culture, l’économie, les relations extérieures et l’émigration. Ce panorama met en évidence les métamorphoses d’une puissance émergente, les contradictions d’une société jeune aux racines anciennes, passant en revue tous les aspects de la société dont Vaner était issu et sur laquelle son regard était sans concession.

Mais l’œuvre majeure de Semih Vaner est certainement la revue qu’il a fondée en 1985 : Cahiers d’études sur la Méditerranée orientale et le monde turco-iranien (les Cémoti). Ces cahiers sont édités et diffusés avec le concours du Centre d’études et de recherches internationales, de la Fondation nationale des sciences politiques, du CNRS et bien d’autres organismes.

A leurs débuts très modestes, les Cémoti sont devenus en vingt ans la référence incontournable sur cette vaste zone géographique qui s’étend des Balkans et de la Méditerranée orientale à l’Asie centrale ex-soviétique et au Xinjiang en passant par le Caucase. Il s’agit d’un ensemble géopolitique ayant ses spécificités culturelles et linguistiques, en proie à des crises fréquentes et profondes qui se multiplient depuis l’effondrement du communisme, aujourd’hui une zone d’importance stratégique majeure.

Les Cémoti ont réuni durant ces années un très grand nombre de chercheurs, d’universitaires et le dernier numéro, dédié à Nos Vingt Ans ! Berlin-Kachgar (2005), fait précisément le bilan du travail accompli sous la direction de Vaner. Tous ses travaux et prises de positions indiquaient sa détermination, sa rigueur scientifique et son honnêteté intellectuelle. Son premier mot dans ce numérosera notre dernier pour que Semih Vaner continue à vivre au travers de « sa » revue : « Chère lectrice, cher lecteur, à l’occasion du vingtième anniversaire de la création de notre revue, nous revenons vers vous avec un bébé sain et jovial ! C’est maintenant à vous de le faire grandir... » (Libération, 18 février 2008)

RSF: Article 301 is “Enemy of Press Freedom”

In its annual report for 2008, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) criticised Article 301 and the nationalist obstruction of press freedom. The murder of Hrant Dink could have been prevented.

2007 began very badly, with the murder of Turkish-Armenian Agos newspaper editor Hrant Dink. It was a tough year for press freedom, with authoritarian behaviour and nationalist violence.

Dink’s murder could have been prevented

Hrank Dink was shot dead on 19 January 2007 in front of the Istanbul offices of the privately-owned bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly magazine Agos he edited. The killer, O. S., from Trabzon, a bastion of Turkish nationalism, was arrested hours later and investigations soon showed he had ties to the security forces, which had been warned several times Dink was going to be killed.

But officials refused to prosecute the police suspects and evidence was reportedly destroyed. The trial of the 19 suspects began in Istanbul in July amid tight police security and because O.S. (17) was a minor, was held in secret. The second hearing mentioned the police involvement. The third hearing was on 11 February 2008, and the next hearing is on 25 February.

Article 301, the enemy of press freedom

When the hitman was arrested he expressed no remorse and said Dink deserved to die for insulting Turks. Dink had been prosecuted several times for calling the Ottoman Empire massacre of Armenians “genocide,” a term that Turkey rejects. Article 301 of the criminal code provides for between six months and three years in prison for anyone “openly denigrating” the government, courts, police or armed forces.

Dink was given a suspended six-month prison sentence in 2005 under this article and was prosecuted again in September 2006 for calling the Armenian massacre “genocide” in an interview with Reuters news agency. His son Arat and two other Agos staffers were given year-long suspended prison sentences in October 2007 for reprinting the interview in the magazine.

Promises of amendment not kept

A few days earlier, newly-elected Turkish President Abdullah Gül told the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly that he favoured amending article 301. The EU’s annual progress report on Turkey’s application to join the EU said very serious efforts were still needed to improve freedom of expression.

Justice minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said on 6 November the government would amend article 301 and that the cabinet would give priority to proposals based on calls from civil society groups. Prime minister Erdogan made similar promises a year earlier.

The army as a threat to the media

Nationalism was behind many attacks on press freedom. Yasin Yetisgen, owner-editor of the Kurdish paper Coban Atesi, was thrown in jail for printing an article on 2 August saying the town of Antep was in “northern Kurdistan,” an officially-illegal term. Journalists were several times forbidden to report on Turkish military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan against PKK rebel bases, officially so as not to demoralise the population with “negative” news but in fact to preserve the image of the army.

This desire for control was shown in March when two reports, from the the military high command and the prime minister’s office, were leaked to the media. They revealed that media outlets and journalists were classified as to how far they agreed with government policies and that official accreditation was used to either exert pressure on a media outlet or journalist or to reward those that backed the armed forces.

Three French journalists - Guillaume Perrier of Le Monde and two photographers for the Capa photo agency - were arrested on 24 October at the Habur border-crossing between Turkey and Iraq for refusing to show their film to customs officials, who roughed one of them up. They were held for questioning with no reason given, separated and interrogated. They were freed by the town prosecutor the next day but their film and equipent was not returned.

Kurdish media faced obstacles

Many Kurdish media outlets were shut down, sometimes more than once, mainly for supposed “terrorist propaganda,” and most often the newspapers Gündem and Güncel. Gün TV, broadcasting in the southern region of Diyarbakir and the only station allowed to put out Kurdish-language programmes, ran into many problems, including when it broadcast Kurdish songs.

Columnist Aydin Erdogan was dismissed in October by the daily Cumhuriyet for criticising, during a TV debate on the pro-Kurdish Roj TV channel, planned constitutional changes and for advocating a peaceful solution to the Kurdish conflict. He was also not allowed to present his own books put out by Cumhuriyet Publishing at the Tuyap book fair as had been planned. (RSF-BIA, February 14, 2008)

Erdogan slams newspapers for publishing pictures of "naked women" photos

The leader of Turkey's Islamic-oriented government on Wednesday defended a measure allowing Islamic head scarves in universities and turned his fire on newspapers for printing photographs of scantily-clad women.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan rejected criticism from the secular establishment and media that women who did not cover their hair might come under pressure to do so after parliament voted Saturday to lift a decades-old ban on wearing head scarves on campus. "You are the ones who print pictures of totally naked women in newspapers against this societys moral values. Have we interfered with that?" he said.

Erdogan said secular women will remain free to dress in the way they like. "We guarantee their lifestyle," he said.

President Abdullah Gul, an observant Muslim, must still sign off the law lifting the campus head scarf ban, which he is expected to do within two weeks.

Erdogans government says the measure is aimed at expanding democracy and freedoms as part of Turkeys EU membership bid. But secularists are suspicious about the real agenda of Erdogan, who tried to criminalize adultery before being forced by the European Union to step back.

Critics have claimed that government is giving priority to issues that interest the countrys observant Muslims and delaying reforms related to free speech that would help the countrys troubled bid to join the EU.

The secular establishment reacted furiously to Saturdays vote and accused the government of raising the profile of Islam. Baykal's CHP said the bill violated an article of the constitution that protects secularism and would appeal to the Constitutional Court. The appeal was expected after the president signed the bill into law.

Erdogan said the ban had meant young Muslim women were forced to remove their traditional head scarves at campus entrances. Some resort to wearing wigs to class to cover their heads. The government was also expected to amend laws to specify what type of head covering will be allowed on campus to ensure that students do not attend classes in full-length Islamic garb called chadors or burqas. (AP-Hurriyet, February 13, 2008)

Turkey Urgently Needs Peace Journalism!

Yesterday's headline in a Turkish tabloid was a worrying example of the interpretation of current affairs in a manner which reinforces a sense of victimhood as well as nationalist aggression in Turkey. The article in question was a reaction to the fire in Ludwigshafen, Germany, which had killed nine Turks, five of them children. The cause of the fire is as yet unknown.

German criticism of Turkish prejudice

The German press has been commenting on Turkish reactions to the fire, saying “the Turkish media is prejudiced and Erdogan has confused mourning with elections,” referring to the wide-spread belief in Turkey that the fire in Germany was neo-Nazi arson, and also referring to Prime Minister Erdogan’s speech in Cologne, in which he opposed assimilation.

The Westdeutsche Zeitung in Germany had criticised a “prejudiced Turkish press” and the fact that Erdogan seemed to use the occasion of the funeral for too much speechifying. The Flensburger Tagesblatt had also written about Erdogan’s mistiming, confusing mourning and election campaigning.

Partly in reaction to this, the tabloid newspaper Günes (Sun) made disturbing comments about the fire in Germany this month which killed nine Turks and the murder of journalist Hrant Dink in Turkey last year on its front page yesterday (12 February).

Inciting to racism

Its headline read, “9 Turks are not considered worth 1 Hrant”, followed by the following text: “When Hrant Dink became the victim of a heinous assassination, Turkey stood up in protest. But for the 9 Turkish victims of Nazis, no one is raising their voice.”

It is not difficult to translate the headline into what the editors of the newspaper really think, i.e. “9 Turks were not considered worth 1 Armenian.” It is ironic that the newspaper complains about lack of empathy for “Nazi victims”, although arson has not been proven and investigations into the cause of the fire are continuing, while at the same time encouraging another kind of racism.

It is precisely this kind of racism which has led to the murders of priest Andrea Santoro, journalist Hrant Dink and three Christian publishers in Malatya.

Accusing Germany and Turkey of hypocrisy

Referring to the crowds in front of the court building at the third hearing of the Dink murder case on 11 February as well as the crowds at his funeral last year, the Günes said: “At least as heinous an attack was experienced in Germany. Nine Turks died when their house was burnt down. Their names were Ilyas…Belma…Karanfil….When they were buried in Gaziantep yesterday, there were no tens of thousands of people who ‘felt the pain in their heart.’

The newspaper was also incensed at the fact that Germans did not march saying “We are all Turkish,” again a reference to the funeral procession of Hrant Dink, where people had carried banners of empathy, saying “We are all Hrant, we are all Armenian.” Günes also accuses the German media of a cover-up.

The newspaper is thus perpetrating the common Turkish nationalist discourse of looking for enemies without and within.

A very different interpretation...

In a very different vein was the article by Mehmet Yilmaz in the Hürriyet newspaper yesterday (12 February). He pointed out that because of the possibility of a racist attack, there were German representatives at the funeral in Gaziantep. He added:

“Priest Santoro was killed in Trabzon as the result of a religious-racist attack. No high-level state official participated in his funeral.”

“Hrant Dink was killed in a religious-racist attack. The Prime Minister visited the Dink family in their home to express his condolences after the funeral. You imagine why he could not attend the funeral and why he felt he had to express his condolences behind closed doors.”

“The Turkish and German Christians working in a bookshop which published bibles in Malatya were slain in a religious-racist attack, three people died. There were no state officials at the funerals.”

Media reinforcing racism and xenophobia

A regional newspaper in Gaziantep, where all the nine fire victims were from, the Hakimiyet newspaper, reported on the funeral. It quoted the German ambassador Eckart Cuntz in Ankara, who attended the funeral, as saying: “The people who lost their lives where the children of both the cities of Gaziantep and Ludwigshafen.”

The mayor of Greater Gaziantep, Asim Güzelbey, was cited in the same article: “On my visit to Germany immediately after the fire, I saw that German society was at least as affected as we were by the event. I saw that everything is being done to find the cause of the event. I want this to be known.”
However, as if ignoring these mutual expressions of respect and goodwill, the newspaper then chose to head the article thus: “From the German Hell to God’s Heaven”…

Regional and national newspapers have not grasped the concept of peace journalism, which is vital in the struggle against racism and xenophobia. It is high time they did, however; otherwise how can we understand who is sowing the seeds of discord? (BIA News Centre, Erol ONDEROGLU, February 13, 2008)

Five Months Imprisonment for Kurdish Petition

The Istanbul 1st Criminal Court of Peace has sentenced publisher Mehdi Tanrikulu of Tevn Pulications to five months imprisonment because he wrote a petition in Kurdish in which he complained about a prosecutor in Diyarbakir, and because he spoke Kurdish at his trial.

The court claims that Tanrikulu violated the Laws on the Wearing of the Hat and the Alphabet Reform, laws that have remained in place since Atatürk’s reforms.

The court said that the defendant had been “adamant” about having Kurdish accepted by public institutions.

Tanrikulu has announced that he would appeal against the sentence.

On 6 February, Tanrikulu joined the last hearing of the case and made in his statement in Kurdish, using an interpreter. He said in his defense, “I have the right to express myself in my mothertongue; this alphabet must also be accepted by official institutions.”

Tanrikulu explained that Diyarbakir prosecutor Muammer Özcan, whom he had filed a complaint against, had not been investigated at all, but that he, Tanrikulu, had been put on trial for writing the complaint in Kurdish.

At an earlier hearing on 13 September 2007, Tanrikulu had said, “I believe in the precedence of law, but the nature of this trial is political.”

Tanrikulu pointed out that Özcan had used the expression “the so-called Kurdish people” in his indictment, which represented an injury. He added that he would continue to speak his language.

The court cited Article 222 of the Turkish Penal Code, which deals with violations of the “Hat Wearing and Turkish Alphabet Acceptance and Application Law.”

According to Article 39/5 of the Lausanne Agreeement of 1923, “all Turkish citizens have the right to use their own language when speaking in court.”

The court also took into consideration a previous twelve and a a half-year sentence for “PKK membership” handed out by a Diyarbakir State Security Court and argued that Tanrikulu was insisting on committing a crime.

Tanrikulu has been acquitted of “spreading propaganda of an illegal organisation” after publishing a book by Zülfikar Tak detailing the torture methods used in Diyarbakir prison. However, he is still on trial at the Istanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court for the publication of the book “The Kurdish Freedom Movement and the Role of the PKK in the Imperialist Process of Capitalism.” (BIA news centre, Erol ÖNDEROGLU, February 12, 2008)

Editor of “Azadiya Welat” Arrested

The responsible editor of “Azadiya Welat” newspaper Vedat Kurşun tried by Diyarbakır Criminal Court Num. 6 with the charge of “making propaganda for the organisation” and “giving orders for action on behalf of the organisation” has been put on remand. Kurşun was remanded on 5 February and sent to Diyarbakır D Type Prison.

Vedat Kurşun told the court “news reports have been published in the paper in my knowledge but I do not accept the charges”. Lawyer Özen said "the suspect attended the hearing on his own will and there are no doubts about his address, hence putting him in prison is not justified.” (www.antenna-tr.org, February 8, 2008)

International Protest at Cartoonists' Investigation in Turkey

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries, strongly criticises the preliminary proceedings brought against Turkish cartoonists Musa Kart and Zafer Temocin, both of the “Cumhuriyet” newspaper. Both cartoonists are being investigated for caricatures considered insulting to the President.

"The proceedings brought against Kart and Temocin are deeply disappointing. At a time when the international community is encouraging the Turkish government to ease its restrictions on freedom of expression, it appears that it may be moving in the opposite direction," said David Dadge, IPI Director. "This latest matter occurs in a week in which over ten newspapers were fined, and the anniversary of the murder of Hrant Dink came and went without any sign of the reforms to Article 301 mentioned in the weeks after his death. We strongly urge the Turkish to authorities to drop all the charges against Kart and Temocin."
Reaction by CRN 

Following the report by IPI, the Cartoonists’ Rights Network (CRN) has reacted to the investigation of the two political cartoonists. CRN has confirmed that the two are being charged with violating criminal code article 299, which prohibits defaming the President of the Republic, currently Abdullah Gül. If found guilty, the cartoonists can be sentenced to up to four years in prison. In the recent past cartoonists were regularly charged with civil code offences relating to personal injury and most of those cases have been thrown out of court. These charges indicate an escalation of censorship against editorial cartoonists in Turkey.

In this case, the Minister of Justice is the party instigating the investigation. It is almost impossible that the president is unaware of the charges laid against these cartoonists. Both cartoonists, accompanied by their lawyers, have been to court for a preliminary hearing and are awaiting further actions by the Ministry of Justice.

The cartoon that Kart drew depicted the president as a scarecrow in a corn field claiming powerlessness over the actions of his 16-year-old son. The son is involved in commodities (corn) trading. Kart's cartoon was published on 28 November 2007. The cartoon that got Tamocin into trouble was published a day later.

CRN strongly protests the investigation of these cartoonists as contrary to their basic rights as journalists under Article 19 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory country. CRN believes that these two fine cartoonists were exercising their rights and responsibilities as journalists to freely express their opinions in the form of their drawings.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in Ankara instituted newly revised criminal codes in 2005 hoping to more closely comply with European Union entry requirements. According to the Human Rights News Site, these new codes failed to change the old laws concerning insult to the president, insulting "Turkishness or the organs of state" or insulting the flag.

The hundreds of political cartoonists in CRN's international network are closely watching the situation of these two journalists. CRN is aware of Turkey's recent very positive moves towards strengthening the free speech rights of all journalists as part of a broader strategy for EU entry and is surprised that, at this time, these journalists are being attacked for opinions that should be protected under Turkey's own freedom of expression laws.

Cartoonists Right Network, International is a global NGO monitoring the safely and well-being of political cartoonists who find themselves in danger because of the impact of their professional work. It has chapters in over 20 countries and a field office in Ploisesti, Romania. (BIA news centre, February 4, 2008)

Access to YouTube website blocked three times in January

After courts in Ankara and Sivas blocked access to the international video-sharing website YouTube in mid-January 2008, a court in Izmir blocked access to the site again on 30 January. The ban was subsequently lifted.

On 17 January, the Ankara Twelfth Criminal Court of Peace ordered that access to YouTube be blocked. A 16 January order by the Sivas Second Criminal Court of Peace blocking access was implemented.

On 30 January, the Izmir Seventh Criminal Court of Peace also ordered that access to the site be blocked, citing a video containing content it deemed disrespectful of Turkey's founder Ataturk, and "Turkishness". The ban was later lifted.

The repeated blocking of access to the YouTube website is significant, because such blocking affects a much wider segment of the population than do bans on dissident media outlets' publications or programming. The orders blocking access are also controversial because access to the entire website is halted due to the content of one single contribution. A reader of the Ntvmsnbc news website described the excessiveness of the orders blocking access by writing: "Now if someone came along and wrote Atatürk insulting letters, would you close down the post office?" (BIANET/IFEX, 4 February 2008) 

Kurdish Question / Question kurde

Au coeur de la zone kurde, le PKK reste au centre du conflit

Traqué dans la montagne irakienne par les forces turques, le Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK) est encore une référence incontournable pour de nombreux Kurdes à Diyarbakir, le chef-lieu du sud-est anatolien, peuplé majoritairement de Kurdes.

20.000 personnes selon les organisateurs -mais pas plus de 10.000 selon les autorités locales- ont manifesté lundi dans cette ville déshéritée de plus d'un million d'habitants pour réclamer la fin de l'opération militaire turque lancée le 21 février dans le nord de l'Irak.

La manifestation organisée à l'appel du Parti pour une société démocratique (DTP), la principale formation pro-kurde du pays, a dégénéré en heurts sporadiques entre de jeunes manifestants et la police.

Le PKK, la rébellion séparatiste kurde, avait appelé la veille les jeunes Kurdes des métropoles à se révolter.

"L'opération (de l'armée) attise le nationalisme kurde et turc, et sert les intérêts du PKK", confie à l'AFP Ahmet, journaliste et écrivain kurde qui souhaite que son nom ne soit pas cité par crainte de poursuites judiciaires.

"Tant qu'une amnistie générale comprenant aussi les commandants (des rebelles) n'est pas proclamée, le PKK continuera de survivre", estime cet intellectuel.

Le PKK ne revendique plus un Etat indépendant, mais seulement l'autonomie du sud-est de la Turquie. L'image de l'organisation n'est plus ce qu'elle était au sein de la communauté kurde (15 à 20% des 70 millions d'habitants de la Turquie), surtout depuis la capture et la condamnation de son chef Abdullah Öcalan en 1999, suivie d'une accalmie de six ans.

Il n'en reste pas moins qu'il est toujours au centre du conflit kurde.

Ferit Demir, un commerçant de la ville, souligne que "les gens d'ici ont un lien de parenté avec la guérilla (le PKK) et cette opération ouvre davantage les plaies".

M. Demir affirme que les jeunes rejoignant les bases de l'organisation -considérée comme terroriste par Ankara, les Etats-Unis et l'Union européenne- sont aujourd'hui moins nombreux à cause des réformes démocratiques pro-européennes adoptées par le gouvernement.

Mais, dit-il, "je crains que le sentimentalisme ne l'emporte et que les jeunes ne remontent dans la montagne".

Parmi les demandes de la population: le démantèlement des "gardiens de village", une milice controversée de Kurdes payés et armés par Ankara.

Quelque 5.000 miliciens kurdes (sur 58.000) ont été impliqués dans des crimes ou des délits mais peu ont été poursuivis, selon des chiffres officiels.

"Tant que cette force reste en place, il n'y aura pas de paix", souligne Orhan, un chauffeur de taxi qui ne fournit que son prénom.

"Ces gens ne veulent pas que les combats finissent car ils ne seront plus rémunérés", souligne le jeune homme, affirmant que "%95 des Kurdes (de Turquie) ne veulent pas d'un Etat indépendant, mais qu'il faut quand même un certain dialogue entre le PKK et l'Etat turc.

Ankara a toujours refusé tout contact avec le PKK. Les violences qui se poursuivent depuis 1984 ont coûté la vie à 37.000 personnes, selon les chiffres officiels.

Le DTP est menacé d'interdiction pour collusion avec les rebelles. Mais pour Ahmet il serait erroné de bannir ce parti car c'est une "soupa