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Turkey: Charges against 'Orhan Pamuk'
dropped
23.1.2005
By SELCAN HACAOGLU
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A
Turkish court on Monday dropped charges against the
country's best-known novelist for insulting "Turkishness,"
ending a high-profile trial that outraged Western
observers and cast doubt on Turkey's commitment to
free speech.
Orhan Pamuk went on trial for telling a Swiss
newspaper in February that Turkey is unwilling to
deal with two of the most painful episodes in recent
Turkish history: the massacre of Armenians during
World War I, which Turkey insists was not a planned
genocide, and recent guerrilla fighting in Turkey's
overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast.
"Thirty-thousand Kurds and 1 million Armenians were
killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to
talk about it," he said.
The controversy came at a particularly sensitive
time for the overwhelmingly Muslim country. Turkey
recently began membership talks with the European
Union, which has harshly criticized the trial,
questioning Turkey's commitment to freedom of
expression. |
Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk
Photo: AFP |
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has
passed sweeping reforms of Turkey's legal code with
the aim of joining the EU but nationalist
prosecutors and judges still often interpret laws in
a restrictive manner.
"This case should not have been opened in the first
place," said Haluk Inanici, the author's lawyer, who
confirmed the court had dropped the case.
Olli Rehn, the EU commissioner in charge of
expansion, said the decision to drop the case
against Pamuk was "good news for freedom of
expression in Turkey," but said Turkey "needs to
fill properly the loopholes" in its penal code.
"Pamuk is not the only case of a person prosecuted
for having expressed a nonviolent opinion in Turkey,
it's just the most high-profile case," Rehn said.
"Several journalists, editors, writers and academics
still face similar charges today."
Nationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, who pushed for
the trial of Pamuk, said he would appeal the court
decision.
"It is a scandal," Kerincsiz said by telephone. "Orhan
Pamuk must be punished for insulting Turkey and
Turkishness, it is a grave crime and it should not
be left unpunished."
The trial had just begun on Dec. 16 when a judge
sent the case back to the Justice Ministry,
demanding that the government first approve it.
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek responded last week by
saying the ministry had no say over the case under a
new penal code and left the critical decision to the
local court.
The court on Monday interpreted the minister's
response as a refusal to give permission to try the
case and dropped the charges against Pamuk, Inanici
said.
Cicek's move was an apparent attempt to avoid
outraging Europe by allowing a renowned author to
stand trial for his views.
However, the court decision will likely anger
nationalists, including some of the government's
conservative supporters, who were disturbed by
Pamuk's remarks. During the trial, nationalists
pelted Pamuk's car with eggs, shouting "Traitor!"
and "Love it or leave it!" in reference to Turkey.
Pamuk, author of "Snow" and "My Name is Red" and an
often-mentioned candidate for the Nobel Prize in
literature, said in a brief statement to the media
after the trial was halted last month that "it is
not good for Turkey, for our democracy, for such
freedom of expression cases to be prolonged."
Turkey has for years come under severe EU criticism
for laws that stifle freedom of speech. Earlier this
month, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul acknowledged
that charges brought against Pamuk had tarnished the
country's image and said for the first time that
laws that limit freedom of expression may be
changed.
Cicek on Friday admitted shortcomings in Turkey's
judicial system and promised more legal reforms.
"Turkey is a state of law. There are shortcomings,
and we're unified in eliminating them," on the road
to the EU, Cicek said.
AP
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