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Turkey Prosecutes More Writers,
Jeopardizing EU Bid
7.2.2006
By Mark Bentley
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Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) --
Five of Turkey's best-known columnists went on trial
at an Istanbul court today, in a freedom-of-speech
case that threatens to derail the country's bid to
join the European Union.
Hasan Cemal of the Milliyet newspaper and Ismet
Berkan, Murat Belge, Haluk Sahin and Erol
Katircioglu of the daily Radikal face up to 10 years
in prison. They criticized a judge for halting a
September conference to discuss Armenian claims of
genocide by Ottoman Turks in 1915.
``These curbs are unacceptable if Turkey wants to
prove that it's democratic,'' said Oktay Eksi, head
of the Turkish Press Council, in an interview on
Feb. 2. ``We will continue to fight these
restrictions until we, or the EU, persuade the
government to abolish them.''
European Union officials say Turkey must conform to
Western norms of free expression so as not to
jeopardize membership talks that started on Oct. 3.
Turkey last month dropped charges against
prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, who had
questioned Turkey's role in the killing of more than
1 million Armenians nine decades ago.
Cemal and his colleagues are appearing at Istanbul's
Bagcilar court of first instance for ``insulting the
judiciary.'' The Armenian conference was to have
taken place at the city's Bosphorus University on
Sept. 23. Organizers later moved the event to
neighboring Bilgi University.
Membership Talks
Turkey's progress toward building a Western-style
democracy has slackened since the membership talks
began, making 2006 a crucial test year for its quest
to join the EU, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn
said on Jan. 12. The accession process will probably
last a decade or more.
``This case is one of the bumps on the road to the
EU,'' Cemal told reporters at the Istanbul court
before the trial. ``I don't expect a negative
verdict. The reaction against freedom of expression
in Turkey isn't as violent as it used to be.''
The European Court of Human Rights last year found
Turkey in violation of laws governing freedom of
speech 39 times, double the total in 2004. The
Strasbourg-based court ruled against the EU's 25
members seven times in total.
Failure to win EU membership would jeopardize the
Turkish government's efforts to pull in foreign
investment and reduce debt equivalent to 80 percent
of economic output.
The nation's bid to become the EU's first Muslim
member is welcomed by only 31 percent of Europe's
450 million citizens, a poll sponsored by the EU
shows. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed a
looser ``privileged partnership'' for Turkey.
Penal Code
Rehn says the trial of the five columnists and
similar legal proceedings are being sought by
``nationalist-minded'' prosecutors who are seeking
to punish people for challenging state policy.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned down
the EU's appeals to alter the nation's penal code,
steps the bloc has requested in order to guarantee
freedom of speech in the nation of 72 million
people.
Turkey's democracy ``will not be built on solid
foundations'' unless the legal changes are made,
Camiel Eurlings, a Dutch member of the EU
Parliament's foreign affairs committee, said on Jan.
23.
EU officials have vowed to monitor scores of other
cases brought against lesser-known individuals for
criticizing Turkish policy on issues including
Armenia and treatment of the nation's 12 million
Kurds. Twenty-seven are due by June, Jonathan Sugden,
Turkey researcher for New York-based Human Rights
Watch, said in a telephone interview on Feb. 3.
EU Skeptics
``Skeptics within the EU shouldn't be given an
excuse for chilling even further their attitude
toward Turkey's candidacy,'' Sugden said. ``We need
to have more leadership from the government on this.
It almost looks like these prosecutors are looking
for a fight, picking out cases to express their
dissatisfaction and anger with the EU process.''
Turkey rejects claims that the Ottoman Empire
committed genocide against Armenians, saying the
deaths can be attributed to wider ethnic clashes. EU
members including France and Italy have approved
resolutions recognizing the atrocities.
Turkish officials say they are concerned Armenians
would seek to reclaim land they or their family
members once owned in Turkey and file with
international courts for compensation, if the
government admitted the persecutions.
Even the EU's politicians are not immune from
prosecution in Turkey. An Istanbul court in December
opened an investigation against European Parliament
member Joost Lagendijk on charges of insulting the
Turkish military. The probe was dropped on Feb. 3,
NTV television reported.
``Unfortunately there are some people who are intent
on destroying the system in Turkey,'' Kerem
Kerincsiz, a director of the Hukukcular Birligi, an
Istanbul-based lawyers' group that filed complaints
with prosecutors against Lagendijk and the five
newspaper columnists, told reporters before today's
trial.
Recognizing the damage that the court cases might
inflict on Turkey's EU bid, the Justice Ministry
last month issued a circular reminding judges that
European human rights legislation must take
precedence over Turkish law, a requirement written
into the constitution two years ago.
Ethnic Minorities
A Turkish prosecutor in November charged two Turkish
professors with insulting the judiciary and
``encouraging criminal activity'' after they called
for more rights for Turkey's ethnic minorities. A
guilty verdict at their trial, due to begin in
Ankara on Feb. 15, carries a five-year jail term.
Professors Ibrahim Kaboglu and Baskin Oran made the
call in a report on Turkey's democracy requested by
Erdogan himself.
``I'll accuse the prosecutor of violating human
rights in Turkey, of neglecting and misusing his
position and violating the Turkish Constitution,''
Oran said in a telephone interview Feb. 2. ``Turkey
needs better human rights so its citizens can be
treated like human beings. That's what we're
fighting for.''
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