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Prof. Oran, "Government has
retreated in face of Turkish nationalism"; Finkel,
"it's no use if journalists have no courage"; Lawyer
Ilkiz, "Public Morality cannot be entrusted to the
Obscenity Commission"; Lawyer Inanici: "301 designed
to reinforce..."
BIA (Istanbul) - Leading jurists, publishers and
journalists attending the "2nd Turkish Publishing
Convention" held in Istanbul have expressed concern
over judicial restrictions on the publishing sector
in the country, criticising current legislation for
restricting the freedom of expression and enforcing
an auto-censorship on publishers and authors.
The event was jointly organized by the Turkish
Publishers Union (TYB) and Istanbul Bilgi University
Culture and Tourism Minister Atilla Koc, addressing
the convention argued that the publishing industry
had recorded serious improvements since the state
withdrew from the field and promised more incentives
to the sector with the state postal authority
becoming part of the distribution network.
Communications jurist Fikret Ilkiz criticized the
way the issue of public morality was handled in the
Turkish legal system, while jurist Haluk Inanici
stressed that the freedom of opinion was an
insurance for democracy and criticized controversial
article 301. Participating speakers appeared to all
agree that the publishing sector was in deep waters
due to legislation.
Koc: PTT will become part of publishing sector
The convention that started on April 13 was launched
with a session on "the Turkish Penal Code and
Freedom of Publishing" where Prof.Dr. Baskin Oran,
British journalist Andrew Finkel based in Turkey,
communications law expert jurist Fikret Ilkiz,
publisher Ragip Zarakolu and jurist Haluk Inanici
made speeches.
Culture and Tourism Minister Atilla Koc who had
attended the first convention two years ago told
participants that with the state withdrawing from
the publishing sector under their administration,
serious improvements had been recorded in this field
and stressed their aim as making publishing part of
an international activity.
"Publishers should take a more active role" said the
Minister adding, "in 6 months, books by 13 Turkish
authors have appeared in world bookshops. We are
[now] encouraging our royalty companies to attend
international book fairs."
Koc promised the convention to look into the problem
of distributing publications and said the Turkish
postal authority PTT would itself become part of the
distribution network. "We will enable the
distribution in the hands of the PTT to be cheaper
and to expand towards the remotest places. We will
include the PTT into the publishing sector," he
said.
Referring to TYB chairman Cetin Tuzuner's remarks
that the publishing sector in Turkey faced difficult
times, the Minister said "when supermarkets open up,
butchers close down" depicting the current trend.
Organizers: Publishing in trouble
Organizers of the convention made opening speeches
in which they pointed out that the publishing sector
in Turkey was going through difficult times
particularly in scientific publications.
Bilgi University Dean Aydin Ugur, in his opening
remarks for the convention, described publishing as
a "life and death matter" for the academic word,
noting that although there had been a serious
increase in the number of universities in the
country since the 1990s, there were very serious
problems in publishing and distribution of
scientific material.
TYB chairman Tuzuner, stressed that development was
an integral part of science and could only be
achieved through educated individuals. He said,
"while the publisher benefits from the freedom of
publishing, he also enables the most principle right
of the individuals in the society, which is the
right to express opinions."
Oran: High expectations for 2005 lead to big
disappointments
The "TCK and Freedom of Publishing" session that
followed the opening remarks started with a short
introduction by the session's facilitator, publisher
Mehmet Atay.
Atay referred to the post September 12, 1980
military takeover period in Turkey and said it was
then that not only the freedom of publishing itself
but even the freedom of possession of books at home
had been subject to pressure.
The first speaker of the session, Prof.Dr. Baskin
Oran, covered the human rights situation of last
year and said that since the October 2001
constitutional amendment and the launch of the EU
accession period, Turkish public opinion had great
expectations from 2005. "Because expectations were
so high, the disappointment was so big," Prof.Oran
said.
Prof. Oran also criticised the state of the new
Turkish Penal Code by saying "we have come face to
face with what appears to be zombies of the articles
of the previous Penal Code" and recalled that
particularly article 301 allowed judges to punish
those expressing critical opinions. He said article
216 and 288 were being used to suppress the freedom
of expression and that developments due to these
articles had reached "absurd dimensions".
He expressed belief that the reason for such
problems was the reaction to globalisation and the
activities of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
explaining, "the society came to believe that its
national identity was under threat. This in turn
influenced justice. In these days where we are
entering an election period, the government has
retreated in the face of Turkish nationalism."
Finkel: We must act bravely as journalists
Journalist Andrew Finkel, meanwhile, recalled that
he had been put on trial under article 159 due to
the "Sirnak 1988" article he wrote while working for
the Sabah newspaper and summarised his views as a
foreign journalist working within the scope of the
freedom of expression in Turkey.
"Think of it like this," he said. "You are a guest
at a dinner. They ask you how the soup is. In order
not to be impolite, you say it is good. They ask you
to tell the truth. But when you say it is a bit
salty, you get the reply 'shame, shame'".
Finkel stressed that as long as journalists did not
feel free and did not act bravely, the laws
themselves would have little or no meaning and noted
that the behaviour of some of his colleagues made
him feel sad. Finkel added, "when as journalists we
do not act with courage, how can we expect the
government to act with courage?"
Ilkiz: Is this not shameful?
Focusing on obscenity and obscene publications at
the convention, communications jurist Fikret Ilkiz
noted that the relevant article 59 of the new
Turkish Penal Code which was prepared by previous
governments was being put into practice in a very
short time, but in steps.
Ilkiz recalled that a case had been filed in the
past against Henry Miller's "Tropic of Capricorn" on
allegations of containing obscene remarks and that a
total of 26 publishers acting under the initiative
of publisher Ugur Cankocak had challenged the case,
succeeding and clearing the name of the book.
He said that he had positive feelings for the first
sentence of article 226 of the Penal Code titled
"Obscenity" because it protected minors, but
expressed concern that the 7th sentence of the same
article which disallowed it to be applied to
scientific work was being disregarded and ignored.
"In cases that are open due to politics or other
reasons, this 7th sentence will have no meaning," he
argued.
Ilkiz also noted that members of the Prime Ministry
Commission for the Protection of Minors from Obscene
Publications were being utilised by courts as expert
witnesses and argued that as result of this "public
morality had been handed over to this commission."
Saying that there was nothing holistic between the
laws, Ilkiz concluded: "I beg your pardon, I will
continue to be immoral."
Inanici: 301 will enforce auto-censorship
Jurist Haluk Inanıcı who said that freedom of
opinion was the insurance of democracy criticised
article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code arguing that
the main problem with it was that forced publishers
and authors into auto-censorship.
Inanici said the concept of "degrading Turkisism"
under article 301/1 was "a shame" and added that the
main target of this article was to "protect the
moral values of the Turkish race" while its
enforcement would be limited to Turkey. Lawyer
Inanici also criticised court cases against those
who had criticised the jurisdiction under article
310/2 and called for an environment where
limitations of freedom of expression by the
government it would not be regarded as natural.
Zarakolu: New threat, Ataturk Law
Publisher Ragıp Zarakolu who started his speech by
saying, "I'm fed up from talking about 301,
obscenity, counter-terrorism law, " stressed that
even books that had been cleared by the Martial Law
Tribunals of the past were being put on trial in
today's Turkey.
Zarakol said a new Law on Offences Committed Against
Ataturk was a "new threat" for the country and
described it as a threat that would make justice
ideological. As head of Belge Publications, Zarakol
said "a wave of tolerance needs to be started from
the Prime Minister downwards" but noted that the
Prime Minister himself was opening libel cases
against printed media for cartoons depicting him.
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