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Turkey: Publisher faces prosecution over
Chomsky book
5.7.2006
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ISTANBUL,
(Reuters) - A Turkish publisher faces up to six
years in jail for "insulting the Turkish identity"
by translating a book by U.S. academic Noam Chomsky,
the publisher's lawyer said on Tuesday.
The Istanbul prosecutor's indictment, a copy of
which was obtained by Reuters, sought publisher
Fatih Tas' conviction over comments about the
country's Kurdish problem in the book's
introduction.
The book, entitled "Manufacturing Consent: The
Political Economy of the Mass Media", was written by
Chomsky and Edward S. Herman in 1987 but the
offending introduction by the same authors appeared
only in a 2001 revised edition, the indictment said.
The introduction criticises Turkey's treatment of
its Kurdish minority during the 1990s, at the height
of a separatist insurgency. More than 30,000 people
have been killed since the rebels in the mainly
Kurdish southeast took up arms in 1984.
"The case was opened because of comments in the
introduction about the way the media presents the
Kurdish problem," Tas told Reuters.
Tas, owner of the Aram publishing house, has 21
court cases outstanding against him. He has been
convicted in three of these cases which are now at
the appeals stage.
Tas and two of his colleagues are charged with
"stirring hatred among the public" under article 216
of the penal code, which carries a jail sentence of
one to three years.
They are also charged under article 301 of the same
law for insulting the Turkish identity, the Republic
and parliament. The prison term for this is six
months to three years.
His lawyer Inan Akmese said the court was still
examining the indictment and it was not clear when
the first hearing in this case would take place.
He said responsibility for the publication should
rest with the authors, but under Turkish law they
cannot be prosecuted as they are not in Turkey.
The indictment was prepared by the Istanbul
prosecutor's office based on a new translation of
the book published in March.
Reuters
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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