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Erdogan: Turkey terror law changes could
impose censorship of Kurdish issues
10.7.2006
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Turkish Prime Minister warned that terror law
changes could impose censorship of Kurdish issues
RSF, July 10, -- Reporters Without Borders has
written to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan
voicing concern about amendments to the
anti-terrorism law that have just been passed by
parliament. The organisation roundly condemns
articles providing for prison sentences for the
dissemination of statements and propaganda by
“terrorist organisations,” fearing they could lead
to arbitrary prosecutions of journalists covering
issues related to these organisations.
The amendments are sufficiently vague that any
member of a news media producing a contested report
or article could be prosecuted, especially as
several journalists are already charged with
collaborating with the successor to the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and face stiff
sentences for covering military operations or
pro-Kurdish demonstrations.
Paris, 6 July 2006
Dear Prime Minister,
Reporters Without Borders, an organisation that
defends press freedom worldwide, would like to share
with you its concern about the situation of free
expression in Turkey, a country currently holding
negotiations with a view to joining the European
Union. We are worried about amendments to the 1991
Law on the Fight against Terrorism (Act 3713) that
were passed by parliament on 29 June, as they
introduce new restrictions on press freedom and
above all target the pro-Kurdish media, whose very
existence your are threatening.
Article 6, paragraph 2 of this law now provides for
a three-year prison sentence for “any dissemination
of statements and communiques by terrorist
organisations.” The owners and editors of news
organisations risk a heavy fine.
Article 7, paragraph 2 of the law says that:
“Whoever makes propaganda for a terrorist
organisation will be sentenced to five years in
prison. If the crime is committed by means of the
press, the penalty may be increased by half. Owners
and editors will also be sentenced to a heavy fine.”
Reporters Without Borders would very much like the
term “terrorist organisation” to be precisely
defined in order to avoid any abuse of this
provision for the purpose of arbitrary arrest or
imprisonment. For example, an official list of
organisations considered to be terrorist could help
avoid misunderstandings.
Parliament also added a new article (article 8,
paragraph b) providing for “chain liability,” under
which, for example, a newspaper report with no
byline could result in a prosecution being brought
against the editor in charge, the editor-in-chief,
the newspaper’s owner, the printer and even the
translator if it was translated from another
language.
The amendment says “persons responsible for a
programme” or “persons responsible for an issue of a
publication” can be prosecuted and sentenced to
heavy fines.
Parliament introduced this extremely dangerous
concept with the aim of extending the range of
editors, executives and others liable for
prosecution. The entire chain of command becomes
potentially guilty.
The persistent legal obstacles to free expression in
Turkey have been highlighted by Reporters Without
Borders in the past. The government, the armed
forces, militant nationalists and any state
institution can abuse the law to target journalists
commenting on sensitive or controversial issues or
episodes in Turkish history such as the Armenian
genocide, the withdrawal of the Turkish armed forces
from Cyprus or the Kurdish question.
The fight against terrorism is, of course, necessary
and legitimate, but Reporters Without Borders is
concerned about the possible intention of these new
amendments. We think they are especially targeted at
pro-Kurdish journalists who are often accused of
terrorist collaboration with the outlawed Kurdish
separatist organisation PKK/Kongra-Gel.
We could cite the case of Rüstu Demirkaya, a
reporter with the pro-Kurdish news agency DIHA, who
has been held in Tunceli prison, in eastern Turkey,
since 14 June on a charge of “collaborating with the
PKK/Kongra-Gel.” A former PKK activist reportedly
accused him of supplying PKK members with a laptop
computer and 10 virgin CD-ROMs and of tipping them
off about an ongoing military operation. He could be
sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
The police handling the investigation have not
produced any concrete evidence in support for the
allegations made by the former PKK member. It is
completely unacceptable that Demirkaya should have
to remain in prison while the investigation
continues.
We could also cite the case Evrim Dengiz and Nesrin
Yazar, two young women working for DIHA who were
stopped by anti-terrorist police on 15 February in
Mersin as they returned from covering a
demonstration marking the seventh anniversary of the
arrest of the PKK/Kongra-Gel leader Abdullah Öcalan.
We have been told that the police took them some
distance away from their car, which they then
proceeded to search and claimed to have found two
home-made petrol bombs inside.
Dengiz and Yazar were accused of making the bombs
for the demonstration. The judge in charge of the
case has classified it on security grounds. The
Mersin prosecutor has requested life imprisonment
for a “threat against state unity and territorial
integrity” under article 302-1 of the criminal code.
Their lawyer, Bedri Kuran, who has not been allowed
to see the prosecution case file because it has been
classified, says the search violated legal procedure
because it should have been carried out in a judge’s
presence. He also says there is no forensic report
on the petrol bombs.
Prime Minister, we cannot help being troubled by the
speed with which journalists are placed in pretrial
custody in Turkey even when the evidence against
them is very slim. Free expression and press freedom
are inviolable democratic principles that must be
respected.
We urge you, Prime Minister, to ask parliament to
revise the amendments to the Law on the Fight
against Terrorism so that they meet international
standards.
We trust you will give this matter your careful
consideration.
Respectfully,
Robert Ménard Secretary-General
rsf.org
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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