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RSF: Turkish judicial harassment of
newspaper publisher makes journalism impossible in
provincial region
16.3.2010 |
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March
16, 2010
PARIS,
—
Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the latest
sentence to be passed on Haci Bogatekin, an
independent journalist based in Gerger, in the
mainly Kurdish southeastern province of Adiyaman.
The owner and publisher of the Gerger Firat biweekly
and editor of the Gergerfirat.net website, Bogatekin
was sentenced by a provincial court on 2 March to
five years, one month and seven days in prison.
“This is just the latest stage in the judicial
system’s harassment of Bogatekin,” Reporters Without
Borders said. It is the fourth time he has been
convicted by an Adiyaman court and he is still being
prosecuted by the local authorities in other cases.
The sentences he has received now total 10 years,
eight months and 14 days in jail.
The disproportionate sentences permitted by the
Turkish criminal code for “insult,” obstructing
justice and “offending the authorities” is a
constant source of problems. |
Haci Bogatekin |
Bogatekin’s case is indicative of the degree to
which, in the hands of prosecutors often acting as
judge and plaintiff at the same time, they pose a
major obstacle to freedom of expression.
Bogatekin is critical both of the army and judicial
system (guardians of the secularism bequeathed by
the Turkish republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk) on the one hand, and the religious
conservatism of the ruling AKP party on the other.
As a result, he has been caught in the crossfire of
political and social tensions in Turkey.
In an article entitled “Feto and Apo” that was
published on 4 January 2008, Bogatekin suggested
that the war against the armed Kurdish separatists
of the PKK,www.ekurd.netled
by Abdullah “Apo” Öcalan, was diverting attention
from another threat, the growing influence of
religious communities such as the one led by
Fethullah “Feto” Gülen.
As result of the article, Bogatekin was summoned by
Gerger state prosecutor Sadullah Ovacikli for
allegedly praising an outlawed organisation, the PKK.
But when he appeared before the prosecutor, Ovacikli
told him: “You can say what you want about this
terrorist [Apo]. But how dare you use the name
’Feto’ to refer to our master Fethullah Gülen,
someone who is loved by millions of people? Either
you apologise in your next issue or thing will go
badly for you.”
When Bogatekin quoted Ovacikli’s comments in his
newspaper and referred to him as a Gülen sympathiser,
he was charged with insulting the prosecutor under
article 125 of the criminal code and trying to
influence the course of justice under article 288.
It was on these charges that Bogatekin was convicted
on 2 March.
The winner of the 2008 Press Freedom Prize awarded
by the Association of Turkish Journalists (TGC) and
a prize awarded last year by the Contemporary
Association of Journalists (ÇGD), Bogatekin has
become a symbol of the Turkish judicial system’s
dysfunction. Still free pending the outcome of his
appeal, he said: “The conditions for practising
journalism in Gerger have disappeared.”
The six-month jail sentence imposed under article
288 on Cumali Badur, the editor of the Gergerim.com
website, for relaying what Bogatekin had reported
about Ovacikli, was finally commuted to a fine of
1,500 euros. But the same court sentenced
Bogatekin’s son, Özgür Bogatekin, to one year, two
months and 17 days in prison on 2 March for
intervening in a case of police violence he
witnessed.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency,
Reporters Without Borders | rsf org
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