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Turkey: Two Kurdish newspapers banned,
Güney magazine copies seized
31.8.2010 |
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August
31, 2010
ISTANBUL, Turkey, —
The publication of the Kurdish newspapers Azadiya
Welat and Rojev was suspended for one month because
of alleged "propaganda for a terror organization".
Copies of the three-monthly Güney magazine were
confiscated for the same reason.
The Kurdish newspapers Azadiya Welat
and Rojev and the left-wing Güney Magazine were
banned under allegations of "spreading propaganda
for a terrorist organization". The publication of
both newspapers was suspended for a month, the
copies of the Güney magazine were confiscated.
The Rojev newspaper had just resumed publishing
after a long break on 24 August before the Istanbul
11th High Criminal Court decided for the one-month
publication ban.
The decision is based on the 36th issue of the
Kurdish paper published on 28 August which featured
a picture of Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and a
flag of the organization on the front page.
Additionally, a chart depicting Öcalan and other
members of the militant organization published on
page eight of the same issue was given as a reason
for the ban.
On 21 August, the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court
suspended the publication of the Azadiya Welat
newspaper,www.ekurd.netthe
only nation-wide Kurdish daily published in Turkey,
on the grounds of "spreading propaganda for an
illegal organization" and "praising criminals".
Reason for the decision is the issue published on
the very same day.
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Rojev
Azadiya Welat, a Kurdish newspaper in Turkey |
The paper's responsible
editor-in-chief, M. Nedim Karadeniz, said that the
newspaper "faced unlawful bans" for eight issues
within the past four years the daily was published.
He announced that only in 2010, the daily was closed
down three times already.
"None of these suspension punishments were in line
with universal law. As a matter of fact, Turkey was
convicted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
in similar cases related to newspapers stemming from
the tradition of the Free Press. Imagine a judiciary
system where all the news and articles in the
current issue of a twelve-page newspaper are
considered a crime".
The decision is based on the Anti Terror Law which
was not considered as opposing the Constitution by
the Constitutional Court but was the reason for
convictions at the ECHR. While the seizure was
decided according to Article 25/2 of the Press Law
(Confiscation and Prohibition of Distribution and
Sale), the publication ban was based on Article
6/last paragraph (Disclosure and Publication) of the
TMY.
Former Azadiya Welat chief editors Vedat Kurşun and
Ozan Kılıç and Hawar newspaper official Bedri Adanır
are still in prison.
Confiscation of Güney
magazine
The issue of the first quarter of 2010 of the
three-monthly Güney magazine was confiscated upon a
decision of the Mersin 2nd Magistrate Criminal
Court. However, the article does not mention the
name of any illegal organization.
The police seized the copies on 26 August from the
printing house of the magazine in Mersin (eastern
Mediterranean coast), informing the staff about the
confiscation decision. The police delivered a
written notice about the court decision to the
magazine's central office in the Esenyurt district
of Istanbul.
The article entitled "Children Rights of (Kurdish)
children in the dungeon" written by Ali Dağdeviren
was given as the reason for the seizure. However,
the article does not mention the name of any
organization. The writing criticized the "treatment
of thousands of Kurdish children" despite the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
Declaration of the Rights of the Child both singed
by the Turkish government.
A statement the magazine announced, "This mentality
which fills prisons with thousands of children could
not tolerate an article criticizing this situation".
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