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Reporters Without Borders protested
suspension of Kurdish newspapers in Turkey
3.9.2010 |
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September 3, 2010
PARIS, — Reporters Without Borders regrets
that Kurdish publications have again been suspended
or seized under the Anti-Terrorism Law (Law 3713),
which allows the Turkish courts to impose harsh
penalties on journalists and media when they allude
to Kurdish armed separatists and fosters a
repressive climate for the Kurdish media.
Although the European Court of Human Rights has
repeatedly condemned Turkey because of the
Anti-Terrorism Law, the country’s constitutional
court has refused to consider overturning it.
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In the latest case, an
Istanbul court suspended the daily Rojev for a month
on 28 August under article 6 of the law because an
article in that day’s issue used a photo of a poster
of Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and a photo
of the PKK flag. The PKK has been waging an armed
struggle against the Turkish state since 1984 and is
on the Turkish, European Union, US and Canadian
lists of terrorist organisations.
The day before, a court in the southern city of
Mersin ordered the seizure of the latest issue of
the cultural quarterly Güney (issue No. 53) under
article 25 of the Press Law on the grounds that an
article by Ali Dagdeviren was pro-PKK propaganda.
The article criticised the jailing of Kurdish minors
under the Anti-Terrorism Law but did not at any time
mention the PKK.
On 24 August, an Istanbul court suspended the
country’s only nationwide Kurdish daily, Azadiya
Welat, for a month and ordered the seizure of that
day’s issue because of offensive content but did not
specify which articles,www.ekurd.netcolumns
or photos it found offensive. The newspaper has
repeatedly been prosecuted or had issues seized.
This was the eighth time it has been sanctioned
since its launch in 2006.
Reporters Without Borders reiterates its support for
former Azadiya Welat editors Vedat Kursun and Ozan
Kilinç and other journalists with Kurdish media who
are serving long jail sentences. The case of Kursun,
who has been sentenced to 166 years in prison, is
emblematic of the way the Anti-Terrorism Law is
being abused.
In another recent case, an American journalist, Jake
Hess, was deported on 20 August after being detained
for nine days. “The grounds given by the authorities
for expelling him and banning him from re-entering
the country are the fact that his name is on a list
of people accused of links with the PKK,” his
lawyer, Serkan Akbas, said.
The European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey
12 times in cases involving freedom of expression in
2009. Seventeen percent of the rulings issued by the
court since 1959 have concerned Turkey.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, rsf org
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