REPORT ON THE FREEDOM OF PUBLISHING
(Updated in November 2007)

2006 has been one of the most negative years in terms of the freedoms of expression and publishing and unfortunately, problems continue in 2007. The most important aspect of this negative state of affairs is that it entails violence directed at freedom of thought and this violence comes from ideologically oriented groups, and worse still, this ideological orientation tries to affect institutions of justice. This tendency, which we had noted last year, reached its nadir with the assassination of the journalist Hrant Dink in January 2007. From the politicians to the press and to judiciary mechanisms, this murder reminded all of the crucial importance of the freedom of expression and of not turning those who think differently into a target. This dangerous development has subsided only with the country’s entrance to the process of general elections. For us publishers, the positive development of the year was that the banning and recall of books has become very rare and that publishers are no longer held legally liable for the books they publish. For that reason, the charges against many of our publisher friends have been dismissed or they are acquitted. Yet this happiness has been shadowed as the translators are now being held liable for the books we publish. The publishers continue to be held liable for books whose authors are either foreigners or are living abroad.

On the other hand, the cases where publishers and authors face personal insult charges opened for political reasons, are on the increase, constituting an abuse of civil law. We also consider the influencing of judiciary mechanisms by ideological considerations a problem to be reckoned with.

On the other hand, the relative increase in acquittals, dismissal of proceedings and our prosecutors’ and judges’ references to the international judiciary documents, and specifically to the European Convention of Human Rights, should be counted among positive developments.

Last year, we witnessed the positive results of the legal change that exempted the works of art and literature from the scope of “pornographic publications” law. 5 out of the 6 cases opened against the six books published by Stüdyo/İmge Publishing, the recipient of our Association’s Award, concluded with acquittal. The court sentence for Irvine Welsh’s “Porno” is at the High Court of Appeals. We hope this case to also end positively. Similar cases against Sel and Parantez Publishing Houses were concluded positively

From the perspective our main area of interest; the publishers, the numbers for the year 2006-7 are as follows: 43 authors and 24 publishing houses were taken to court for the 43 books they had either written or published. Hence there was not a significant change in the number of cases opened. 8 acquittals, 13 convictions and 5 dismissal of proceedings were given, while 17 cases are still pending for decision. In 2006, prison sentences were generally turned to monetary fines except for the cases of publishers Mehmet Ali Varış and Ahmet Önal.

In 2007, the author Mehmet Pamuk was sentenced to 15 months of imprisonment for his book “Kemalism, Secularism and Martyrdom” (Ekin Publishing) for allegedly infringing the Article 216 (the old Article 312) of the Turkish Penal Code by the Fatih 2nd. Criminal Court of First Instance.

Authors, journalists and publishers who have been facing courts as a consequence of expressing their thoughts, also had to face the ideology-based violence and lynch threats of some fanatic groups this year. Unfortunately, this wave of violence against the freedom of expression reached its summit with the murder of the journalist/writer Hrant Dink on January 19th, 2007 and went on with the murder of the publishers of Zirve Publishing, Uğur Yüksel, Necati Aydin and Tilmann Geske in Malatya in April 18th. [ Unfortunately the trial in November 23th focused more on ‘missonarist’ activities than the murder. It proved that freedom of expression is problematic in Turkey, but there is a wide freedom for hate speech in TV programs and media. The media was responsible ethically for these murders, because of their hate speech discourse in the past].

While this wave has relatively subsided toward the end of last year, problems seem to be continuing in 2007 as well. The prosecutors have been showing more “discretion” in deciding against proceeding with investigations in cases of denunciations aiming to influence the judiciary, and the courts are deciding to dismiss cases more often. That the first investigation of 2007 was opened against the academic Taner Akçam in relation to the Armenian issue as a result of a complaint filed by an ideological group exemplifies one side of the coin, while the dismissal of proceedings afterwards, the other. The said researcher was also assaulted during his conferences abroad and had death threats and lists comprising the names of those who think differently were publicized on extreme right websites. The fact that neither the government nor the legal authorities took any preventive measures against such actions testifies to the difficulty of overcoming this tendency for violence.

It became legally certain that naming the tragic events of 1915 as genocide does not constitute a crime, with the acquittal decision rendered in the Dadrian / Ayşe Nur Zarakolu case, which was opened for the book “Genocide from the Perspective of International and National Law” and its approval by the High Court of Appeals. As a consequence of this decision becoming a case law, many other acquittal decisions were given and many books with the theme “Armenian Genocide” could be published. We consider the law passed by the French Parliament which bans “The Denial of the Armenian Genocide” as negative from the perspective of freedom of expression and we hope that it would not be approved by the Senate. On the other hand, we consider the reprisal draft law kept on the agenda of the Turkish National Assembly, that bans the “Acceptance of the Armenian Genocide,” as a backward step that would curtail the freedom of expression.

While there are no legal grounds for punishing the term “genocide,” we are apprehended from the perspective of freedoms of thought, expression and publishing, with the case opened in defiance of the High Court of Appeals case law, against Hrant Dink and continued [and convicted and Arant Dink had to leave the country temporarily] in the persona of his son Arat Dink and the Agos newspaper owner Sarkis Seropyan, for using this term, as well as the prosecutor’s claim that it “insults Turkishness by way of allusion.” If cases are to be opened based on vague concepts open to interpretation such as “alluding,” we are certain to face many more problems in the future. It is urgently imperative for the judiciary to absolve itself from ideological influences, to base its decisions on legal principles and concepts and to allow for the penetration of international law.

TURKISH PENAL CODE ARTICLE 301

While the Orhan Pamuk case, based on article 301 and which had found wide range media coverage, was dismissed, the journalist Ali Kırca, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, İlhan Selçuk, Rahmi Yıldırım, chair of the Urfa branch of Mazlum-Der, Şehmus Gülek and lawyer Hasip Kaplan were also among the acquitted. However, Hrant Dink, Mehmet Pamak, Aziz Özer, Erol Özkaray, Mustafa Balbal, Emin Karaca, Zülküf Kışanak, Erkan Atay, Emine Şenlikoğlu, Mehmet Şevki Eygi, Abdurrahman Dilipak, human rights activist Eren Keskin, periodical editor Aziz Özer and publishers Fatih Taş (there are 20 cases currently in court and pending at the High Court of Appeals for the editor of the Aram Publishing), Mehmet Ali Varış and Ahmet Önal, and columnist Umur Hozatlı were not as lucky. Their names were added to the list of “prisoners of thought” with the sentences they received. Journalist İbrahim Çeşmecioğlu, Yalçın Ergündoğan, Sinan Kara (imprisoned in 2007) were other names facing trial.

The author of the novel “The Bastard of Istanbul” Elif Şafak was acquitted in the first hearing, and the translator of the book, Aslı Biçen and the publisher of Metis Publishing Semih Sökmen, were exempted from the case as the first instance of “the publishers’ not being held liable” when the author was “in Turkey.”

The author of “Flowers of Blood From A Captive General on Ararat”, Mustafa Balbay, was sentenced based on the article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Sentenced twice with the same article, Balbay was received two separate five month terms in prison.

The investigation opened with the charge of “publicly insulting the army” based on a complaint by the General Staff against the author of the book “The Evolution of the Army from the Ottomans to the Present,” Osman Tiftikçi, and the book’s publisher Sırrı Öztürk, later led to a case. An arrest warrant has been issued for the author in his absence.

The editor of Belge Publishing, Ragıp Zarakolu, had to face the judge for publishing Dora Sakayan’s “An Armenian Doctor in Turkey: The İzmir Diary of Garabet Haçeryan.” The case opened against Zarakolu for “insulting and degrading Turkishness and the military forces of the state,” ended with acquittal on May 3, with the translator Atilla Tuygan being held liable.

The other case opened against Zarakolu with the charges of “publicly insulting Turkishness” (TPC old 159, new 301) and of “insulting the memory of Atatürk,” for publishing George Jerjian’s “The Truth Will Set us Free” is still continuing with the motion for a prison sentence up to 3 years, as both the author and the translator are “abroad.”

The case opened against the publishing house representative and the two persons who prepared the book for print, with regard to certain expressions in the book “The Production of Consent: The Political economy of Mass Media” by the famous philosopher and linguist Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, for “publicly insulting Turkishness, the Republic and the National Assembly” and “instigating the people to enmity,” ended with acquittal.

The editor of Doz publishing, Ali Rıza Vural, faced the judge for the book by Mesut Barzani, called “Barzani and Kurdish National Freedom Movement.” The case opened against the first edition in February 2003 fell due to change in the law, but the book was again put on trial after its second edition in May 2005. The case against the publishing house official Vural has begun in Beyoğlu Second Court of First Instance. The indictment asks for imprisonment up to three years for the editor Vural, under article 301/2 of the Penal Code, charging him with “insulting and degrading the Republic via print.” The case is still pending.

For the book “The Language of Pain: Woman,” the author Murat Coşkun and the owner of Peri Publishing, Ahmet Ünal, were charged with insulting and degrading the armed forces of the state under article 159/1 (new 301). For the same book, Ahmed Önal also faced a second trial under TPC Article 312, with the charge of “openly instigating the people by way of racial discrimination.” Meanwhile, the investigation opened “due to complaint” about Erol Özkoray, the author of the book “What Good is the Army for?” ended with a dismissal decision that cited the European Convention. The articles inside the book which had been subject to prosecution beforehand were also acquitted.

The champion of the year was, without doubt, the Turkish Penal Code Article 301. The chance of legal revision for this article, which is currently the most problematic one from the perspective of freedom of thought and publishing, is unfortunately currently frozen with the stalling of the EU accession process. There is more need for the prosecutors and the judges to take heed of the international norms on freedom of thought and expression while using their discretion in order for the article to cease to be problematic.

THE ANTI-TERROR LAW

One of the most negative developments in 2006 has been the reversal of the positive changes in the anti-terror law and furthermore, its amendment in a way that will lead to even more negative consequences. In this framework, newspapers such as Özgür Gündem, Atılım, Birgün and Evrensel, radios such as “Free Radio,” and “Voice of Anatolia,” and periodicals such as Özgür Halk, Yürüyüş, Kaos GL, have been banned or closed down (Özgür Gündem, Anadolu’nun Sesi) from time to time, and some even faced raids (Atılım) by the security forces. The editor of the periodical Sanat ve Hayat and the chair of the BEKSAV Institution for Art and Culture Hacı Orman, has been the target of serious threats and was arrested. [He was released in October]. The cases opened against the closed-down Özgür Gündem reached 550 and the editor-in-chief Hasan Bayar has been sentenced to a total of 5 years and 10 months imprisonment. The editor-in-chief of the newspaper Hüseyin Akyol, was charged under the anti-terror law for an interview he gave. Even mainstream media newspapers such as Hürriyet and Radikal got in trouble with the anti-terror Law for the interviews they published.

The editor of the Peri Publishing, Ahmet Önal, was charged under TPC 220/8--making propaganda for the terrorist organisation and its objectives for the book “Diaspora Kurds” by Hejare Şamil. The İstanbul 11. But the case opened against Önal under the Penal Code article 220, will be continued under the Article 7 of the anti-terror law which punishes terrorist propaganda with 5 years in prison and monetary fine.

“Collected Writings” of Mahir Çayan who was one of the leaders of 1968 youth rebellion is banned and the editor of Bora Publishing is tried.

CASES OF INSULTING ATATÜRK

The personal memory of the leader of the Independence War and the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, is protected by a special law. This year, insult to Atatürk’s personal memory has been the justification for many cases.

The case opened against İpek Çalışlar, author of “Latife Hanım,” with the charge of insulting Atatürk and defiance of the Law Protecting Atatürk with the demand of imprisonment up to 4.5 years ended with acquittal.

The case opened against Fatih Taş, representative of Aram Yayınları, for publishing author John Tirman’s “Spoils of War: The Human Cost of American Arms Trade” in Turkish, with the charges of “publicly insulting the military forces” and “insulting Atatürk,” also ended with acquittal.

The case opened against the owner of Tohum Publishing Mehmet Ali Varış, for the book “Kemalism: the Sitting Man,” in accordance with the Law on Crimes Against Atatürk, concluded with sentencing.

The owner of Peri publishing Ahmet Önal is currently standing trial at the Fatih Second Court of First Instance, for a violation of the Law on Crimes against Atatürk, for the book Alevism in Dersim—Munzur Çem. Önal has been previously sentenced by the İstanbul 13th Penal Court because of certain expressions in the same book, which were considered to infringe on the old Penal Code’s article 312.

DEEP STATE

The case opened against journalist Belma Akçura’s “Deep State became the State” (this case ended with conviction in January), the banning of journalist Ersin Kalay’s “A Jitem File,” on the murder of the writer Musa Anter, and the sentencing of publisher Fatih Taş for his book “They Say You are Missing” on the missing journalist Nazım Babaoğlu, indicate that the taboo on the “deep state” remains unbroken.

THE LAW ON WORKS OF THOUGHT AND ART

With the changes brought about with the law on works of thought and art that came into force in 12 March 2004, the printing houses that print, the publishers that publish, and the bookstores that sell non-periodicals, are required to get a certificate from the Ministry of Culture in return for a certain fee. The change is justified on the ground of preventing pirate publishing. Those who print, publish or sell books without a certificate are held liable for a fine between 10 billion to 100 billion. In this way, contrary to the European Human Rights Convention and also to the article 28 of the constitution which states that “The press is free and cannot be censured. Founding a printing house cannot be made subject to permission or a monetary deposit,” and to the Article 29 of the constitution which says that “publishing periodicals and non-periodicals can not be subject to the condition of prior permit or monetary deposit,” publishing a non-periodical became conditional on acquiring a certificate from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Following the publishers’ objection to this change, stating that this practice is contrary to the freedom of publishing as defined in the constitution and international conventions, the implementation has been postponed to 31.12.2007. It is expected that necessary changes will be made in the law in the meantime and the precondition of attaining a certificate for publishing and selling non-periodicals will be lifted.

LIBEL CASES OPENED BY THE PRIME MINISTER
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The highest number of libel cases were opened personally by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and institutionally, by the office of Chief of Staff. CHP parliamentarian Şükrü Elekdağ has opened a indemnity case of 20 thousand YTL against the editor of Pencere publishing Muzaffer Erdoğdu, with the claim that his personality as a member of the parliament has been insulted in the foreword of the historical documentation called “The Blue Book,” prepared by the English historian Toynbee. Unfortunately, civil law is being manipulated in such cases as a means to curtail the freedom of criticism, expression and publishing. Besides these institutions, a group of nationalist lawyers have come forward as a formation that tries to curtail the freedom of thought and expression “in the name of the nation,” without having either such a right or authorization. The number of cases opened by the prime minister with the claim that he was insulted was 57; only 10 has been rejected, 21 of them ended with the decision in favour of the prime minister to receive damages, and 28 cases are still continuing. Among these, there is also the case of the famous caricaturist Turhan Selçuk.

CASES OPENED BY THE CHIEF OF STAFF

Retired General Osman Pamukoğlu was charged with “disclosing secrets” upon a complaint by the chief of staff to the military court. Journalist Abdullah Dilipak also faces a similar situation. Journalist Erol Özkaray, editor of the Sorun publishing Sırrı Öztürk, Osman Tiftikçi (who has a arrest warrant in absentia), retired captain Murat Pabuç, Cüneyt Arcayürek, Tuncay Özkan, Belma Akçura, Adnan Bulut, Perihan Bulut have also been tried based on complaints filed by the military. For this reason, a new case has opened at the end of the year, based upon a complaint by the Chief of Staff, against the sociologist Dr. İsmail Beşikçi, who has been tried for his thoughts for the past 35 years, for the interview titled “We didn’t Speak, We Crushed” published in the periodical Esmer, along with the editor of the periodical, Ferzande Kaya.

The military head prosecutor of the Chief of Staff, opened a case against the retired major general Osman Pamukoğlu for disclosing secret information in his book “Nothing New Besides the Forgotten” The indictment about Pamukoğlu stated that the information in the book “did not qualify as state secret, but it has begun to be used by the PKK.” For this reason, the head prosecutor opened a case against the retired major general Pamukoğlu based on the article 95 of the Military Penal Code, demanding imprisonment from six months to three years. The article 95 of the Military Penal Code demands “imprisonment up to three years of persons who discloses and writes the military information that they have come to know as a result of their military duty.”

On January 19, 2006, the general Chief of Staff filed a complaint classified as “secret,” with regard to the Ferzande Kaya and Mehmet Ali İzmir, executives of the journal Esmer Popular Culture Magazine for İsmail Beşikçi’s articles titled “We didn’t Speak, We Crushed” in the December 2005 issue of the magazine to the Ministry of Justice General Directorate of Penal Affairs. Consequently a case was opened.

CENSURE OF SCHOOL BOOKS

The National Education Ministry censured a world famous painting depicting a woman with a bare bosom in the seventh grade Citizenship and Human Rights education text book. The painting by famous French painter Eugene Delacroix, “Liberty Leading the People” dated 1830 and considered a symbol of the French Revolution, was removed from the textbook.

INVESTIGATION OF A TURKISH-KURDISH PLAY BOOK

The mayor of Sur Abdullah Demirtaş and three officials were under investigation for distributing a Turkish-Kurdish play and handiwork book to teachers and student parents on World Teachers’ Day. Following the completion of the preliminary investigation by Ministry of Internal Affairs inspectors, Diyarbakır Republican Prosecutor opened his own investigation. The mayor and three officials were called in to the prosecutor’s office and gave testimony. Diyarbakır Republican Prosecutor is presently continuing the investigation with the charges of defiance of the “Hat and Turkish letters law” and “abuse of duty.”

AHMET ÜMIT’S BOOK WAS HELD UP BY THE CENSURE BOARD.

Writer Ahmet Ümit’s “Temple Whores,” and unpublished book in his novel series “Police Chief Nevzat,” was found “pornographic” by the Prime Ministry Board of Protecting Minors from Harmful Publishing” for the caricatures by İsmail Gülgeç that it contained. The board banned the sale of the book to under-18 year olds and putting up of its posters. Previously, Doğan Kitabevi had withdrawn from publishing the book with the excuse that the pictures showed the “male organ.” The law on protecting minors from pornographic publishing entails the precept that “printed works are subjected to limitations.”

INSULT TO RELIGION

One of the positive developments of the year was the conclusion with acquittal of the case opened against the 92-year-old Sumerologist Muazzez İlmiye Çığ, with the charges of violating TPC article 216 and 218; that is, “instigating the people against one another.” Sumerologist Muazzez İlmiye Çığ and the director of the Analiz Printing, Publishing Limited Company, İsmet Öğütücü, were acquitted in the case where Çığ’s book “My Citizenship Objections” which allegedly instigated the people to enmity and was insulting. Beyoğlu Second Court of First Instance based its acquittal decision regarding Çığ on the “the absence of the legal components of the crime,” and on Öğütücü, on “his unaccountability according to the article 11 of the law 5187.”

CONCLUSION

To conclude, 2006 was a year of conflicts as well as of an intensive struggle for freedom of expression and publishing. For the first time, a Turkish author received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Besides being a universal recognition and praise of Orhan Pamuk’s successful authorship, this award also means the crowning by the world of the struggle for the freedom of writing, publishing and reading that brave authors and publishers in Turkey have continued for generations in Turkey.

We congratulate our Zimbabwean colleague publisher Trevor Ncube, who received the “Freedom Prize” initiated last year by the International Publishers’ Association, of which we are a member, at this year’s book fair at Cape Town.

We also thank the IPA for giving a “Special Prize” to Anna Politovskaya, the Russian journalist who was targeted for bravely investigating the Chechnyan tragedy and to Hrant Dink, who was an bridge between Turkish and Armenian communities and assassinated in Istanbul on January 19.

Freedom to Publish Committee Chair: Ragıp Zarakolu (rzarakolu@aol.com)

The Publishing Houses, Authors and Books Put on Trial in 2006-07

PUBLISHER	AUTHOR	BOOK
Aram	Gülçiçek Günel	Our Language is our Existence, Our Language is Our Culture
Aram	Timur Şahan	Confessor/ A Genrdarmary Special Unit Officer Talks
Aram	Tayhan Umut	33 days in Storm (Acquittal)
Aram	Ali Aydın	They Say You are Missing (Conviction)
Aram	Serdem Çiyayi (Ed)	Antology of Guerilla Poetry
Aram	Ayhan Kaya	Diary of Mordem
Aram	John Tirman	Spoils of War (Acquittal)
Aram	Noam Chomsky	Production of Consent (Acquittal)
Aykırı	Seyfi Öngider	Tale of Two Cities (Dismissal of Proceedings)
Belge	George Jerjian	Truth Will Set Us Free
Belge	Dora Sakayan	An Armenian Doctor from Turkey
Belge	Zülküf Kışanak	Lost Villages (Conviction)
Belge	Peter Balakian	The Black Dog of Fate (Dismissal of Proceedings)
Belge	Erol Özkoray	What purpose is the Army For? (Dismissal of Proceedings)
Bilge Karınca	Cemal Anadol	Turkey in the forecepts of Israel and Zionism (Acquittal)
Boran	Derleme	Told by those living in Isolation
Doz	Mesut Barzani	Barzani and the Freedom Movement
Doz	Mustafa Balbay	Flowers of Blood From A Captive General on Ararat (Conviction)
Ekin	Mehmet Pamak	Kemalism, Secularism and Martyrdom (Conviction)
Evrensel	Ahmet Kahraman	KurdishRevolts (Dismissal of Proceedings)
Evrensel	Zeynep Özge	İmran, the Motto of a Revolt
Güncel	Ersin Kalkan	Deep State Became the State (Conviction)
Güncel	Belma Akçura	Nothing New Besides the Forgotten
İnkılap	Osman Pamukoğlu	Nothing New Besides the Forgotten
İstanbul Bienali	Halil Altıntepe	Catalogue of the 9. Biennal
Kaynak	Muazzez İlmiye Çığ	My Citizenship Objections (Acquittal)
Literatür	Mara Meimaradi	Witches of Smyrna (Acquittal)
Mastercard	Özlem İmece	İstanbul City Guide
Mektup	Emine Şenlikoğlu	Here it is the Prison (Conviction)
Metis	Elif Şafak	The Bastard of Istanbul (Conviction)
Merkez	Perihan Mağden	Which one of us wasn’t wronged? (Acquittal)
Ozan	Sinan Kara	Sinan's Black Book
Pencere	Toynbee	Blue Book
Peri	M. Erol Coşkun	Woman: Language of Suffering (Conviction)
Peri	Evin Çiçek	Passions and Prisoners (Conviction)
Peri	Hejare Şamil	Diaspora Kurds
Peri	Munzur Cem	Alevism in Dersim (Conviction)
Peri	Mahmut Baksi	Teyre Baz / Hüseyin Baybaşin (Conviction)
Peri	Hejare Şamil	Moscow Days of Öcalan (Dismissal of Proceedings)
Sol	Murat Pabuç	Abandoning the Guard over the Painted Bench (Dismissal of Proceedings)
Sorun	Osman Tiftikçi	Evolution of the Army from the Ottomans to Today
Sorun	Talat Turan	M. Eymur, Portrait of a Turkish Intelligence Officer (Conviction)
Tohum	Mamo Baran	Northwest Dersim: Koçgiri (Conviction)
Tohum	Erdal Yeşil	Kemalism-Sitting Man (Conviction)
Tohum	Aytekin Yılmaz	Anatolia from Multiculture to Single Culture

 

Appendix

Do Aras Erdoğan Öcalan in the Net of the Correspondents (investigation)
Bora Mahir Çayan Collected Writings