PRESS FREEDOM

" Press Freedom and Independent Journalism Monitoring and News Network" - BİA 2009 January, February, March Media Monitoring Report

1 May 2009

According to the first quarterly BİA Media Monitoring Report of 2009, a total of 110 people, 60 of them journalists, were tried in 70 trials concerning freedom of expression.

Under seven headings, the report writes about a total of 295 people who are being tried or struggling for freedom of expression: "Attacks and threats", "Detentions and arrests", "Trials and attempts", "Seeking legal redress", "European Court of Human Rights", "Reactions to censorship" and "RTÜK penalties".

While the report is unlikely to be complete, it aims at showing the variety and intensity of the attacks that press freedom and freedom of expression face.

Attacks and Threats

Fırat Akyol, TV reporter for the local Tempo channel in Giresun, was attacked in front of the district building of the AKP, which lost the local municipal elections. It was alleged that the attackers were party members. Akyol was reporting to the TV channel by phone about the mood at different party headquarters when he was hit in his face and on his head. He was taken to hospital. He said that he had been attacked by a big group of people, and that AKP mayor Hurşit Yüksel's official driver Alpaslan had said "Stop, don't do it" just before he was beaten. Police officers and some AKP members made efforts to protect him.

The second indictment of the Ergenekon trial, accepted by the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court on 25 March, writes about the notebook of suspect Yüksel Dilsiz, in which, on page 167, is a list of handwritten names: "Doğan Güreş, Hüseyin Kıvrıkoğlu, Hrant Dink, B....G Aydın Doğan, former Air Forces Commander, Veli Küçük, K and =R". The indictment says that Dilsiz wrote the notes as part of the organisation's actions and that the list contains names of "Chiefs of staff, a murdered journalist, force commanders, businessmen and members of the Ergenekon terrorrist organisation." The indictment writes about defendant Levent Temiz that he took part in a protest meeting organised by the nationalist Great Lawyers' Union at the Beyoğlu court on 21 September 2006, on "the threat of military occupation and splintering due to the Global Great Middle East Project". At the meeting, threats were expressed against writers, including Hrant Dink. Temiz, the former district presidnet of the ultranationalist Ülkü Ocakları organisation in Üsküdar, had shouted during a protest in front of Dink's Agos newspaper on 26 February 2004: "Hrant Dink, from now on you are the target of all our anger and hatred." Several other defendants are named in relation to Hrant Dink.

Kanal D reporter İbrahim Gündüz and Star TV reporter Özden Erkuş were attacked at the Atatürk Sportshall in Ankara when they wanted to cover a meeting by the trade union of municipal and general services workers (Belediye-İş) on 25 March. The journalists said they had been targeted by a group of people loyal to Melih Gökçek, then mayor of Metropolitan Ankara and AKP candidate for the same post again. The reporters said that while they had tried to argue with a person telling them to leave, 15 to 20 people walked over to them and, beating them, threw them out of the building.

On 24 March, writer Latife Tekin was assaulted by several people at a panel organsied by the Gümüşlük Environment and Education Foundation in the Bodrum district of Muğla. Tekin wanted to ask a question about the nationalisation of land in relation to excavations in Myndos, but some people tried to get her thrown out of the discussion. According to Berrin Esin Kaya, spokesperson of the Aegean Environment and Culture Platform (ECEÇEP), Tekin's "crime" was "to feel responsibility for the antique city of Myndos, that is, our cultural heritage. Just like those who support the protection of Allianoi and Hasankeyf, she has become the target of profit makers."

On 23 March, the Turkey Journalists' Soceity (TGC) condemned an utterance made by Metropolitan Ankara mayor Melih Gökçek during an election campaign speech. referring to two well-known journalists, he had said, "After the elections, I swear, I will make Mehmet Ali Birand and Uğur Dündar uncomfortable in Turkey." The TGC expressed its worry at the accusations against media organs and journalists,  which recently had turned into threats. Ahmet Abakay of the Contemporary Journalists' Association (ÇGD) called on prosecutors to act in the face of this "petty crime". Uğur Dündar, Star News Group president, said that he had been threatened openly. He said, "If anything happens to me, Melih Gökçek is responsible."

Show TV reporters Ediz Alıç and Rengin Gültekin, as well as cameraman Kadir Puslu, were attacked by a group when they tried to cover a protest by the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Adana's Dağlıoğlu neighbourhood. Their cameras were broken and they were treated in hospital. They underwent a forensic medical examination and filed complaints against the assailants. the Çukurova Journalists' Society condemned the attacks.

It has been claimed that Mersin MP Prof. Dr. Akif Akkuş of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) called Cemal Dolaşmaz, president of the Tarsus Journalists' Society and the editor of the Tarsus Merhaba newspaper, and threatened him. It is said that Akkuş called Dolaşmaz after the publication of a column on 23 February 2009 and said: "Your surname is Dolaşmaz [meaning 'does not stroll around'], and I will make sure you cannot walk around Tarsus." The journalist filed a criminal complaint.

At the eighth hearing of the Hrant Dink murder trial on 26 January, three detained defendants were released: Tuncay Uzundal, Mustafa Öztürk and Zeynel Abidin Yavuz. The next hearing was set for 20 April.

On 17 February, the Trabzon 2nd High Criminal Court decided that Gendarmerie Regiment Commander Colonel Ali Öz and five other officers, accused of negligence in not preventing the murder of journalist Hrant Dink despite being warned that his life was in danger, should be tried not at a High Criminal Court but at a criminal court of peace. They will be tried not for "abusing their position" but for "negligence of duty". Judge Şevki Uluçam of the Trabzon 2nd Criminal Court of Peace had argued that there was a more serious crime involved and had sent the file to the 3rd Criminal Court of Peace, which had rejected the argument. On objection, the file had come to the 2nd High Criminal Court.

On the anniversary of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's capture, reporters Meral Özdemir (Anadolu Ajansı), Mahmut Bozarslan (NTV) and Mehmet Emek (Habertürk) were attacked when covering protests in Diyarbakır in the middle of February.

Diya Yarayan, owner of the local Birlik newspaper in Siirt, was seriously wounded after being attacked by four people with face masks and sticks in front of his home in the night of 17 February. His wife said that he was beaten severely and then left lying in the street. He was initially kept in the intensive care unit. She believes that he was attacked for his journalistic activities. The journalist believes that Siirt mayor Mervan Gül is responsible: "When he was not put forward as candidate again, he took his revenge like this, I believe." He asked for support for his independent line of reporting. Reportedly, Gül's press advisor Diyaddin Temiz rejected the accusations, expressing the good relations the mayor had with the press and their shock at the attack.

Lawyers filed a criminail complaint against the state TRT 1 channel and a production company for a documentary in which Ökkeş Şendiller,  accused by some of being a planner of the Maraş massacre in 1979, was allowed to show murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink as the person responsible for the massacre. The programme, entitled "Labyrinths of Shahs" was broadcast on 24 December 2008. The lawyers submitted their complaint on 11 February, arguing that Dink was accused without basis, insulted and defamed. The lawyers demand compensation from the TRT General Directorate, the production company making the film and Şendiller, a defendant in the Maraş massacre trial. Şendiller said, "There was no conflict between Alevis and Sunnis. There were leftist organisations founded by Hrant Dink and his friends who were involved. Hrant Dink and his friends' organisations did these things. Anyway, how were the bodies of 6-7 uncircumcised men who died there related to Alevis and Sunnis?" The Haber-Sen trade union condemned the words, and demanded that TRT general director İbrahim Şahin apologise.

Following the report of the Prime Ministerial Review Committee, the Ministry of the Interior decided to reopen the examination into Trabzon police chief Ramazan Akyürek and Ali Fuat Yılmazer, then intelligence branch director in relation to Hrant Dink's murder. Deniz Tuna, joint attorney in the murder trial, said that lawyers were not being informed of administrative procedures and only found out about issues when writing letters to the ministry. She warned that if the joint attorneys were again not involved, a reexamination would not find anything new.

A group of around 15 people entered the office of the Bizim Kocaeli newspaper and vandalised the office in reaction to a news item entitled "Shooting in Suadiye". The attackers overturned furniture, threw chairs, broke windows and doors and then disappeared. The police started an investigation and identified the attackers with security camera recordings. The assailants were taken to court on 2 February. Editor İlker Akşit said that their dissident publications sometimes met with such attacks. "We then file our complaints. But we have heard that the prosecution released the last attackers."

On 30 January, some AKP supporters attacked journalists when Prime Minister Erdoğan opened a new subway station in Istanbul. Following his criticism of the media, the crowd shouted, "Say shoot, we will shoot. Say die, we will die." Some of them then punched the journalists present, others threw the sticks of their flags at them. Around 70 journalists faced such attacks. Oktay Ekşi, president of the Press Council and editor for the Hürriyet newspaper condemned the attack and said that the PM's hostile attitude had caused the attack.

The G-9 platform of journalistic organisations has condemned the call of PM Erdoğan to boycott certain media institutions, saying that it was "inacceptable to target newspapers, journalists and readers." On 27 January, Erdoğan had said, "What happens is different from what they write and say. They say the same at meetings in Brussels, that we censor the media. No, we don't censor the media, that is not true. But I say, let's use some civil initiative. What does that mean? I say, let's start a campaign against the media that publishes lies. That is all I say. Why do you pay money for lies?"

On 26 January, the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court decided that lawyer Fuat Turgut, himself a defendant in the Ergenekon trial, who, in the Hrant Dink murder case, had handed out an article insulting joint attorneys, Dink, and intellectuals calling for justice, and containing racist expressions, would no longer be permitted to represent defendants in the case. Turgut was detained on 22 January 2008, arrested, and later released.

On 20 January, PM Erdoğan, referring to the suicide of retired Gendarmerie Colonel Abdülkerim Kırca, accused " some institutions, individuals and even columnists" of "extrajudicial executions". Orhan Erinç, president of the Turkey Journalists' Society, reminded the PM that he had styled himself as the "prosecutor" of the Ergenekon trial previously. Ahmet Abakay, president of the Contemporary Journalists' Association, also accused the PM of interfering with the judiciary.

On 19 January, the second anniversary of the death of journalist Hrant Dink, family members, friends and supporters gatherd at his grave to commemorate him. London-based Amnesty International said that the truth about the involvement of security forces in his death was emerging. The organisation also said, however, that there was no progress in the investigation of security forces. Around 10,000 people gathered in front of the Agos newspaper office where he was killed, and shouted slogans calling for justice.

Mehmet Elkatmış, former president of the committee investigating Susurluk, the case of a car accident that brought to light relations between politics, mafia and the "deep state", was threatened with a note reading "Shut up" found in his office in Ankara. Elkatmış, a former AKP MP and former president of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, confirmed that unknown persons had left such a message in his office on 19 January, but did not go into details. The police started an investigation.

On 13 January, Burhan Yazar, Metropolitan Ankara Roadworks Coordinator, attacked Channel D reporter Gamze Dondurmacı and cameraman Doğan Durak when they filmed him ordering the tarring of the road in front of his home. In another case, a group of 10-12 people attacked Neşet Öner, owner of the local Bursa Gündem newspaper, as well as editor Şükrü Öner and columnist Orhan Kaplan. The Turkey Journalists' Society condemned both attacks and called on politicians to stop targeting journalists. The society emphasised that brute force would never stop journalists from doing their jobs.

Ergin Cinmen, a Dink family lawyer, referred to the fact that Ergenekon suspect Ersin Gönenci, convicted murderer of priest Andrea Santoro Oğuzhan Akdin and Dink murder suspect Ogün Samast had all had photos with Turkish flags taken: "They are all products of the Turkish-Islamic synthesis which has been sown in Turkey for years." Cinmen said that the murders of Dink, Santoro and the three Christian men in Malatya were all based on the same mindset as Ergenekon. Gönenci, who had been arrested for being in contact with former special team member İbrahim Şahin, is alleged to have planned the assassination of an Armenian citizen in Sivas.

On 8 January, lawyer Erdal Doğan said that he was being threatened with death by fellow lawyer İlhami Yelekçi after speaking on TV about the campaign to apolgise to Armenians. Doğan filed a criminal complaint against Yelekçi, saying that the latter called him after he spoke on Ülke TV on 18 April 2008 and threatened him. Doğan is the last in a long line of people who have been threatened for expressing their opinions, among them Nobel prize winner and writer Orhan pamuk, former members of the Prime Ministerial Human Rights Adivsory Board Prof. Dr. Baskın Oran and Prof Dr. İbrahim Kaboğlu, employers of the weekly Agos newspaper, Istanbul Özgür Radio, singer Ferhat Tunç, lawyer and human rights activist Eren Keskin, and publisher Necati Abay.

Detentions and Arrests

At the Ergenekon trial which began at the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court on 20 October 2008, 86 defendants, 41 of them detained, are being tried. Among them are journalists, such as Cumhuriyet newspaper license holder İlhan Selçuk, Vedat Yenerer, Güler Kömürcü, Ferit İlsever (broadcasting director of the Ulusal TV channel), Serhat Bolluk (editor of the Aydınlık magazine) and Adnan Akfırat and writer Ergün Poyraz.

İlhan Selçuk stands accused of "forming and leading the Ergenekon armed terrorist organisation", "attempting to forcibly remove the government" and "inciting armed rebellion against the government". He faces two life sentences and between 217 and 500 years imprisonment. Selçuk was taken from his home early in the morning on 21 March and into custody, questioned at the anti-terrrorism branch of the Istanbul police and later released to be tried without detention. Yenerer, Kömürcü and Akfırat face up to 15 years imprisonment for "membership in an armed terrorist organisation", İlsever and Bolluk face up to 35 years for "membership in an armed terrorist organisation" and "incitement to armed rebellion against the government". The Ergenekon indictment draws connections between the organisation and the murder of priest Andrea Santoro (5 February 2006), the bomb attacks on the Cumhuriyet newspaper office (5-10 and 11 May 2006), the attack on the State Council in Ankara (17 March 2006) and the murder of journalist Hrant Dink (19 January 2007). The 2,455-page indictment was written on 10 July 2008 says that "when all the activities are considered as a whole, they can be seen as attempting to create civil war, anarchy, terror and chaos in the country in order to make it necessary for the army to intervene."

On 25 March, the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court accepted a 1,909-page second indictment in the Ergenekon case. Retired Generals Hurşit Tolon and Şener Eruygur (the latter the president of the Atatürk Thought Association) are accused of "leadership of the Ergenekon organisation and attempting military coups". They face up to 1,047 years prison sentences and 14 life sentences. Cumhuriyet newspaper's Ankara representative Mustafa Balbay, Tercüman newspaper editor Ufuk Büyükçelebi, and journalists Tuncay Özkan, Erol Mütercimler and Merdan Yanardağ (the latter two not detained) are all on trial for membership in the organisation. Büyükçelebi, Aygün, Eruygur and Tolon were taken into custody on 1 July 2008 and later arrested. Aygün was released upon objection to the detention, and Balbay was also released. However, Balbay was later arrested a second time, on 6 March 2009. The court case pertaining to the second indictment will begin on 20 July.

Writer Murat Coşkun was released from prison at the end of March, after serving a one year 15 day prison sentence for "inciting hatred and hostility" in his book "Woman, the language of pain", published by Peri Publications in January 2002. He had been sent to prison on 22 August 2008. Already in prison in Bursa for alleged PKK membership, Coşkun was questioned for the trial from prison. When he was released from there, he returned to his family in Adana. When the Istanbul 12th High Criminal Court handed down the sentence in relation to the book ,he was arrested and taken to Adana Kürkçüler Prison. While his release was expected in December 2008, he was penalised with three more months for taking part in a hunger strike to protest against the execution of journalists in Iran.

Mehmet Ali Varış, technical manager at Belge Publications and responsible for the Uzun Yürüyüş (Long March) magazine, was arrested on 30 October 2008 for an article in memory of İbrahim Kaypakkaya, a young communist leader who died in Diyarbakır prison. He was released from prison on 26 March after serving his sentence. Varış had been unaware that a 20,000 YTL fine had been handed down for violation of the Anti-Terrorism Law, as the court decision had been sent to the former address of the publishers (despite them having notified officials of the new address). He was thus unable to appeal against the fine. Varış was arrested during a random ID control in central Istanbul, arrested for not paying the fine and sent to prison.

Erdal Güler, owner and editor of the Devrimci Demokrasi (Revolutionary Democracy) newspaper, has been in prison ever since he was taken into custody on 26 December 2007. He faces more than 30 trials for "spreading propaganda of the PKK and the Marxist Communist Party". The Istanbul 11th High Criminal Court sentenced him to a total of 21 months imprisonment, and he has also been given 60,000 TL in fines. Güler's lawyer Ümit Hanbayat has asked for Güler to be taken to a prison closer to Istanbul so that he can attend the hearings more easily (he is currently in Amasya prison), but there has been no change. Güler hopes to be released on 11 December 2009, but as there are still outstanding trials, this may not happen.

Abdurrahman Gök, reporter for the DİHA agency, was questioned at the Siirt police for two days and then arrested for "spreading PKK propaganda" and taken to a prison in Siirt. Devrim Göktaş, responsible editor at DİHA, condemned the arrest and called for the release of Gök. He called on press organisations and the public to react to "this unfair and illegal practice". DTP politician Selahattin Demirtaş also blamed the Siirt governor's office and the police for the arrest, saying that the "Ergenekon deep state" was continuing in Siirt. The statement was supported by Muharrem Erbey, deputy president of the Human Rights Association (İHD) and lawyer for the Diyarbakır branch, Abdullah Karahan, spokesperson for the KESK trade union confederation, Seher Akçınar, branch president of the MAZLUMDER association for human rights and solidarity with the oppressed, Ali Öncü, spokesperson for the Diyarbakır Democracy Platform, Mehmet Emin Aktar, president of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, Sezgin Tanrıkulu, lawyer for the Turkey Human Rights Foundation (TİHV), Faruk Balıkçı, presidnet of the Southeast Journalists' Society (GGC), Ahmet Birsin, broadcasting coordinator for Gün TV, employees of the Azadiya Welat newspaper and DTP province leaders. Göktaş said that four DİHA reporters were in prison and said that Gök had been arrested after coming from Ankara to report on Newroz activities. He added that those working Siirt were often threatened by police, and that Gök was threatened and beaten by the police. He added that they had applied to the İHD Siirt branch and filed a criminal complaint with the Siirt prosecution

Ali Buluş and Mehmet Karaaslan, taken into custody and later arrested after a police raid on the Mersin office of the Gündem newspaper on 19 April 2007, have been convicted of PKK membership. Their files have been sent to the Supreme Court of Appeals. It is not clear yet whether their arrests are due to journalistic activities.

Faysal Tunç, a reporter for the Dicle News Agency (DİHA), was taken into custody during an ID control on the outside of Eruh, a district town in Siirt, on 5 April 2007. On the same day, reporter Behdin Tunç, was taken into custody at a checkpoint in Idil, when returning from Ömerli village to Şırnak, after reporting on a march to the natal village of Abdullah Öcalan.He has been sentenced for "knowingly and willingly aiding the PKK organisation" by the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court. The reporters are in prison in Diyarbakır. Haydar Haykır, a reporter for the same agency, who was taken into custody in the Cizre district of Şırnak, was arrested on 12 January 2008 and sent to Batman H-type prison.

On 10 March, the Güneş agency, which provides technical support for the Atılım newspaper, was searched by the police. Figen Yüksekdağ, editor of the newspaper, was taken into custody and later released.

On 5 March, Cumhuriyet newspaper's Ankara representative Mustafa Balbay and Toplumsal Haber (Social News) website writer Neriman Aydın were arrested as part of the investigation into the Ergenekon organisation. They were taken from Ankara to Istanbul to make a statement and then taken to prison. They are said to be accused of "an armed attempt to change the constitution". Orhan Erinç, president of the Turkey Journalists' Society (TGC) expressed his sadness at the arrests but said that it was impossible to make comments on the court decision. He called for a speedy preparation of indictments and a quick beginning to the court case. He emphasised the problematic attitude of politics towards the media in recent days, saying that journalists were being impeded. Cumhuriyet newspaper journalist Hikmet Çetinkaya pointed out in a TV interview that Balbay had a permanent address and that he could thus not understand the need to arrest him. He added, "What was in Balbay's home or study? books, documents and newspaper cuttings. He had neither guns nor bombs buried in the ground. Balbay is a Republican, a Kemalist, a liberal, a nationalist. If that is a crime, then I don't know." Ahmet Abakay, preisdent of the Contemporary Journalists' Society (ÇGD) said that the arrests could give the impression of attempting to intimidate journalists or dissidents. Ercan İpekçi, presdient of the Turkey Journalists' Trade Union (TGS) said, "Our colleagues are being harmed by being portrayed as connected to gangs to which we believe they have no connections."

After being held in custody for three days, Izmir Demokrat Radio broadcasting coordinator Nadiye Gürbüz and former employee for the Özgür (Free) Radio Mine Özalp were arrested by the Istanbul Duty 12th High Criminal Court on 7 February. They had been taken into custody together with Özgür Radio advertising department employee Sinan Gerçek, accountant Metin Özalp and Hacı Çiçek on 4 February. While Gerçek and Metin Özalp were released, the prosecution demanded the arrest of the other three. Çiçek was released pending trial. On 5 February, İsminaz Ergün, empoyee for the Demokrat Radio news centre arranged a press briefing, in which she criticised the police search carried out as part of the operation against the Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) as illegal, as they were not allowed to have lawyers present.

Özgür Radio broadcasting editor Füsun Erdoğan, weekly Atılım newspaper editor-in-chief İbrahim Çiçek and editor Sedat Şenoğlu, as well as 20 others have been under arrest since September 2006, when operations against the MLKP took place. Their court case continued on 20 February. At the hearing at the Istanbul 10th High Criminal Court, Erdoğan protested against the detentions at Özgür Radio. Emphasising that she was a journalist, she demanded to be released. Çiçek, Arif Çelebi, Naci Güner and Seyfi Polat also demanded to be released. The court decided to release Bilgi Tağaç and Soner Çiçek. On 24 October 2008, the court had releasedHatice Bolat because of health problems. On 5-6 June 2008 three others had been released.

Of the 24 people taken into custody on 23 May 2008 for organising a caricature exhibition entitled "Common Enemy is America" at the Sivas branch of the educational trade union Eğitim Sen, students İlker Ekiz, İbrahim Karataş, Mustafa Doğan, Elbil Çınar and one more are still being held in Sivas prison. Their file is confidential. Four demands for their release have been rejected. Taylan Tanay, lawyer and member of the Istanbul branch of the Contemporary Lawyers' Association (ÇHD) said that the arrests had come after attacks at the university and democratic group protests at the attacks. The five people are accused of "opening a caricaturist exhibition", "reading the Tavır magazine" and "being a member of the Youth Federation". A court case has yet to be opened.

Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression Court Cases

Milliyet newspaper reporter Gökçer Tahincioğlu and Vatan newspaper reporter Kemal Göktaş were acquitted on 31 March after having reported on the "general monitoring permission" given to the police, the secret service (MİT) and the gendarmerie by the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court. They had been on trial at the Istanbul 9th High Criminal Court since 16 October 2008, accused of "obtaining banned information" and "turning public employees engaged in anti-terrorism activities into targets". They faced up to three years imprisonment. The two reporters received the Press Freedom Prize of the Turkey Journalists' Society (TGC) on 24 July 2008 and the Metin Göktepe Journalism Prize on 10 April. Göktaş expressed his pleasure at the acquittal but added that even the fact that an investigation was allowed was a "serious threat to press freedom". The news item had appeared in the Vatan newspaper on 1 June 2008, entitled "A Document to Shake Turkey". It said that the police had taken legal steps to obtain phone communication details of all companies served by Telekom between 25 January and 25 April 2007. The Ankara court had permitted the request. Tahincioğlu had also reported on the case in an article entitled "Objection to monitoring" in the Milliyet newspaper on 2 June 2008.

Writer Nedim Gürsel is again on trial for his novel "Allah's Daughters". While the Şişli 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance had dropped a case against him before, he is now being tried for "denigrating the religious values held by a section of society". The trial is a result of the obejction against the first dismissal of proceedings. A. Emre Bulağılı, who had filed a complaint on 25 April 2008, was accepted as a complainant. The trial, which began on 29 December 2008, will continue on 5 May.

Bedri Adanır, editor of the Ülkeye Barış (Peace to the Country) newspaper, has been sentenced to three years and two months imprisonment for "PKK propaganda" for photos and articles published in the newspaper. The sentence was handed down by the Diyarbakır High Criminal Court on 19 March. The editor was held responsible for published items in the weekly newspaper's 12 October 2008 and 18-24 October 2008 issues. Adanır demanded to be acquitted, saying that the items had been published as news and not propaganda. The sentence has been appealed against. The relevant articles were entitled "With permission, opportunity for solution may be missed", featuring pictures of Mustafa Karasu and other leading armed members of the PKK, "Başbuğ also wants to try his luck" with a picture and statement by Duran Kalkan underneath, "Women creating news networks", with statements of the PKK's women's branch PAJK'S 7th concgress, pictures of female PK members, "End of hunger strike after 47 days", announcing a hunger strike of PKK members in Iran, and "KCK: Bezele was legitimate defense", featuring statements by the PKK and describing Abdullah Öcalan as "Leader Apo". In addition, the indictment of 24 November 2008 also listed the articles "They attacked Öcalan in Imralı, they are playing with fire, they poisoned Öclaan, the votes given to the AKP are going to war" and "Democratic means are the only solution" with a statement and photograph of Murat Karayılan, "While the state is increasing violence in the Kurdish question, Öcalan has suggested another solution. Let us solve the problem this winter", "Address and contact for solution clear", "PKK's steps for solution", "Here is the urgent solution action plan" and "Solution suggestions from Öcalan", all published in the 18 October 2008 issue.

Mustafa Koyuncu, editor of the local Afyonkarahisar Emirdağ newspaper, was imprisoned for a time after accusing the police of prostitution, beatings and insults in an article entitled "Were we supposed to enter the EU like this? They are abusing their positions" on 12 March 2007. He now faces up to six years imprisonmnet and the payment of 440,000 TL compensation. At the Emirdağ Criminal Court of First Instance, three witnesses confirmed the accusations in the article. The criminal case continued on 17 March, while the compensation case will continue in June. Koyuncu was arrested on 13 March 2007 for publishing insults in the media. He was released a week later, under the condition that he publish a confutation.

The Istanbul 9th High Criminal Court is trying Alternatif newspaper owner Cevat Düşün and editor Ragıp Zarakolu for "spreading propaganda for a terrorist organisation", "praising a crime and a criminal" and "alienating the public from military service". The indictment of 23 September 2008 cites the newspaper issues of 16 and 17 August 2008, where an article by conscientious objector Mehmet Ali Avcı, entitled "I refuse to be a Turkish soldier" was published. Other articles include "The first bullet must be discussed", in which the PKK is described as "an organisation struggling for the freedom of the Kurdish people" and Öcalan as "Kurdish people's leader". Celebrations on 15 August in the Southeast were described in an article entitled "Fireworks celebrations everywhere" and a speech by a DTP MP in the province of Ağrı was reported on in an article entitled "If there is no political solution, Kurds will turn towards the mountains".

Taraf newspaper reporter Soner Arıkanoğlu was taken into custody on 27 March 2008 for reporting that a layout plan of the State Council had been found during a search of the headquarters of the Workers' Party (İP) as part of the Ergenekon investigation. On 24 March 2008, the journalist published an article headed "Suspicious State Council Plan at IP" and "They were going to attack the State Council". Arıkanoğlu is now on trial for "slander" (Article 267 of Turkish Penal Code), "attempt to influence judicial process (Article 288) and "violating secrecy (Article 285) at the Kadıköy 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. The court case will continue on 29 May. The journalist also faces a second similar trial.

Police officer Muhittin Zenit filed a lawsuit for damages against bianet.org for reporting the telephone conversation between Zenit and Erhan Tuncel about Hrant Dink's murder. Tuncel is on trial for instigating the murder of Hrant Dink. Zenit is suing bianet.org for the news reports appeared on the site on September 30, 2007 under the title "Vurulacak Şekil Belliydi" (How he was going to be shot was known) and on April 28, 2008 under the title "Dink Cinayetinde Yeni Kanıt: Muhsin Başkan'la Yasin Konusunda Görüşeceğiz" (New evidence in Dink's murder: We will converse with President Muhsin about Yasin). The amount Zenit is asking for damages is 25,000 YTL (about 12,500 Euro). Zenit appears in these news reports as telling Tuncel during a phone conversation that "What, they shot him from the head...This is the only difference. He was not going to run away, but this one did." The court case began at the Ankara 25th Civil Court of First Instance on 12 November 2008. Judge Ömer Kızılkaya has decided to research the financial situation of Zenit and the IPS Communication Foundation. The source for the first news report that bianet is being sued for was Doğan News Agency (DHA) report by Murat Utku about one hour forty-seven minute long telephone conversation between police officer Zenit and one of the alleged conspirators of Dink's murder, Erhan Tuncel. While Zenit talks about the details of the murder and congratulates those who did it in the telephone conversation, Tuncel denies any responsibility for it. The source for the second news was NTV report by Erdoğan Durna about the same telephone conversation, but this time the topic was how Tuncel told Zenit that he would discuss the situation of Yasin Hayal, who is on trial as an instigator of the murder, with President of the Great Union Party (BBP) Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu. Here Tuncel addreses Yazıcıoğlu as "President Muhsin" and gives Zenit his program of the Trabzon visit. Zenit is suing the NTV, one of the major television channels in Turkey, and asking for 90000 YTL (about 45000 euro) in damages. The case is being heard by Ankara's 1st Civil Court of First Instance.

Former Radikal journalist Perihan Mağden criticised the video clip "Don't make a plan" in two articles. She has now been convicted of insulting songwriter Arif Şirin (also known as Ozan Arif) and singer İsmail Türüt in the media, and has been sentenced to paying legal fines of 3,480 TL (around 1,550 Euros). In September 2007, an investigation was started into the song "Don't make a plan", composed by Sirin and sung by Türüt. It is said to include references to and praise of the suspected murderers of journalist Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of the weekly Agos newspaper. In addition, the song was put on the Internet website YouTube with a video clip about the murder.   The Beykoz 2nd Criminal Court decreed that Mağden was guilty of insult when she criticised Türüt for praising the suspects in the murder of  Hrant Dink and when she accused Arif of "fascism". The two cases ended with a sentence of 174 days imprisonment, converted to a 3,480 TL fine, on 12 March. Her lawyers took the sentence, which was not deferred, to the Supreme Court of Appeals. However, because the sentence in a case needs to be worth at least 2,000 TL in fines, and because there were two cases, there was a debate whether the lawyers could apply to the court. Finally, they tried to appeal with the two cases as one. The defence lawyer said in court that the articles as a whole did not represent insults, and that they were meant as criticisms. However, the court rejected the plea for an acquittal. The articles, both published in the Radikal newspaper were: "Don't make a plan/Let a jackal eat his mother" (18 September 2007) and "Terribly Personal Article" (16 October 2007). Speaking to the Agos newspaper, Mağden accused the lawyers of the plaintiffs to have taken the case to the Beykoz court with the help of faked addresses of their clients. She added that the refusal of the court to merge the two cases meant that she had been prevented from appealing to the Supreme Court of Appeals.  She added, "While the clip and song lyrics that honour the murderers of Hrant Dink are creating new murderers and encouraging people to commit murder, my conviction is exemplary. Just like Hrant Dnik and his son were given unjust punishments, I have been punished for defending Hrant Dink. I am going to take the decree to the ECHR to set an example."

Caricaturist İbrahim Özdabak was on trial for having satirised Chief Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya, who opened the closure case against the AKP, as a "cloaked owl". Özdabak was acquitted on 24 March at the Bakırköy 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. The caricature was published in the Yeni Asya newspaper on 19 March 2008, and portrayed Yalçınkaya as stating "Huguk! Huguk! Huguk! Huguk!", a play on the word "Hukuk" (law) and the sound of an owl. The caricaturist was prosecuted under ARticle 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, accused of "insulting via the media".

Günlük daily columnist Veysi Sarısözen and managing director Ziya Çiçekçi will face court on allegations of "propaganda of terrorist organization," with regard to an article titled "We don't do propaganda, public does". Prosecutor Hüseyin Ayar claimed that the article published on February 6th, 2009, is a violation of Article 7/2 of the Counter Terrorism Law. If convicted, Sarısözen and Çiçekçi face up to 7,5 years in prison.  First hearing of the case will be held on June 19th at Istanbul 12th High Criminal Court. This is the first case involving the newspaper, which only reached 65 editions so far. In his article, Sarısözen wrote, "We define the PKK [Kurdish rebel group] different than PM Erdoğan. We say that, in the Penal Code, PKK's actions should be regarded classified as the ban on uprising and armed organization to cause insurgence. Why would we make propaganda [of the PKK]? People do what they do. I never shouted or wrote Biji PKK [Long live PKK]. But I saw that in Diyarbakır, during the Newroz festivities one million people made propaganda against the Counter Terror Law". In the indictment, Ayar alleged that "the author makes propaganda by saying that the PKK is not regarded as a terrorist organization by the public and by himself; it's defined as a insurgent movement; that the people don't call terrorist those who the PM calls terrorists... and the suspect managing director has participated in this crime by publishing the article."

Journalist Hakan Tahmaz, Birgün daily manager Bülent Yılmaz and editorial manager İbrahim Çeşmecioğlu will face court for a published interview with Kurdish rebel group PKK's Murat Karayılan. In an indictment notified to the newspaper, public prosecutor Kadir Altınışık accuses them of publishing PKK statements and urges prison sentences.   First hearing of the court will be held on April 30th, at the Istanbul 10th High Criminal Court. They face up to 3 years in prison if convicted. Previously, the paper's edition dated August 9, 2008 was confiscated for publishing the interview, titled "Unilateral Ceasefire Amplifies the Problem". During a four-page interview, it read "Karayılan, who met with Tahmaz in Kandil Mountain [PKK's base] in Northern Iraq, stated that people on streets no longer want to witness violence but they're determined to continue a 'legitimate defense war', in his words." Emphasizing, "they don't want to establish a separate state but react to the denial of the Kurdish solution", Karayılan said that the Democratic Society Party (DTP) is regarded as a mid-tier but they want to pursue politics as PKK and this isn't in contradiction with the ongoing armed-struggle. Tahmaz and Çeşmecioğlu already testified before a prosecutor during the inquiry. On August 25, all three will once again give testimonies. During his testimony, Tahmaz rejected the allegations of "terrorist propaganda", saying he merely acted as a journalist and only relayed his observations to readers. They will be tried with Article 6/2 of the Counter Terrorism Law.

The Malatya 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance has sentenced Bülent Kutlutürk, owner of the Malatya Yenigün newspaper, and editor Fadime Akıncı to a suspended sentence of 1 year 3 months imprisonment each for "violating the secrecy of an investigation". They were convicted under Articles 285/1-3 and 53 of the Turkish Penal Code. The court decision was made public on 19 March. The two journalists published the statement a witness made to the police in a case of scrap metal corruption on 28 September 2007. Kutlutürk, the branch president of the Contemporary Journalists' Association (ÇGD) and Akıncı, a manager of the association, will be monitored for five years. The journalists appealed to the Malatya 1st High Criminal Court, but their appeal was rejected. The journalists argued that according to Article 11 of the Press Law, a newspaper's owner cannot be handed a prison sentence. Kutlutürk announced that they would appeal to the ECHR.

Mehmet Arslan, broadcasting editor of Radio Dünya, was acquitted on 17 March. He had been tried at the Adana 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance for "inciting hatred and hostility" by playing the Kurdish song "Keçe Kurdan" (Kurdish girl) in November 2007. Arslan pointed out that the song was sung by singer Aynur Doğan, whose cassettes were sold with the official stamp of the Ministry of Culture on them.

University students Ali Haydar Güneş, Esma Yavuz, Sabit Çiçek, Şahin Kösedağı, Nadide Toker, Ali Bozkına, Can Aydemir Sezer, Atilla Aka, Esra Sönmez and Nihal Samsum, who were facing two years imprisonment in a trial brought for saying "murderer state" and "war veterans of 19 December", were acquitted by the Eskişehir 2nd Criminal Court of Peace on 17 March. The Ministry of Justice had permitted their trial under Article 301, after they had protested against state operations in prisons on 19 December 2000, where many inmates died. The students had experienced lynching attempts and had been taken into police custody after the protests. They stood accused of "denigrating the state" and "praising a crime and criminals". The Ministry of Justice had also permitted the trial of writer Temel Demirer previously for calling the state a "murderer". Lawyers for the studnets said that going on hunger strike and calling the operations against prisoners a massacre were not crimes, and that supporting a hunger strike could not be called "praising a crime".

On 13 March, the Şişli 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, which was trying journalists Ahmet Sami Belek and Şahin Bayar of the Günlük Evrensel newspaper for the article "Torture just in case" under Article 301, sent the file not to the Ministry of Justice but to the Constitutional Court. When the Istanbul gendarmerie province command filed a complaint against the article, which was published on 23 August 2007, prosecutor Muhittin Ayata had prepared an indictment on 4 October 2007. Judge Hakkı Yalçınkaya said that having to ask permission of the Ministry of Justice for continuing the trial seemed to him a violation of Articles 8 and 9/2 of the constitution. He therefore wrote to the Constitutional Court. The case continues on 14 April. The news article was based on the allegation of six youths who said they had been tortured systematically in Esenyurt gendarmerie station. Their lawyer, Baran Doğan, said that his six clients had been taken into custody on 20 August 2007 for "preparing for a protest" and had been examined much later. His clients were not given copies of the reports and, so the lawyer, torture evidence was covered up.

Yakup Önal, writer for the local Şarköy Sesi newspaper, faces 25 years imprisonment, following the complaint of AKP mayor Can Gürsöy and two council members about his article entitled "Mayor Pinokyo and 9 dwarves", in which he criticised problems in Şarköy, Tekirdağ. The court case, in which the journalist is accused of "insulting via the media", continued on 11 March. An expert had evaluated the fairy tales as "news items if there is any truth in them". The case will continue on 3 June. The journalist began a series of articles on 20 July 2005, writing "Once upon a time, there was a mayor Pinokyo in a town called Şarkı, near the seaside. All of his decisions were unquestioningly accepted by nine dwarves." The journalist has been on trial for around 3 years.

The trial of six journalists who published articles on the death of 11-year-old Mizgin Özbek, who died after being shot from a security forces vehicle, continued at the Batman High Criminal Court on 10 March. Mustafa Kemal Çelik, owner of the Batman Postası, Batman Barış and Batman Vizyon newspapers, Aytekin Dal, editor of the Vizyon newspaper, Mehmet Sadık Aksöy, editor of the Barış newspaper and Mehmet Reşat Yiğiz, editor of the Çağdaş newspaper, and Nedim Arslan and Mustafa Seven of the Batman Petrol newspaper, are all being tried under Article 301 for "denigrating military forces". Their files have been sent to the Ministry of Justice. They have been acquitted of the accusation of attempting to influence a fair trial. On 16 September, defendants Batman Bar Association president Sedat Özevin and MAZLUMDER branch president Ahmet Sevim had been acquitted after being on trial for writing a report on the shooting. The Ministry had not given permission for their trial.

Abdurrahman Dilipak, journalist for the Anadolu'da Vakit newspapper, has been on trial for around five years for an article published in the 29 August-3 September 2003 issue, entitled "When the Generals Don't Listen". Dilipak was first tried at the 3rd Corps Command Military Court for damaging relations of hierarchy, and for using, via the media, insults that encouraged a disregard of duty towards superiors and commanders (Article 95/4 of the Military Penal Code). Following changes in the military penal code, it became unclear which civilian court should hear the case. Finally, the case continued at the Bakırköy Heavh Penal Court. Together with Dilipak, Mustafa Karahasanoğlu and three retired army officers are also on trial. The indictment demands between six months and three years imprisonment for the defendants. Dilipak is also on trial for an article entitled "Cloak and Turban", published on 13 September 2008 in the same newspaper. He is accused of "denigrating military forces in the press", under Article 301. He had written, "In visible places in their homes, they may hang up a green fez with a white turban around it, rather than their officer's hat. Remember how the Red Army was dispersed in one night...Society in Turkey has been frightenend and oppressed by briefings, killings by unknown perpetrators and systematic labelling...In order to create chaos, JİTEM worked in the east and NGOs in the west. The leader of the patriots said, 'We had 4,000 soldiers in plain clothes and no one realised.'"

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan continues to file for compensation from journalists, many of whom he attacked during the local election campaign prior to 29 March and defined as "partisan media", accusing them of attacking personal rights. He has recently filed for 10,000 TL compensation from Emin Çölaşan for comments during the "Ankara Rüzgarı" programme broadcast on ART TV on 8 February and from Cüneyt Arcayürek for an article entitled "Those getting on an unknown horse get off again quickly",  published in the Cumhuriyet newspaper on 6 February 2009. The AKP is demanding 10,000 TL from the Yeniçağ newspaper and 35,000 TL from the Ortadoğu newspaper. Erdoğan has gone to court for  a total of 25,000 TL.

Minister of Justice Mehmet Ali Şahin did not grant permission for academics Prof. Dr.  İbahim Kaboğlu and Prof. Dr. Baskın Oran to be tried under Article 301 for suggesting the term "citizen of Turkey" (Türkiyeli) rather than "Turk" (Türk) in their Minority Rights and Cultural Rights Report. The two were the president and sub-committee president of the Human Rights Advisory Board. Oya Aydın, lawyer for the two academics, said that the Ministry had evaluated phrases in the report as acceptable criticism and within the limits of the freedom of expression. The Ministry also referred to Article 26 of the Turkish Constitution and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Oran and Kaboğlu had been on trial for four years (without detention). It is expected that the court will now make a decision on 1 April. Kaboğlu and Oran said that Article 301 created crises in Turkey and limited personal freedom.

Yasin Yetişgen, editor of the weekly Çoban Ateşi (Shepherd's Fire) newspaper in Gaziantep, is still on trial for an article written by Berkan Coşkun, entitled "Mother, don't send me to the military" and published on 8 November 2007. Yetişgen faces accusations of "alienating the public from military service" and  "insulting the memory of Atatürk". The case at the Gaziantep 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance will continue on 15 April. The court case began on 9 May 2008, and the prosecution is demanding 7.5 years imprisonment. Another court case related to the article "Antep and the Shepherd's Fire" published on 3 August 2007 continues, based on the expression "Antep is an industrial city in Northern Kurdistan". Journalist Hurşit Kaşıkkırmaz, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued, is being tried for "inciting hatred and hostility".

On 20 February, the Adıyaman 1st High Criminal Court accepted the demand of journalist Hacı Boğatekin for a new judge at the Gerger Criminal Court of First Instance. He argued that he had been arrested for no reason and was not receiving a fair trial under judge Ayşe Gül Şimşek. The file was thus transferred to the Kahta Criminal Court of First Instance.  Because judge Abdullah Günakın was doing his military service, Şimşek had been hearing two cases of Boğatekin. The journalist had spent 109 under arrest in Kahta Cezaevi prison, after writing an article entitled "Feto and Apo", in which he criticised prosecutor Sadullah Ovacıklı, who had taken a statement from him, for being close to religious leader Fethullah Gülen. He stands accused of "attempting to influence the judiciary". Boğatekin rejected judge Şimşek on 5 February. He is now being tried without detention. His lawyers, Mustafa Köroğlu, Zeynel Fırat, Osman Süzen and Taylan Tanay, the latter from Istanbul's Contemporary Lawyers' Association (ÇHD), had withdrawn at the previous hearing in protest at what they said was an unfair trial.

Politician Mahmut Alınak has been sentenced to planting trees and looking after them for four months after being convicted of insulting PM Erdoğan. Alınak had said, "If he had an ounce of shame, he would not have come to Kars. We don't want Erdoğan, the enemy of freedom who has turned the lives of Turkish and Kurdish and all people into hell, in Kars. We protest against the air and soil of Kars being polluted by this blood politician." Alınak had first been sentenced to 11 months 20 days imprisonment by the Kars 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. According to Article 231 of the Criminal Procedure Code, he was released with the provision that he does not reoffend within the next five years, and was ordered to plant 500 trees in a designated area and look after them. The court decreed that the statement which Alınak had sent to the local media in Kars was insulting. Alınak will object to the decree at the Kars High Criminal Court within seven days. In his defence, he said, "According to the rules of a social state, the Prime Minister and their government are responsible even if a citizen hits their foot on a stone. The Prime Minister heads the government. Kars has gained the government two MPs, but the AKP has not done anything in Kars. It is our most natural right to criticise a Prime Minister who does not provide services. I had not intention of insulting, that is not in my nature, but rather of harsh criticism. The court case violates the freedom of expression and ECHR decisions." Last year, Alınak went to prison twice after refusing to pay administrative fines for calls to civil disobedience.

The Bursa 4th Criminal Court of Peace has sentenced four people for shouting slogans about the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The defendants were handed deferred prison sentences of 11 months and 20 days. Another defendant, O.B., is being tried at a children's court, while there are nine others still being tried by the Criminal Court of Peace. Two highschool pupils, two teachers and an association member were put on trial for "insulting" the PM at a protest. Nine more are still on trial for a protest staged against the central university entrance exam (ÖSS) on 29 March 2008. According to the report of the Bursa police, a 40-strong group called the "Hope of the Highschool Youth" gathered last year and walked to a theater in Bursa. Two snare drums were played, placards were carried and slogans shouted. Radikal newspaper journalist İsmail Saymaz quotes the report as saying: "The crowd was shouting 'Pro-American, collaborator, first religious, now liberal, selling education' with a recurring chorus of 'Lightbulb Tayyip'. Then two people playing snare drums kept the rhythm, and the slogan "You are a lightbulb, Tayyip, you are a lightbulb, Tayyip, you are a lightbulb, Tayyip' was shouted twice." The "lightbulb" refers to the symbol of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The group gathered in front of the theatre and frequently shouted slogans, such as "He is a pro-American, he is a collaborator, he is an IMF lackey, he is the enemy of the students, one, two, three, you are a lightbulb, Tayyip." and "Imam of the AKP, enemy of the students" and "jump, jump, AKP member who cannot jump". A megaphone was held by a highschool student, O.B., while a press statement was read by Berna Özaslan, last year also a highschool student but now at university. The protest was also attended by teachers Hasan Özaydın and Betül Öztürk, both leaders of the Bursa branch of the educational trade union Eğitim-Sen. Following the press statement, the group, shouting slogans, dispersed. Five months later, Özlaslan, Öztürk, Özaydin and Battal were taken to trial on the charge of insulting Erdoğan, and O.B., who was under 18, was taken to Bursa Children's Court. Defence lawyers have argued that the slogans were satirical. They argued that in the past politician Mesut Yılmaz had been called "Bee Mesut" after the symbol for the Motherland Party (ANAP), and Deniz Baykal has been called "Six Arrow Deniz" after the logo of the Republican People's Party (CHP), and that these incidents had never been considered insults. At the second hearing of the case, the PM had filed his complaint, and on 27 February 2009 the sentences were handed down. Citing Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, the four defendants were given deferred sentences of 11months and 20 days. The court argued that the slogans were a deliberate attempt to injure the respect and dignity of the Prime Minister's public position. On 1 April 2008, the "lightbulb" slogan was also used at a protest organised by the DİSK and KESK trade union confederations. Nine people were put on trial at the 7th Criminal Court of Peace under the same article, and Erdoğan also filed a complaint. The case continued on 18 March.

"A man born in Turkey cannot have a duty to his fatherland just because he was born in Turkey. This is not only true for Turkey either. People are born naked, without sin, without debt, and most importantly, without guns. No institution has the right to take over the life of a free person for a definite or indefinite time." Mustafa Karayay said these words in a speech in Yüksel Street near Kızılay Square in Ankara on 10 October 2008, when he announced that he was a conscientious objector. He had criticised military service, saying, "Many young people were taken in the prime of their life and killed in the name of military service. How can anyone pay the rights these people had?" Karayay faced three years imprisonment for alienating the public from military service. At the first hearing on 1 April at the Ankara 1st Criminal Court of Peace, Karayay told the court that he had expressed his own opinion during the press release and that they should be evaluated within the framework of the freedom of expression. The court hearing was monitored by members of the Conscientious Objection Committee of Ankara's Human Rights Association (İHD). The court acquitted Karayay at the first hearing. The legal article in question, Article 318 of the Turkish Penal Code, came into effect on 1 June 2005: (1) Persons who give incentives or make suggestions or spread propaganda which will have the effect of discouraging people from performing military service shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of six months to two years. (2) If the act is committed through the medium of the press and media, the penalty shall be increased by half.

The 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance of Fatih, İstanbul declared lack of jurisdiction in the case against weekly Atılım, filed for the article it published article about past leftist revolutionaries Deniz Gezmiş, Mahir Çayan and İbrahim Kaypakkaya. Atılım is accused of "praising the crime and the criminal." The case that was filed for the article titled "İbo, Mahir, Deniz, together till victory" published in the agenda section of the newspaper has been sent to the High Criminal Court. The said case began today November 3. Gezmiş, Çayan and Kaypakkaya are still seen as criminals and charged with article 215 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) in the 40th anniversary of the 68 movement. In the indictment presented at the trial, Gezmiş, Çayan and Kaypakkaya, identified as the leaders of the Youth Movement of the 68 and 71, were described as "terrorists" and their activities as "terror activities". According to the article that brought the case, "They were remembered by the slogans that represented only one channel of the revolutionary movement of 71. Today, we need to claim  the stars of 71 with a perspective that embraces all three channels and that learn from each of these channels. We need to adopt and go beyond their legacy by bringing up the advanced and criticizing the backward aspects of it. Therefore, we are not only claiming Deniz or Mahir or İbrahim, but all three of them. We see the revolutionary leap of 71, together with the Mustafa Suphis's Turkish Communist Party of 1920s, as our root, as our history. We will follow İbo, Mahir and Deniz till the victory."

On 26 February, the prosecution at the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court demanded the punishment of Kurdish politician Leyla Zana for a speech she made at London's SOAS University. At a seminar held at the university on 24 May 2008, she had said, "What the brain and heart are for humans, PKK and Öcalan are for the Kurdish people. They created a new life for the Kurdish people, so that a people which was ashamed of its own existence gained a spirit of freedom and resistance." Zana is being tried under Article  7/2 of the Anti-Terrorism Law and accused of spreading propaganda for the PKK. At the hearing on 26 February, Zana said taht she did not remember whether she had referred to imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, but that her opinions were within the limits of the freedom of expression. She demanded her acquittal. The prosecutor read her words from the transcript of the Kurdish Roj TV channel that had been sent to court by the police. Zana was one of several politicians arrested in 1994 for adding a Kurdish oath to their swearing-in in parliament. They were released in 2004.

The court case of Metropolitan Diyarbakır Mayor Osman Baydemir and DTP province chiar Nejdet Atalay, who are on trial for describing PKK members as "guerillas", will continue on 21 April. Because of the local elections, the defendants have been given time to prepare their defence. They are being tried under Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terrorism Law and face up to five years imprisonment. The politicians had read out a press statement on 25 February 2008, protesting against the ground invasion of Northern Iraq  by Turkish Armed Forces. Baydemir said in his defence, "When I made that speech, my aim was to express my hopes and expectations for an end to the pain in the country, and to criticise. I did not intend to commit a crime. As a sensitive citizen, I expressed the sorrow I felt for the deaths of police, soldiers, civilians and guerillas." Atalay said that the speech was not made with criminal intent, but "to show that the events and the blood flowing in the region for 30 years cannot be solved in the way the government thinks they can." Baydemir is also on trial for Kurdish language content on the municipal website's monthly Metrepor Bulletin. The Diyarbakır 3rd Criminal Court of First Instance is trying him for "violating the Law on the Wearing of Hats and the Turkish Alphabet". He is further on trial in another case, accused of abusing his position.

The trial of journalist Yalçın Ergündoğan of the Birgün newspaper continues, with both demands for imprisonment and compensation. Haydar Baş, president of the Independent Turkey Party and head of Kadiri religious order, had filed a lawsuit against Ergündoğan for attacking his personal rights through the abovementioned news article published on April 26, 2005 and asked for compensation in the amount of 5000 YTL (about 2500 Euro).  Although there was a trial process for the same article with three-year prison sentence demand, which had a scheduled hearing on September 18, Beyoğlu's 4^th Criminal Court of Peace in Istanbul had already fined the author 1500 YTL (about 750 Euro).. The Legal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals reversed the decision on the grounds that the trial process had not been completed. Therefore, Ergündoğan's case continues at Beyoğlu's 4^th Civil Court of Peace, while the criminal court case continues at the Beyoğlu 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. The writer had said the following right before his sentence: "Now, is it not news to publish in an internet site (The Real Face of Haydar Baş) that the disciples of Haydar Baş, who is president of a political party, left him and why they left. It is with the publishing of this news that the subject was brought to public's attention and a Republican People's Party deputy had brought it to the Parliament's agenda."  The journalist is further on trial at the Istanbul 7th Civil Court of First Instance, facing a demand for 20,000 YTL compensation, and at the Criminal Court of Peace, with 5,000 TL demanded.

A court case against Vakıt newspaper owner Nuri Aykon, editor Harun Aksoy and former RTÜK member Mehmet Doğan brought by 312 generals, including four former force commanders, continues at the Ankara 20th Civil Court of First Instance. The soldiers are demanding compensation. The Supreme Court of Appeal's 4th Legal Chamber had overruled the court's handing down of a 1 million TL compensation punishment because it was not clear whether the article in question, published on 25 August 2003 under the pen name Asım Yenihaber, was sent to the newspaper by Mehmet Doğan, whose IP address had been identified.

The Ministry of Justice has granted permission for the trial of Hakan Taştan and Turan Topal under Article 301. The two are accused of "denigrating Turkishness" with purported protestant missionary activities. The case of the two defendants continued on 24 February. The Silivri 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance will consider the argument of lawyers for plaintiffs, who say that there was organised missionary activity and the investigation should therefore be widened. The next hearing is on 28 May. The Turkish Penal Code does not contain a "crime" of "carrying out missionary activity" or "spreading a religion". The indictment says that an informant said to the gendarmerie on the phone that there were attempts being made to turn Silivri into a Christian holy area and to organise at schools, and that there were conversations denigrating Turkishness, military service and Islam.

Radio Dünya broadcasts in the province of Adana, in southern Turkey. On 23 February, the radio station's lawyer Tugay Bek found out that the station has been acquitted in a trial concerning the broadcast of a Kurdish folk song two years ago. The case had been heard at Adana's 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance since 8 January 2008. Broadcast editor Mehmet Arslan had faced imprisonment. However, the court has now decreed that there was no proof of a crime. The folk song "Mihemedo", sung by exiled Kurdish singer Şiwan Perver, has ironically since been played on the newly set up state TRT 6 channel which has been broadcasting in Kurdish since January 2009. However, when it was played on the local radio station in Adana on 16 October 2007, the Anti-Terrorism Unit of the Adana Police had filed a criminal complaint. According to Radikal newspaper, the prosecutor's indictment cited the following lyrics of the song as an incitement to hatred and hostility: "Let the Turks also feel pain, they say that they have laid out my Mehmed in the sun, they told me and said, the Turkish soldiers followed my Mehmed and caught him, for the life of me, tell them in Diyarbakır and Siverek, tell the fathers and brothers to take revenge for my Mehmed." An expert report ordered by the court had found that "although there are some suggestive works in the song, it is a folk song. It is not clear that it was broadcast in order to spread hatred among people deliberately, and no criminal intention has been found." While the acquittal has been met with joy by the radio station, Kenan Karavil of Radio Dünya pointed out that there was another court case hanging over them: "We are on trial at the Adana Criminal Court of First Instance for playing the Keçe Kurda (Kurdish Girl) song sung by Aynur Doğan in Kurdish. And this is despite the fact that national media play this song without problems.

The Şişli Chief Public Prosecution has opened a trial against the Turkish translation of Richard Dawkins' "God Delusion" for "inciting the pople to hatred and hostility or denigration". While Erol Karaaslan, owner of Kuzey Publications, had been acquitted in another case following the complaint of an Emre Bukağılı last year, he is now again on trial after the complaint of a Sona Eskinazi, who says that the book insults the Jewish religion, Allah and the prophets. The publisher will again be at the Şişli 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, where he was acquitted on 2 April 2008, on 16 June 2009. Prosecutor Muhittin Ayata is demanding up to four years imprisonment under Articles 216/1-3 and 54 of the Turkish Penal Code.

Mayor Hüseyin Kalkan was sentenced to 1.5 years imprisonment for supporting the words of DTP Diyarbakır province chair Hilmi Aydoğdu, who had said, "Attacks on Kerkük are attacks on Diyarbakır and vice versa." The Batman 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance reduced the sentence to 1 year 3 months for good behaviour during the trial. The court had previously decided to suspend the sentence because Kalkan had no previous convictions of premeditated crime. In the last two years, he has received a total of 3 years and 9 months imprisonmnet and 10,875 TL fines in six cases related to expressing his opinion. Four of the files are currently at the Supreme Court of Appeals. Kalkan is also one of the DTP mayors who sent a letter to the Danish PM, asking him not to close the Kurdish Roj TV satellite channel. He received a 1,875 TL fine for "praising a crime and a criminal" and was not able to appeal because the fine was lower than 2,000 TL.

In October 2007, the PKK attacked a military base in Dağlıca, southeast of Turkey, and later kidnapped 8 soldiers. Milliyet newspaper announced their release on 4 November. Now responsible editor Hasan Çakkalkurt has been sentenced to 1 year, 6 months and 22 days imprisonment for violating the secrecy of an investigation. On 12 November 2007, Milliyet newspaper carried articles with the headlines "Arrest of eight kidnapped soldiers" and "They talked about the night of the battle". The Gendarmerie General Command had applied to the Van Gendarmerie Command Military Court in order to ban all print and broadcasting media from covering events related to the Dağlıca attack and kidnapping, citing the fact that the eight soldiers were being investigated. In the attack, thirteen soldiers had been killed and 17 more wounded. The Bakırköy 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance decreed on 13 February this year that the articles published by the Milliyet newspaper represented a violation of the media ban. Under Article 283/1 of the Turkish Penal Code, responsible editor Çakkalkurt was sentenced. The initial sentence of one year was increased to 1 year, 10 months and 15 days because the offence was repeated in print. Because of the behaviour of the journalist at the hearings, the sentence was finally reduced to 1 year, 6 months and 22 days. Lawyers for the newspaper have argued that the news item is of the same date as the Van military court's decision to impose a media ban, and that thus no violation took place. They also spoke of the right of the people to be informed. Because the prison sentence was over a year, it was not converted into a fine. The newspaper's lawyers have appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeals.

The Muş Criminal Court of Peace is trying Emrullah Özbey, owner of the Haber 49 newspaper, for "continuing insulting publications" related to former province Education vice director Sadettin Yıldırım. On 17 January 2005, he published an article entitled "Signature Scandal", in which he said that an exam that four disabled persons also sat was cancelled with a fake signature. When the four disabled persons were given back their positions after a State Council decision, the journalist continued to criticise Yıldırım, who was transferred to the Muş Directorate of Tourism and Culture. The journalist, who will be in court again on 6 April, was previously sentenced to paying 2,000 TL compensation. Before the decision was ratified, Yıldırım laid an attachment onto some of Özbey's office possessions and had some of his bank accounts frozen. In another article, "Disabled Exam with Fake Signature", Özbey had said that Yıldırım had faked the signature of Muş Education Director Yavuz İçyer in order to cancel an exam. The journalist had been given a deferred fine of 854 TL and the case had been taken to the Supreme Court of Appeals for the second time. The Muş Criminal Court of First Instance had convicted Özbey, despite the fact that it accepted that Yıldırım had "caused the insult through faulty actions of his own". The journalist was sentenced to paying 2,000 TL compensation.

At the 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance in Bakırköy, Posta photo-reporter Ahmet Cumalı has been sentenced for violating the private life of Derin Mermerci, a well-known woman in high-society, whom he took photos of at a fashion show. The sentence is still to be announced. In a previous case, Cumalı had been sentenced to 1 year 3 months imprisonment for taking photos of singer Sezen Aksu in her bathing suit. The sentence, handed out by Bakırköy's 16th Criminal Court of First Instance on 4 November 2008 under Article 134/2 of the Turkish Penal Code, had been deferred. However, because Cumalı has been sentenced for the same offense within five years, he will face punishment for both cases.

Oktay Candemir and Ercan Öksüz, reporters in Van for the Dicle News Agency (DİHA), are being tried for "inciting to hatred and hostility" in a feature entitled "Witness of Zilan Massacre Speaks". They face up to three years imprisonment for an interview with 94-year-old Kakil Erdem, who experienced the massacre at the Zilan river in 1930, when he was 17 years old. The witness said in the news, which was published towards the end of September 2007, that people had been tortured and that soldiers had killed 35 of his relatives. In his witness statement, he described hte maltreatment of a pregnant woman and three relatives. The journalists have been on trial at the Van 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance since 9 September 2008.

A recent statement by Turkey's Minister of Justice has shown the extent to which certain laws are used to open trials. Most shocking is the number of children put on trial.  Following the written question of Diyarbakır's Democratic Society Party (DTP) MP Selahattin Demirtaş, Minister of Justice Mehmet Ali Şahin told parliament that a total of 742 trials were opened under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code in 2006 and 2007, and that 1,042 people were tried in these cases. From his answer it emerged that 16 of the people on trial were children. During the same period, 309 people were convicted under Article 301; of these, six were children. In his statement, which was given on 6 February, the minister further said that a total of 4,784 trials were opened in the relevant time period under Anti-Terrorism Law No. 3713. A total of 11,720 people were tried, 737 of them children. Under Article 220 of the Turkish Penal Code, which deals with membership in and spreading propaganda for illegal organisations, 2,469 trials were opened in the two years. A total of 17,510 people were put on trial, 422 of them children. Courts opened another 2,239 trials under Article 314, which deals with founding and leading an armed organisation. A total of 6,582 people were tried, 413 of them children. On 11 February, the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted a report written by Ria Oomen-Ruijten, Dutch MEP and Rapporteur on Turkey's accession, with 65 votes to 4. The progress report on Turkey in 2008 emphasises worries about press freedom and freedom and expression in Turkey. It referred to changes in Article 301, which were made in April 2008 and took effect on 8 May, saying that the changes were not sufficient to prevent the trial of non-violent opinions.

The Şişli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has decided not to start a trial following a complaint against Mustafa Sarıgül, mayor of Istanbul's Şişli municipality. Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead in front of his newspaper office in Şişli on 19 January 2007. His funeral was attended by over 100,000 people, many of them carrying placards which read "We are all Armenian" or "Murderer 301", referring to Dink's trial under the controversial Article 301. The protestors walked through Istanbul from his office to the church where he was buried. The march was mostly silent, but sometimes the crowd called out "We are all Armenian", a demonstration of solidarity which has been distorted by nationalists. Following the funeral, Mete Çağdaş, a columnist in a local newspaper in Sinop, on the Western Black Sea, had filed a complaint against the mayor of Şişli, arguing that the slogans represented a violation of Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code and insulted Turkishness. Çağdaş had written in the newspaper Haber 57 that, as a journalist, he condemned the murder of his colleague Dink, but that the slogans used at his funeral were unacceptable. He said that his grandfather was killed by an Armenian gang. He also wrote an article entitled "Honourable Prosecutor", which read: "They carried placards saying 'Hrant's murderer is Article 301.' They branded the laws of the Turkish Republic as murderers. Shouting 'We are all Armenian', they violated the constitution. They insulted the unity of the nation with separatism based on race. They caused traffic congestion. With live broadcasts, they encouraged others to take part in the demonstration. They did not even carry one Turkish flag. What else do you want? Treason, provocation, separatism and extreme disturbance. I am complaining and am a plaintiff. Honourable Prosecutor, please start an investigation..." Çağdaş also said that the funerals of soldiers were ignored. In a reaction to the prosecutor's decision,  he wrote on 8 February, he said: "Two, three marauders, a handful of gangsters and traitors- we were beaten by them," thus insulting those taking part in the funeral procession. The Şişli prosecution decided not to prosecute on 15 January, but the decision has only just been made public.

Melih Kaşkar, editor of the Milas Önder newspaper, is on trial at the Milas 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance for "insulting the PM in the media". The newspaper's editor-in-chief Coşkun Efendioğlu said that once a week on Saturdays, they published jokes sent in by readers. Now both President Gül and PM Erdoğan have filed complaints for being called "dishonourable" in such jokes, and Kaşkar faces up to 2 years and 8 months imprisonment. Lawyer Mustafa İlker Gürkan has demanded that the two cases be merged and sent to an expert. The next hearing is in April.

Journalist Naif Karabatak is on trial for supporting the right of women to enter university wearing headscarves after constitutional change was passed. In an article entitled "Where are the prosecutors", published in the Güne Bakış newspaper on 28 February 2008, he complained about Prof. Dr. Mustafa Gündüz, rector of Adıyaman university. The court case began on 27 November 2008, and the next hearing will be on 22 April. Karabatak said in his defence that sentences in the indictment were not his words and that words he used had been used to create different meaning. He also objected to questioning procedures.

Following Minister of Justice Mehmet Ali Şahin's decision to allow the trial of writer Temel Demirer under the notorious Article 301, the 2nd Ankara Criminal Court of First Instance is awaiting whether the Ankara 4th Administrative Court will cancel this permission. Demirer is accused of "denigrating the state of the Turkish Republic" and faces up to two years imprisonment. The administrative court may take until 29 May to make a decision. The writer's lawyers, Filiz Kalaycı and Levent Kanat appealed for a cancellation of permission for trial on 10 November 2008 to the administrative court. When this court rejected the appeal for stopping the trial, the lawyers then appealed to the regional administrative court. The Ankara Criminal Court of First Instance has been awaiting a decision of this second administrative court since 14 November 2008. Kanat said that they had demanded a copy of the report on the murder of Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist, compiled by the Prime Ministerial Investigation Committee. The criminal court has indicated that it will await the decree of the administrative court before evaluating any further demands, but has allowed the defence to obtain a copy by themselves. Demirer had said, "Hrant Dink was not killed for being Armenian, but for recognising the genocide [of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915]." Public Prosecutor Levent Savaş wrote an indictment on 24 December 2007, including police reports, transcripts of recordings prepared by the police, and CDs. Demirer spoke at a meeting in protest at Dink's murder and is said to have said: "(...) We are living in a country that conspires to kill those who shout out the truth. Hrant was not only murdered because he was Armenian, but because he told the truth about the genocide that happened in this country. If Turkish intellectuals do not commit 301 crimes under Article 301, they will also have murderered Hrant. We have a genocide in our history, an Armenian genocide. Hrant told us all the truth about this and paid for it with his life. Those who do not commit crimes against this murderous state are also murderers. Those who killed the Armenians in the past, are now attacking our Kurdish brothers. Those who want brotherhood of peoples need to face history. We must commit offences so that what happened to our Armenian brothers and sisters does not happen to our Kurdish brothers and sisters. I call on all of you to commit offences. Yes, there was an Armenian genocide in this country."

Aysel Tuğluk, Diyarbakır MP for the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), said in Batman in February 2007: "The honourable Prime Minister is telling us that he will talk to us if we denounce the PKK as terrorists. Even if we do that, this problem will not be solved." She now faces 1.5 years imprisonment for the speech she made at the party conference in the southeastern city. At the hearing at Diyarbakır's 4th High Criminal Court on 5 February, her lawyers rejected all charges; however, she was sentenced to 1.5 years imprisonment for spreading PKK propaganda. The sentence was not deferred. The court had put a halt to the case when Tuğluk was elected into parliament in July 2007. However, when the Supreme Court of appeals overturned this decree, she was retried. Her lawyers, Sabahattin Acar and Fethi Gümüş, told bianet that her utterance had been taken out of context. They said that she had been emphasising democracy, equality, peace and brotherhood, and that her words had been twisted in order to accuse her. Gümüş announced that they would file an appeal against the sentence today (6 February). The court did not consider any extenuating circumstances, and has sent the file to the Parliamentary Speaker's Office in order to lift her parliamentarian immunity. Selahattin Demirtaş, also Diyarbakır MP for the DTP and parliamentary group leader, made a written statement in which he said that the government's and Prime Minister's politics were increasing the pressure on Kurdish politicians. He said that the party was interpreting this decree as "a punishment handed out by the PM personally." "The judgment in Tuğluk's case is the result of a political approach. The basic arguments of this political approach have been imposed onto society by PM Erdoğan," he added. Demirtaş said that he would gladly sign his name under the speech which earned Aysel Tuğluk a prison sentence, and that they considered it a punishment given to all peace supporters, those who were seeking a democratic solution to the Kurdish issue, and everyone using their democratic political rights. "The time to hold people to account for the prison sentences of the honourable Leyla Zana, and now for the honourable Aysel Tuğluk, will be at the balllot boxes of 29 March (when local elections take place). We will make our most meaningful reply to those who think they can silence us by punishing us with an embarrassing victory, and we will present this gift to our people, who are thirsting for freedom."

On 19 March, the Üsküdar 1st Criminal Court of Peace sentenced conscientious objector Doğan Özkan to two months imprisonment and a 440 TL fine for "alienating the public from military service". The court then converted the sentence into a fine and also suspended it for good behaviour and other reasons. In his written defence, Özkan had said, "It is good to alienate the people from the miltary and from killing. I have always told civilians and soldiers that it is bad to go to the military and that there are other ways of living. I will not obey any sanctions given to me for these expressions." His lawyer Birsen Atakan said that her client was a pacifist who opposed kililng, and that his statements needed to be evaluated as freedom of expression. International agreements recognise the right to conscientious objection as a human right. She called for the case to be sent to the constitutional court in order to evaluate it in terms of Article 318 of the constitution, and for the acquittal of her client. The judge, saying that Özkan was insisting on his opinion, convicted him. Özkan has announced that he will appeal. As part of Human Rights Week, the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) staged a conscientious objection campaign in front of the Selimiye barracks in Üsküdar, Istanbul on 12 December 2004. Doğan Özkan read a press statement on behalf of the association.

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecution has applied to the Ministry of Justice for permission to proceed against the signature campaign seeking apology "from my Armenian brothers and sisters" under Article 301. Six people in Ankara had filed a criminal complaint against the organisers of and the signatories to the campaign. The Sincan 1st High Criminal Court in Ankara had overruled the Ankara prosecution's decision to drop the investigation. Around 30,000 people have signed the campaign up to now. The text of the campaign read: "My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to them."

The prosecutor at the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court, which sentenced former DEP MP Leyla Zana to ten years imprisonment for alleged membership in the PKK, found the sentence too short. The prosecutor demanded a further five years imprisonment for each of nine speeches that Zan amade in Diyarbakır, Batman and the EU Parliament, in which she spoke of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan as the "leader of the Kurdish people" and of PKK actions as "freedom struggle".

On 2 February it emerged that Erkan Çapraz, editor-in-chief of the Yüksekova Haber website, who was accused of spreading PKK propaganda when he published visual material relating to the Aktütün attack on 15 May 2008, has been acquitted. The decision was made on 31 October 2008 and the court decreed that there was no criminal act. The acquittal decision said that there was no propaganda, but a news item related to the attack on the gendarmerie station. The journalist was accused of "denigrating the armed forces of the Turkish Republic" (Article 301), inciting the public to hatred and hostility and spreading organisational propaganda and encouraging terrorist activities. The Yüksekova prosecution had initiated five separate investigations.

Mehdi Tanrıkulu, owner of Tevn Publications and DTP Fatih district leader in Istanbul, is facing a second trial for violating the Law on the Acceptance and Application of Turkish Letters. The second trial was opened because Tanrıkulu filed a criminal complaint in Kurdish about the soldiers and police officers named as having tortured people in the book "From Being Officer to Becoming a Private" (Astsubayken Er Olmak). The first trial was opened because he filed a criminal complaint in Kurdish about Diyarbakır prosecutor Muammer Özcan, who had used the expression "so-called Kurdish people" in an indictment. Tanrıkulu was sentenced to six months imprisonment at the Istanbul 1st Criminal Court of Peace on 6 February 2008, and he has appealed against the sentence. The case is now at the Sultanahmet 2nd Criminal Court of Peace. The first and second trials were merged, as it emerged on 27 January. Tanrıkulu can carry out his defence in Kurdish, using an interpreter. However, he said that a judge shouted at him at the recent hearing, shouting: "You know Turkish, why don't you speak it?" Throughout the trial, he has heard this comment from nearly all judges, but he says he will insist on using his mothertongue.

Taraf responsible editor Adnan Demir will be tried at the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court for publications relating to the PK K attack on the Aktütün gendarmerie station in Hakkari on 4 October 2008. The prosecution said in its indictment that Demir had "revealed confidential army information". The case was brought after a complaint by the General Staff, and Demir faces up to 5 years imprisonment, based on Article 329 of the Turkish Penal Code. During the attack, 17 soldiers died, and the Taraf newspaper had claimed that there was negligence on behalf of the military. The Chief of Staff's Military Court ordered a publication ban of the news item entitled "We Called on You to Confess about Aktütün...Now We Explain", published on 14 October 2008.

Ahmet Altan, writer and editor-in-chief of the Taraf newspaper, is on trial at the Kadıköy 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance for a frontpage article about the former Chief of General Staff, entitled "Büyükanıt was also a target", published on 28 March 2008. He is accused of "violating secrecy" and "attempting to influence the judiciary". The case will continue on 12 June. There are over 70 criminal court cases open against Taraf writers Ahmet Altan, Yasemin Çongar, Nevzat Çiçek, Mehmet Baransu, Bahar Kılıçgedik, Başar Arslan, Bibel Hürtaş, Adnan Keskin and Adnan Demir, most of them relating to the Ergenekon investigation. The cases were all opened in 2008 and accuse the journalists of violating the secrecy of an investigation, attempting to influence the judiciary and similar crimes. Media organs belonging to the Doğan media group are on trial in more than 200 cases relating to the Ergenekon investigation which started in June 2007.

Three members of the Labour Youth, Şerafettin Gökdeniz, Sercan Bakır and Ekin Can Kınık, are on trial for insulting the Prime Minister. After sending a signature campaign against the central university exam ÖSS to parliament on 20 May 2008, they shouted the slogan "Born in Istanbul, Became an American, son of murderer Bush Tayyip Erdoğan". They will appear in court at the Beyoğlu 1st Criminal Court of Peace on 14 April.

The Tunceli Criminal Court of First Instance has punished DTP province chair Murat Polat and five party members for preparing flyers and posters reading "Long live 1 May" in Kurdish for Labour Day 2008. Polat and Ufuk Sünger, Hüseyin Özdenk, Nurcan Kasun, Zeki Yıldırım and İbrahim Halil Ateş have been handed 5 months imprisonment each under Article 81/c of Political Party Law No. 2820. The sentences were suspended, with a warning that any intentional crime committed in the period of the next five years would also lead to the sentences being applied. The sentences come at a time when the Minstry of Justice is making it easier for prisoners to speak Kurdish with their families and when state TV channel TRT 6 is broadcasting in Kurdish around the clock.

After using the expression "Respectable" for imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in Iskenderun when reporting on a DTP press briefing, Ersen Korkmaz, owner of the Demokrat Iskenderun newspaper is on trial. The article in question, "An end to Imralı prison and its practices must be taken seriously as a great contribution to social peace", published on 18 November 2008, led to an indictment on 24 December 2008. Korkmaz is accused of "praising a crime and a criminal" under Article 215 of the Turkish Penal Code, and with him, DTP Iskenderun province chair Mahmut Aydıncı. Their case will begin at the Iskenderun 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 13 May. In a statement on 15 December 2008, Korkmaz said that, as part of the freedom of the press, they had covered the press briefing without commenting on the content. Korkmaz is also on trial for reporting on a panel organised by the Turkish Communist Party (TKP) in an article entitled "The Kurdish leader was taken and surrendered to the fascists", under Article 159 of the old Turkish Penal Code. He and TKP representative Necmettin Salaz face up to three years imprisonment for "insulting and deriding the military and the police".

The Manisa 2nd Criminal Court of Peace has sentenced Şah İsmail Özocak, the Labour Party-supported independent candidate, to a 3,000 TL legal fine for election propaganda in Kurdish, despite the fact that he does not speak Kurdish. Özocak said that no Kurdish was used at the rally on 15 July 2007, except for introducing the visitors in Kurdish and Turkish. "I have also got the CD shown as evidence. Can you create a crime of propaganda with that?" he said. Özocak was informed of the punishment on 8 January and appealed against it on 12January. He pointed out that a) he did not speak Kurdish and b) that the government had just started Kurdish broadcasts on state TV at the beginning of 2009. Özocak was punished with six months imprisonment under the Political Party Law, which was reduced to five months and then converted into 3,000 TL. The case is now at the Supreme Court of Appeals.

Corrections and Legal Redress

The Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court has not announced its view on the merging of the State Council attack case and the attacks on the Cumhuriyet newspaper with the Ergenekon case. According to news on 31 March, the Istanbul court would first like the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court which deals with the State Council case to publish its opinion. The Ankara court's sentencing of Alparslan Arlsan and seven others for the attack had been overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeals, which argued that the case needed to be merged with the Ergenekon case.  The case is now back in Ankara.

On 26 March, Star news group head Uğur Dündar filed a compalint with the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) because the second Ergenekon indictment contained the baseless claim that "his wife went to Brazil by herself". Dündar said that the second indictment, accepted by the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court on 25 March, violated his privacy and he filed complaints against public prosecutors Ercan Şafak, M. Ali Pekgüzel, Fikret Seçen, Mehmet Murat Yönder, Zekeriya Öz and Nihat Taşkın. Cumhuriyet newspaper wner İlhan Selçuk had filed a similar complaint against prosecutors Zekeriya Öz, Mehmet Ali Pekgüzel and Nihat Taşkin after the first indictment was written on 10 July 2008.

The Internet radio station Nor Radio (Nor Zartonk) started its broadcasts with an event in Istanbul on 17 January. Under the slogan "Forgetting means loss", the radio volunteers remembered murdered journalist Hrant Dink. Sayat Tekir from the radio station said that the station with an Armenian name was aiming at multi-lingual and multi-cultural broadcasts. "In Turkey, Armenians and others cannot speak their languages and slowly become assimilated." The radio can be listened to at www.norradiyo.com from 8 pm to 1 am. 20 volunteers work for the radio.

Journalist Faruk Balıkçı believes that those on duty in the southeast of the country and later taken into custody in the Ergenekon investigation may be connected to the death of Sabah newspaper reporter İzzet Kezer, who died after covering events at Newroz in Cizre on 23 March 1992. When he and other journalists were trying to seek refuge in a hotel, holding up a white flag, he was killed. The Turkey Human Rights Foundation (TİHV) wrote in its 1992 report that he was shot from a police tank. Although the statements of several journalists were taken, the case was considered to be unsolvable. Balıkçı, who is the president of the Journalists' Society in the East and Southeast of Turkey and Diyarbakır office head of the DHA news agency, says that those with an "Ergenekon mentality" were in charge then and prevented an investigation.

On 3 February was the fourth hearing at the Hasdal Military Prison of four people accused of torturing and injuring conscientious objector Mehmet Bal. Because Bal had not been notified of the first hearing, five detained soldiers were listened to again. Bal, whose own trial continues on 17 March, said that witnesses gave contradictory answers: "The witnesses either claimed not to know or to remember. Some of them said 'I won't steep to the level of Bal and his lawyers' and refused to answer questions." One of the witnesses is alleged to have said, "I hate Bal so much, that I could strangle him in court." Bal pointed out that the military prosecutor in the case against his alleged torturers, Ertan Aydın, was the same who had filed a criminal complaint agianst Bal under Article 301.

A group of intellectuals, including Aydın Karahasan, Dr. Mustafa Kibaroğlu, Sadık Varer and Selma Çakır Koçiva, has written a letter to the Prime Minister, asking him to consider the fact that the Laz language was in UNESCO's atlas of endangered languages and offer support for the language to continue to exist. The group pointed out that there needed to be clear guidelines on mothertongue and/or bilingual education, Laz literacy events, the return to former Laz place names, research into Laz culture, as well as publishing freedom for Laz and other languages in Turkey.

On 4 March, Rüya Özkalkan, president of the Istanbul branch of the Turkey Journalists' Trade Union (TGS) said that the strike of employees of the Turkuvaz media group, which owns atv, the Sabah newspaper and some magazines, has received greater publicity and support than expected. Because of pressure from the employer, participation in the strike remained low, but labour organisations, professional associations and other groups have kept morale high with their support from outside. Ten people have continued the strike for 20 days. Trade union members dismissed on 17 February have taken legal action to get their jobs back.

On 27 February, the Istanbul 7th High Criminal Court dropped the case against Yalçın Özbey, against whom a warrant of apprehension had been issued in absentia, and Yusuf Çelikkaya, who had sent a letter of confession from jail years after the murder of journalist Abdi İpekçi 30 years ago. The case had reached its statute of limitations. Prosecutor Fethi Türkmen, however, argued that when the warrant had been issued, less time had passed, and that the case could continue. The court said that statute of limitations was normally reached after 20 years, and if extended according to Article 104/2 of the Turkish Penal Code, 30 years. İpekçi, editor-in-chief of Milliyet newspaper, was killed on 1 February 1979 when driving to his home in Nişantaşı, Istanbul. The court further decided to lift the warrant of apprehension against Özbey. Appeals could be made within seven days.

Journalists commemorated murdered journalist Abdi İpekçi, editor-in-chief of the Milliyet newspaper, at his graveside, thirty years after his death. On 1 February 2009, Orhan Erinç, president of the Turkey Journalists' Society (TGC) said, "In Turkey, only limited progress can be made in the case of such murders. If at all, the gunmen are caught, btu those who direct, support and empower them are still shrouded in darkness." Sedat Ergin, editor-in-chief of Milliyet, siad, "As long as such murders are not fully solved, we will not find out about our near history in an objective manner." Mehmet Ali Ağca, the man who shot İpekçi and tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II, had previously been sentenced to 36 years imprisonment for two separate cases of robbery. In February 2006, he was setenced to 21 years and 8 months imprisonment in a new trial.

Ümit Sayın, who was arrested on 25 February 2007 on charges of membership in the armed Ergenekon terrorist organisation and incitement to armed rebellion against the government, has also been questioned about msn communication relating to the murder of jurnalist Uğur Mumcu. Mumcu was killed by a bomb in his car in Ankara on 24 January 1993. In the Umut (Hope) case concerning his murder and that of other intellectuals, only one person has ended in prison.

Mehdi Tanrıkulu, formerly imprisoned and a sworn Kurdish interpreter, has supported the initiative of the Ministry of Justice to make it easier for detainees and prisoners to speak Kurdish during prison visits. He finds the initiative has come very late and hopes that it is not just a move by the ruling party to get more support in the local elections. Tanrıkulu said that he had been attacked severely in Diyarbakır prison after the military coup of 12 September 1980 for speaking Kurdish and had faced a ban on Kurdish in Eskişehir prison in 1987.

Gün TV, a local TV station in Diyarbakır which has been broadcasting in Kurdish for 45 minutes a day for around 4 years, has applied to the Radio and TV Supreme Council (RTÜK) to be allowed to broadcast for 24 hours, just like the newly-opened state channel TRT 6 broadcasting in Kurdish. Ahmet Birsin, broadcasting director of the station said that their channel had faced many difficulties during the last four years, including broadcasting bans and the initial granting of permission. "We want the same rights that the state is granting itself. As long as that does not happen, this is not acceptable in terms of freedom and democracy. Broadcasting in a mother tongue must be a constitutional right which everyone can make use of and which is not at the mercy of a political party."

Lawyer and writer Hüseyin Aygün has said that after the TRT 6 channel has started broadcasting in the Kırmancı dialect of Kurdish, around 2 million citizens in Turkey speaking Zaza also expect broadcasts targeting them. Saying that Zaza was spoken especially in the province of Tunceli and surrounding areas, Aygün said: "Research shows that around 2 million people speak this language. The number may be lower. This language must be allowed to live." Aygün, who has written a book in Zaza, says that he expects the state TRT corporation to contact researchers of Zaza and relevant institutions and expressed his willingness to help as a volunteer.

The umbrella organisation Caucasian Association Federation (KAFFED), which includes 56 associations in Turkey, has demanded broadcasting rights in Circassian (Adyghe and Abaza) from President Abdullah Gül. A delegation meeting with Gül on 5 January said that "the six million Circassians living in Turkey also want the pleasure of broadcasting in their mother tongue." Also, just as language and literature departments in Kurdish were being considered at university, they called for similar departments in Circassian. Since 2004, a weekly half-hour broadcast of Circassian takes place on Thursdays, now at 7 am. The programme has been criticised for broadcasting only old news and programmes unrelated to Circassian culture.

Prof. Dr. Özden Cankaya from Galatasaray University evaluated the comments of CHP leader Deniz Baykal on the Kurdish broadcasting channel TRT 6. Baykal had said, "There can't be Kurdish TV paid for with the money of 70 million". Cankaya said,

"Politicians must stop being so narrow-minded and rethink the definitions of the citizens' rights that the law offers, as well as the concepts of equality and rights." Cankaya defined languages as the wealth of a society and said that multiculturalism was a fact of life.

On 2 January, the DTP refused to attend a government reception for the opening of the Kurdish broadcasting TRT 6 channel, because it considered the initiative as move to gain votes in the elections. The pro-Kurdish party offered a motion to parliament to widen the intiative by lifting legal and constitutional obstructions on the use of Kurdish. DTP Şırnak MP Hasip Kaplan said that the x, w and q letters should be considered as part of the alphabet, while DTP Diyarbakır MP Gültan Kışanak has prepared a draft law on the use of Kurdish in public spaces.

Since 7 June 2004, there has been a weekly half-hour of Kurdish broadcasting on TRT. With TRT 6, which opened on 1 January, this period has been extended to 12 hours a day. Broadcasting began at 7 pm with a live programme presented by singers Nilüfer Akbal and Rojin. President Gül's message of "great happiness at the broadcasting of different languages and dialects of our people on TRT" was broadcast. Prime Minister Erdoğan's message was dubbed into Kurdish and broadcast with Turkish subtitles. He said that the channel would start with Kırmanci broadcasts but would later also add the Zaza and Sorani dialects. He further promised channels for Arabic and Persian broadcasts later in the year. Some Kurdish intellectuals gathered in protest at the opening of the channel. Kurdish actor and stand-up comedian Murat Batgi read a statement saying, "As Kurdish actors, we would like to express our refusal to support the state's Kurdish TV initiative, which is legally and morally not sincere while there are so many oppressive mechanisms in place against the development of our mother tongue, identity and culture and against sharing it with our people and humanity." Nebahat Akkoç of Diyabakır's Women's Centre (KA-MER) said, "I have always argued that women's legal rights must include the right to learn their own language. I find it important that the broadcasting is on state TV."

Reactions to Censorship and Monopolies

Ragıp Zarakolu, president of the Turkey Publishers' Union (TYB) Publishing Freedom Committee, says he has seen an increase in the ban of books in the last two years. As the most negative example he gave the book "Cultural and Art Revolution" by Abdullah Öcalan, which was confiscated while still being printed. The book was going to be published by Aram Publications. Zarakolu said that a book entitled "Defence of the Revolutionary Road- Before and After 12 September" (Simge Publications) was also confiscated before being published. Its trial ended in an acquittal. The publisher spoke of Turkey having gone back 20 years in terms of publishing freedom. He also gave an example of what he called the abuse of the law to stop the freedom of criticism: "Üstün Akmen, former president of Turkey's PEN and president of Turkey's branch of the International Theatre Critics' Union (TEB) has been taken to court by the Keşan district governor (kaymakam) for "insults" after criticising the administration for obstructing the staging of the play "A fairy tale for grown-ups: Hırsızistan (Country of Thieves)". Publisher İrfan Karaca of Berçem Publications has received 1 year and 3 months imprisonment for publishing the book "Ape Musa's Generals". Hüseyin Gündüz, owner of Do Publications, has been sentenced to paying 16,660 TL for publishing Sertaç Doğan's book "Şırnak is burning 1992", accused of spreading organisational propaganda. Gündüz was also taken into police custody for two days after the police raided the publishing house on 9 May 2008 and confiscated copies of the book "Honourable President" by Medeni Ferho.

The Istanbul 10th High Criminal Court handed down a one-month publishing ban to the weekly Özgür Yorum newspaper, citing all the articles that appeared in the 14-20 March 2009 issue as a reason.

In a statement in December 2008, journalist and publisher Ragız Zarakolu had said that of the newspapers publishing in Kurdish or focusing on the Kurdish question, 21 had faced 46 publishing bans since 2006. Following that statement, newspapers such as Özgür Yorum, Politika, Analiz and Ayrıntı were banned again.The Istanbul 10th High Criminal Court decreed a one-month ban for the weekly Özgür Yorum (Free Interpretation) newspaper for its 14-20 March 2009 issue. All of the articles in the issue were considered problematic.The weekly Politika newspaper was handed a one-month publication ban by the Istanbul 11th High Criminal Court for articles which appeared in its 14-20 February issue. On 28 February, the weekly Analiz newspaper was also given a one-month ban for its 28 February-6 March 2009 issue.On 26 January, the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court handed the weekly Ayrıntı (Detail) newspaper a one-month ban for articles in its 5th issue of 24-30 January 2009.

The Gaziantep Journalists' Society (GGC) said that it had heard that, following the 29 March local elections, journalists from the local Telgraf, Hakimiyet and Güneş newspapers were not allowed into the Metropolitan Municipal building. The society said that it did not want to believe this, but if it was true, they condemned it. Hakimiyet newspaper reporter Hakan Yağlı and Telgraf reporter Hasan Akpınar also said that they had not been taken into the building when they had gone to ask about allegations that issues of their newspapers that had been critical of the municipality had not been taken into the municipal building. Abdullah Sabri Kocaman, president of the GGC's managing board and licence holder of the Hakimiyet newspaper, said that they would continue to monitor public administration. Following his statement, municipal mayor Dr. Asım Güzelbey said that there had been a misunderstanding: "I found out that one of our bureaucrats was getting personal. As soon as I found out about it, I put a stop to it. My civil servants do not get involved in politics." Among the 13 newspapers that Güzelbey published advertisements in after his election, Telgraf, Güneş and Hakimiyet were not included.

Human rights activists announced in a press briefing in Ankara that the condition of hunger strikers Cihan Alkan, Bozo Açlan, Aydın Atalay and Abdulvahap Karatay  was worsening. The four had started an unlimited hunger strike on 23 February, protesting against conditions in prison: they were not allowed to receive Kurdish books or publications, shared time outside of the cell was being prevented, and telephone conversations in Kurdish were being prevented. Greeting other prisoners in corridors was being punished with disciplinary measures. The activists called on the Ministry of Justice to act quickly to find a solution. On the 39th day of the hunger strike, Esra Çiftçi, Yüksel Mutlu, Murat Çelikkan and Yusuf Alataş wrote a statement, supported by Ataol Behramoğlu, Adil Okay, Ahmet Telli, Baskın Oran, Ercan Kanar, Gün Zileli, Hicri İzgören, Metin Bakkalcı, Nihat Behram, Oral Çalışlar, Şanar Yurdatapan, Şükrü Erbaş and Temel Demirer. 150 political prisoners are taking it in turns to support the hunger strike. The activists said that regulations published by the Ministry were not being applied.

The Diyarbakır province election board has claimed that Gün TV, a local TV station broadcasting in the southeastern province and wider area, has favoured the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) on its channel. The TV channel has been told that its punishment is a six-day ban on its 7.30 pm main news programme. When the Yenişehir district election board handed down the punishment on 11 March, broadcasting editor Diren Keser appealed to the Diyarbakır election board. However, the latter approved the decision on 14 March. The decision cited Article 4 of Law 3984 on Radio and TV institutions and broadcasts, which says that broadcasts must provide equality of opportunity to all political parties and democratic groups, must not broadcast one-sided, biased programmes, and must not violate certain broadcasting limitations in pre-election periods. The punishment was put into practice on Sunday, 15 March, and the main news programme will not be broadcast until 21 March. The decision by the Yenişehir district election board was signed by board president Oktay Kuban and two civil servant members, as well as a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), a member of the Democrat Party (DP), and a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP). TV channel official Ahmet Birsin told bianet, "We showed them our broadcast recordings, but when some members pulled out, the other members voted for a punishment." The board decision claims that Gün TV was favouring the DTP and was reporting on the municipalities run by members of that party, and thus not obeying the principle of neutrality. The file sent by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) was evaluated by the Yenişehir board, which said that it could not find violations in the nine days that had been complained about, but that during the six days of 3 to 10 February 2009, Laws 3983 and 298 and Decree 336 of the Supreme Election Board had been violated.

A campaign to free Kurdish politician Leyla Zana has been started by rights activists, among them writers Bilgesu Erenus, Murathan Mungan, Şeyhmus Diken and Ragıp Zarakolu, human rights activists Hürriyet Şener, Eşber Yağmurdereli and Şebnem Korur Fincancı, journalists İnci Hekimoğlu and Ragıp Duran. Speaking at a press briefing at the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers in Istanbul yesterday (16 March), they have called on the Supreme Court of Appeals to overturn the 10-year prison sentence, and on the Turkish Parliament to lift all legal obstructions to the freedom of expression. The press briefing was participated in by lawyer Eren Keskin, Leman Yurtsever from the Human Rights Association (İHD), lawers Ergin Cinmen and Ayşe Batumlu, writers Erol Özkoray and Nemciye Alpay, and conscientious objector Halil Savda. The Diyarbakır High Criminal Court has sentenced Leyla Zana to ten years imprisonment for speeches she made. For Eren Keskin, "The aim of the campaign is to make sure that all ideas are free in Turkey. On the other hand we demand that the present impasse concerning the Kurdish question be solved and political prisoners be freed. As long as people are tried for dissident thoughts, there can be no democratisation." İHD representative Yurtsever read another part of the statement: "Leyla has been given 10 more years imprisonment for speeches she made. Her file is at the Supreme Court of Appeals. Let us not allow this to happen this time. As long as Leyla Zana, and other dissidents are in prison, we will not be free." Lawyer Ergin Cinmen continued: "Expression of thoughts is the most important freedom. Without freedom of expression, there can be no democracy or law. There can be no application of democratisation policies. What we ask from the Supreme Court of Appeals is that it apply the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Laws that restrict the freedom of expression must be abolished in parliament." The campaign organisers called on others to support the campaign on the website http://leyla-zana.blogspot.com. In December 2008, the 5th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakır sentenced Leyla Zana, a member of the former  Democracy Party (DEP), to ten years imprisonment for "being a member in a terrorist organization" under Article 314/2 of the Turkish Penal Code. The court also decided to deprive Zana of the right to vote and be elected and other political rights. According to Ntvmsnbc, the court reached its decision in the absence of Zana's lawyer, who could not join the hearing due to an excuse reported to the court. Leyla Zana was in prison between 1994 and 2004 for her activities as a Kurdish activist,and an additional 2-year term for an article written in 1998 while in jail. She is famous in Turkey as the country's first ever Kurdish woman to be elected to Turkey's parliament.

In France, a campaign in support of Leyla Zana was started on 10 February, and many intellectuals signed it. In the report by the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, problems regarding the freedom of expression, Leyla Zana's court case under Article 301 was cited. The EU had awarded Zana the Sakharov Prize in 1995.

The Word Association of Press Councils (WAPC), of which Hürriyet newspaper editor Oktay Ekşi is president, has condemned the taxing of the Doğan Media Group with 490 million dollars. Chris Conybeare, WAPC General Secretary, said, "We support the International Press Institute (IPI) and other international organisations that doubt whether the fine handed to the Doğan Media Group was warranted." The statement also said that the size of the fine, together with PM Erdoğan's scolding of the media in public pointed to attempts to strangle the media. As a protest against the PM's increasing interference with the media, the Cumhuriyet newspaper published an issue with blank front and back pages.

Following a speech in Kurdish by DTP co-chair Ahmet Türk during his party's parliamentary group meeting, General Metin Gürak said in a weekly press briefing at the General Staff, "Everyone has to act according to the constitution and law. It is natural for the judiciary to take action against anyone violating the laws of the rule of law." When journalists asked Gürak about the Kurdish broadcasts on the state TRT 6 channel, he said, "The state can initiate certain projects in the cultural area, provided that precautions are taken to safeguard the unitary state and the nation-state structure."

The Human Rights Report 2008 on Turkey published by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor listed many threats to the freedom of expression and press freedom caused by Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Law.The report on Turkey is part of a general human rights report covering all countries outside of the USA. On the occasion of its publication, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke of her nation's commitment to promoting human rights, saying: "We will make this a global effort that reaches beyond governments alone. I intend for us to work with nongovernmental organizations, businesses, religious leaders, schools and universities as well as individual citizens, all of whom can play a vital role in creating a world where human rights are accepted, respected, and protected." The report states that it is not possible to criticise the state and the government freely and without fear in public: "The government limited freedom of expression through the use of constitutional restrictions and numerous laws, including articles of the penal code prohibiting insults to the government, the state, the 'Turkish nation,' or the institution and symbols of the republic. Limitations on freedom of expression applied to the Internet, and courts and an independent board ordered telecommunications providers to block access to Web sites on approximately 1,475 occasions." Freedom of expression on many issues, so the report, is still restricted: "Active debates on human rights and government policies continued, particularly on issues relating to the country's EU membership process, the role of the military, Islam, political Islam, the question of Turks of Kurdish and other ethnic or religious origins as "minorities," and the history of the Turkish-Armenian conflict at the end of the Ottoman Empire. However, persons who wrote or spoke out on such topics, particularly on the Armenian issue, risked prosecution." The report further discussed the murder of journalist Hrant Dink in January 2007 and the increase in pressure on books about the Kurdish issue. Details about the cases of many journalists, writers, politicians and others are given: Writers Temel Demirer and Orhan Miroğlu, publisher Ragıp Zarakolu, translators Atilla Tuygan and Mehdi Tanrıkulu, singer Bülent Ersoy, university student Durmuş Şahin, pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) officials Hilmi Aydoğdu and Hüseyin Kalkan, journalists Lale Sarıibrahimoğlu, Ahmet Şık, Alper Görmüş, Cengiz Kapmaz, Sakine Aktan, Sebati Karakurt, Necdet Tatlıcan and Hasan Kılıç are all discussed in terms of freedom of expression court cases.

Before a pre-election rally in Çorum on 24 February by the PM Erdoğan, five journalists were not allowed to cover the event. Taner Şimşek of the Günlül Evrensel newspaper, Servet Mete and Buğra Kıhtır of the Dost Haber newspaper, Hacı Odabaş of the Yayla Haber newspaper and Erkan Araz of the Kanal 19 TV channel were told after an ID control that they would not be admitted. They were told that the decision had been made after a police scan of their personal details. Sadık Örgel, owner of the Dost Haber newspaper and vice-president of the Çorum Journalists' Society said that of his three employees only Ebru Çalış had been admitted: "We have come across this for the first time."

Ferai Tınç, Hürriyet newspaper journalist and president of the International Press Institute's (IPI) Turkish Committee, has interpreted recent events concerning journalists and newspapers as "no coincidence". For one, Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, the head of the Çukurova Group (which owns Show TV, Lig TV, Sky Turk, Akşam and Güneş newspapers and Alem FM radio station) was bugged by court order. Second, the Doğan group has been heavily fined after selling 25 percent of its shares to the German Axel Springer Group in 2006.The Doğan group owns, among others Hürriyet, Milliyet, Radikal, Posta, Fanatik, Referans and Turkish Daily News newspapers, as well as CNN Türk, Kanal D and Star TV channels. The Ministry of Finance is claiming that irregularities accompanied the sale and has charged the Doğan Group a tax penalty totalling 826 million 300,000 TL (around 385 million Euros). The Doğan Group has denied any irregularities and has announced that it will go to court. Third, the Capital Markets Board (SPK) is investigating the partnership structure of the Cumhuriyet newspaper. According to Tınç, "The Prime Minister is making it obvious that he does not like a free press. He is using the economy as a weapon of intimidation." She said that previous governments had used similar means, but against business people rather than the media. She also pointed to the many court cases Prime Minister Erdoğan has opened against journalists, as well as many statements he has made against the press. Prime Minister Erdoğan has accused the Doğan Group of supporting the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), and has called on members of his own party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to boycott the media institutions owned by the group. In addition, the group has been heavily fined. The Doğan group has announced that the sales procedure of shares to the Axel Springer group began in November 2006 but ended on 2 January 2007, and that the relevant taxes were thus payed in 2007. It insists that no irregularities took place. Prime Minister Erdoğan referred to the accusation of intimidation at a party rally in Aksaray, saying: "A state institution carries out a legal procedure, and immediately they start to blame the government. Whatever happens to you, you think it comes from the government, from the AKP..." In a statement the Ministry of Finance said that tax evasion had taken place, and that the Ministry and its personnel would go to court to file a complaint against the Doğan Group for their statement which included hostility and insult.

The police obstructed protests on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's imprisonment in several cities. DTP politicians had joined the demonstrations. In Batman, MPs Ayla Akat Ata and Bengi Yıldız, and mayor Hüseyin Kalkan and province chair Özcan Erdem and many others joined a press briefing at which Yıldız said: "When we come here, we may take part in an illegal gathering. We may also praise a criminal. That does not mean that the security forces can use tear gas. They can identify people and do their duty. They believe that they will intimidate us with force, but they are wrong."

Journalists wanting to cover a protest rally organised by DİSK, KESK and Türk-İş trade union confederations on 15 February in Kadıköy were asked by the police to show yellow press cards. bianet reporter Bawer Çakır said that journalists had been provided with a separate platform, but that the police did not admit anyone without a yellow card. Despite telling the police officer that Internet newspapers were not issued yellow press cards, they were not admitted. Some journalists were also wounded in the fight that broke out between members of the Türk Metal trade union, the president of which, Mustafa Özbek, had been arrested as part of the Ergenekon investigation, and members of the Birleşik Metal-İş trade union.

On 11 February, the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted a report written by Ria Oomen-Ruijten, Dutch MEP and Rapporteur on Turkey's accession, with 65 votes to 4. The progress report on Turkey in 2008 emphasises worries about press freedom and freedom and expression in Turkey. It referred to changes in Article 301, which were made in April 2008 and took effect on 8 May, saying that the changes were not sufficient to prevent the trial of non-violent opinions. The report further expressed worry at the possible closure of the DTP and asked for changes in the Law on Political Parties. While TRT 6 was seen as a positive development, the report called for a lasting solution to the Kurdish question.

During the eleventh wave of arrests in the Ergenekon investigation on 22 January the buildings of Avrasya Radio and Television (ART) and the Turkish Metal Workers' Trade Union were searched in Ankara. The Turkish Journalists' Trade Union (TGS) and the Contemporary Journalists' Association (ÇGD) have now reacted with statements in which they express their worry that basic rights are being violated. The TGS expressed its belief in the independence of the judiciary, but stated that the political government was not showing the same neutrality: "We are worried about the future of democracy, we worry that basic rights and freedoms are being violated. We are also worried about the increasing pressure being put on the press and the freedom of expression." The ÇGD said: "Practices show that the government is not trying to get rid of this structure (Ergenekon), but rather, is protecting it and shaping it in a way that will benefit its political aims." The TGS trade union expressed its concern that the Ergenekon trial was not being used to expose and prosecute criminal structures within the state, but rather that the government was using it to put pressure on intellectuals, media organs, democratic mass organisations, and, most recently, trade unions and the labour movement. "Our worries are increased by the fact that the confidentiality of the investigation is being violated, that the names of some people arrested were previously given in some of the media, and that the statements given to the police immediately make their way into some broadcasts and publications." In the written statement, ÇGD president Ahmet Abakay accused the government of using the Ergenekon investigation as an excuse to prevent ART from broadcasting: "We strongly condemn the pressure put on Avrasya TV and the broadcasting obstruction." "The fact that Avrasya TV opposes the government with its broadcasts and criticises the government shows us what is behind this police operation. The Ergenekon trial has turned into an intimidation device to threaten the press, mass organisations, and the people in general.

Three students protesting against President Abdullah Gül's visit to Ankara University's Agriculture Faculty on occasion of its 75th year on 30 October 2008 have had their scholarships withdrawn. In addition, nine students of the veterinary and agriculture faculties face disciplinary procedures. The students had protested at Gül's attitude in the nomination of university rectors. Shouting slogans such as "Leave the AKP, look after the universities" and "Go AKP, the universities are ours", three students were later taken into custody. They were later released by the prosecution. However, their scholarships were taken away. They had been working part-time for the last two years, receiving scholarships of 200 YTL as well as free food.

The state TRT 6 channel broadcasting in Kurdish since 1 January has gone beyond the constraints set for other local and regional media organs broadcasting in their mother tongue. Thus, unlike Gün TV broadcasting in Kurdish from Diyarbakır, TRT 6 is allowed to broadcast without subtitles (and can thus broadcast live programmes), to target children and to broadcast all day. The RTÜK guidelines from 25 January 2004 constrain around 10 local and regional media organs. Radio stations are limited to maximum one hour a day and five hours a week, TV channels to 45 minutes a day, 4 hours a week broadcasts in a mother tongue other than Turkish. Turkish subtitles are a must on TV, and radio stations have to broadcast a Turkish translation, too. Programmes aimed at children or language instruction were also banned for the channels and stations. This means that RTÜK needs to review its regulations so that other channels and stations are not treated differently from TRT. According to the principle of equality and the ban on discrimination put forward by the OSCE, members of a national minority have the right to make use of the freedom of expression, to protect and develop their identities, and to make use of media broadcasts in a fair and undiscriminatory manner.

European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)

Özcan Kılıç, lawyer for the Alternatif newspaper, has applied to the ECHR after the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court sentenced editor Cevat Düşün to 4 years and 2 months imprisonment for "spreading PKK propaganda" and "publishing organisational statements". The court argued that its 25 May 2008 issue violated Articles 7/2 and 6/2 of the Anti-Terrorism Law. In another case taken to the ECHR, the same court had sentenced Düşün to 1 month and 15 days imprisonment and a 740 TL fine for articles published in the Gelecek newspaper on 27 September 2008. A third case, also at the ECHR, concerns a sentence of 10 months imprisonment handed to Düşün for articles in the Alternatif newspaper on 20 September 2008, when PKK sources were cited. Representatives of the Gelecek and Alternatif newspapers have been in 11 court cases, some of them merged, and have been convicted to a total of 10 years imprisonment and 2,220 TL fines.

The ECHR has directed a list of questions to Turkey, regarding the case of journalist and writer Abdurrahman Dilipak, who faces five years imprisonment in a trial for an article entitled "If the Generals don't listen", published in the Türkiye'de Cuma (Friday in Turkey) magazine (now closed) in the 29 August-3 September 2003 issue. Dilipak applied to the ECHR four years ago, saying that he would not receive a fair trial in Turkey. The court case was first heard at the 3rd Army Corps Command Military Court, then taken to the Bağcılar Criminal Court of First Instance, and later to the Bakırköy Criminal Court of First Instance. After the Bakırköy 2nd and 17th Criminal Courts of First Instance argued over who was in charge of the case, it was taken to the Bakırköy High Criminal Court. It may have reached its statute of limitations by now. Dilipak faced between six months and three years imprisonment. He was being tried together with Mustafa Karahasanoğlu and three retired army officers.

On 10 March, the ECHR sentenced Turkey to paying the Istanbul Özgür Radio 4,000 Euros compensation and 3,500 Euros legal costs. The radio station had been handed a one-month broadcasting punishment after reporting on a news item in the Günlük Evrensel newspaper about an attack on a wedding of members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DEHAP).  When the radio station was not able to get results in the administrative courts in Turkey, it applied to the ECHR, arguing that Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights was violated. The ECHR made reference to cases in other countries and said that even if the content of the news item may be uncomfortable, it did not encourage the use of force. The ECHR furhter noted that the radio station was punished, while the newspaper was not, and was of the opinion that the punishment was disproportional. The relevant news item had been broadcast in the "speaking pages" slot on 27 August 2003, and RTÜK had handed down the punishment on 24 February 2004.

On 17 February, the ECHR decided that the punishment of the Yeni Evrensel newspaper did not violate freedom of expression, as applicants Fevzi Saygılı and Bülent Falakoğlu, owner of and editor at the newspaper respectively, had argued. The court argued with five votes to two that expressions such as "If someone tries to kill you, you use your right to legitimate defence" and "If the world unites to get rid of us, we will use our right to legitimate defence" were an encouragement of violence and violated the responsibility of avoiding such messages during times of tension and fighting.Hünkar Demirel, editor of the newspaper,  had been convicted of "spreading terrorist propaganda and thus aiding and abetting the organisation", i.e. the PKK. His prison sentence of 3 years and 9 months, handed down in June 2002, had been converted into fines. The article in question was published in July 2001 and

Kurdish politician Orhan Miroğlu, who was an independent parliamentarian candidate in the province of Mersin for the general elections in July 2007, has taken his conviction for speaking Kurdish to the public to the ECHR. His application was accepted on 27 January. In September 2008, the Mersin 2nd Criminal Court of Peace  had found the politician guilty of violating Articles 58, 60 and 61 of the Election Law. The conviction was announced in secret and he would serve a sentence if he was found to violate a five-year suspension. Miroğlu said that he was unable to appeal against the decision as it was made in his absence, and that it amounted to a five-year ban on speaking Kurdish.

On 10 February, the ECHR sentenced Turkey to paying 5,000 Euros compensation and 2,000 Euros legal costs to İbrahim Güçlü, former vice chair of the Rights and Freedoms Party (HAKPAR). Güçlü had been convicted of "spreading separatist propaganda" in a speech during a press briefing entitled "Democracy and the Kurdish question". He won his legal battle while being imprisoned in Ankara. The ECHR argued that the punishment of Güçlü, who was trying to open a debate on policies in the Southeast of Turkey and political and historical questions, violated the right of the public to being informed.

On 20 February, the ECHR decreed that the freedom of expression of Sedat İmza had been violated when he was punished for publishing PKK statements in the monthly Özgürlük Dünyası (World of Freedom) magazine. The ECHR voted unanimously that there could be no ban on reporting on a topic of general interest in a magazine and that the magazine could not be handed a publishing ban. However, because no amount of compensation had been specified, the court did not see the need for compensation to be paid.

On 13 January, Turkey was been sentenced to paying a total of 13,911 Euros to lawyer Ayhan Erdoğan and Yeni Asya newspaper Ankara representative Mehmet Cevher İlhan for restricting their freedom of expression. Lawyer Erdoğan had previously been sentenced to paying compensation to a district mayor of Istanbul after calling him "heartless and sectarian". He then appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

On 13 January, the ECHR considered his case and awarded him a total of 11,911 Euros in damages, arguing that Turkey had violated Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. As for journalist İlhan, he had been sentenced for several news items and articles published on different dates. The ECHR has awarded him 2,000 Euros for legal expenditure.

In a third case, the ECHR considered the case of eight students from Istanbul University's Student Coordination who had staged a protest at the beginning of the academic year. They had been treated violently, and the ECHR argued that Turkey had violated their right to freedom of expression. However, the students, Rüya Kurtuluş, Erdinç Gök, Haşim Özgür Ersoy, İnci Açık, Serpil Ocak, Ayfer Çiçek, Nuri Günay and Murat Kaya, will not be paid compensation.

RTÜK Penalties

Muammer Aydın, president of the Supreme Election Board (YSK), announced that although the local elections in March 2009 had been neutral and orderly, TV channels had violated broadcasting bans related to the election. He announced that punishments would be handed out. When a journalist asked about some TV channels violating rules, Aydın said, "Not some, all of them did. I don't know if they did it on purpose, but of course punishments will be handed out. We have identified all the channels. On that day we were watching TV at home as well. I suppose RTÜK will identify them and send them to us, and we will maket he necessary decisions."

Information: BİA Media Observation Desk, Tel. (0212) 251 15 03, Faks. (0212) 251 16 09, E-mail. hukuk@bianet.org