INITIATIVE AGAINST CRIME OF THOUGHT

Upon the prosecution of Turkish writer Yaşar Kemal in 1995 on the ground of his article in the German Der Spiegel magazine where he criticized the government's Kurdish policies, ten articles representing 'crimes of thoughts' and the offenders respectively were published in a book of 80 pages with 1080 publishers.

185 people were tried because of the book. Nevertheless, the Initiative against Crime of Thought carries on with its publication every year, drawing attention to lawsuits and punishments contrary to freedom of thought.

The book is an annual review of freedom of thought in Turkey and of respective legal regulations and implementations.

36 journalists imprisoned in 2009

Legal advisor Ceren Baykal refers to article 288 of the Constitution on influencing a fair trial when he says, "The fearful attitude towards influencing still prevails. Influencing a fair trial is being prevented, but its attempt is being punished. On one hand the judiciary does not accept influencing a fair trial and there is no such crime, on the other hand the criminal code still evaluates the respective attempt as a crime".

The book summarized the events of 2009 as follows:

-         The democratic initiative as a way to deal with the Kurdish question became a topic of discussion.

-       While some Kurdish media institutions were banned, the Kurdish state channel TRT Şeş was guaranteed the right to 24-hours broadcast.

-         According to data from the Solidarity Platform of Journalists in Detention, seven chief editors and 36 journalists and writers were imprisoned in 2009.

-         Police officials opened a tender to stock "necessary" material such as truncheons, tear gas or water cannons by reason of the consecutive dates of Newroz, Women's Day and Labour Day.

-         Despite the legal approval of events in Taksim regarding 1 May, 108 people were arrested according to the police whereas the Contemporary Lawyers Association spoke of 400 arrests. Five of the arrested people applied to the Human Rights Foundations on the grounds of having been imposed to torture in custody.

-         According to the group "Justice for Children", children in detention on the base of the Anti-Terror Act because of throwing stones in demonstrations were publicly exposed to torture.

-         The Constitutional Court decided for the closure of pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) on 11 December. Senior party executives were imposed to a ban from politics.

Trials on freedom of thought

The book compiles the most unusual and ordinary cases followed by the initiative. It presents cases of punishment and acquittals, dropped cases and crimes based on trials. The review of 2009 includes names such as Osman Baydemir, Aysel Tuğluk, Leyla Zana, Ragıp Zarakolu, Nedim Şener, Nedim Gürsel, Erol Karaaslan, Ahmet Karayay, İbrahim Kaboğlu, Baskın Oran.

Banned theatres, concerts, posters, seminars, festivals, demonstrations, exhibitions, books, magazines and internet sites have also been taken into account. Furthermore the Eregekon case is mentioned as well as police violence and the closure of Democratic Society Party (DTP). (ÇT/VK)