Ministry of Justice: Defending Genocide is Freedom of Speech

The Ministry of Justice did not issue permission for a further prosecution of Sarkis Seropyan, concessionaire of the Armenian Agos newspaper, and Arat Dink, editorial manager of the Armenian daily regarding a trial due to Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink's recognizing the events in 1915 as genocide.

The trial had initially been opened against Hrant Dink himself and was transferred to his son Arat and newspaper owner Seropyan after he had been shot in front of his Istanbul office in 2007.

In 1915, during the time of the Ottoman Empire, many Armenians and also an increasing number of Turks say that millions of Armenian citizens were forcibly sent into exile. Many people starved, die of exhaustion or were killed by gangs. Journalist Hrant Dink was one of many who called theses events a genocide.

As reported by the Turkish news channel HaberTürk, the 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance of Şişli (Istanbul) sentenced Dink and Seropyan to imprisonment of one year each on 11 October 2007 because they were found responsible of publishing the related contents. The penalty had been postponed due to a lack of criminal record.

The sentence was based on article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) on "Insulting the Turkish People, Republic of Turkey and Governmental Institutions and Bodies". The convicts appealed against the decision. Upon a legal amendment in May 2008, investigations and prosecutions under article 301became subject to the permission of the Ministry of Justice.

"It is an opinion, even though it disturbs the state and the society"

The Ministry of Justice did not issue permission for the prosecution and decreed, "freedom of expression shall be applied not only to favourable news and thoughts that are harmless and not worth to be considered, but also to news and thoughts that disturb a part of the state or the society".

"Criticism may be harsh, hurtful and injurious..."

The decision continued, "This is required by a democratic order and pluralism and the source of criticism stemmed from that freedom. The harshness of the criticism did not constitute a crime and the criticism was not a praise. The criticism was of course harsh, hurtful and injurious. In these aspects, the statements subject to the trial remained within the borders of criticism. [...]"

Hrant Dink, founder of the Agos newspaper, gave an interview to the Reuters News Agency before he was assassinated on 19 January 2007. The interview was published by Reuters on 14 July 2006. Dink had said, "Of course I call this genocide because the outcome defines the term itself. Together with these events we see the disappearance of a people that had lived on this land for 4,000 years. That says it all".

In September the same year, the Şişli Public Prosecution opened a case on the grounds the interview that conveyed the idea of the "Armenian Genocide" and because of a news item entitled "One signature against 301" published in the daily's issue of 21 July 2006.

The complaint had been filed by Recep Akkuş, member of the Grand Lawyers Association established by a group of nationalist lawyers. (EÖ/VK)