PRESS RELEASE
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CH – 1206 Geneva, Tel: +41 22 704 1820; Fax: +41 22 704
1821
secretariat@internationalpublishers.org
Freedom to Publish Trial Opens in Turkey
IPA Observers Call for Acquittal of Publisher Ragıp
Zarakolu
Geneva, 29 June 2012 – Embargoed until Sunday, 1st July
2012, 10 a.m. CET
As the Koma Civaken Kurdistan (KCK) trial begins tomorrow
in Silivri, Turkey, the International Publishers Association (IPA) urges the
Turkish authorities to drop all charges against publisher and Nobel Peace Prize
nominee Ragıp Zarakolu. Zarakolu is charged with ‘aiding and abetting an
illegal organization’ and is threatened with up to fifteen years in prison. IPA
believes that he and several other writers and intellectuals are charged solely
because of their writings and publishing. This violates Turkey’s international
human rights obligations. While Zarakolu has been released under strict
conditions, publisher Deniz Zarakolu and academic Büşra Ersanlı remain in
custody. IPA calls for their acquittal and release as well. Dozens of writers
and publishers in Turkey are either held in prison, or are currently on trial.
An IPA delegation will be observing the first court hearing
of the KCK trial. It will be led by IPA Board member and Chair of IPA’s Freedom
to Publish Committee, Bjørn Smith-Simonsen.
Smith-Simonsen commented: “It is essential not to confuse
the efforts of those who, like Zarakolu, have worked to bring down barriers of
censorship in Turkey with those who press political agendas through violence.
Ragıp Zarakolu is an internationally recognised defender of the right to write
and publish freely. He was nominated to this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. IPA
emphatically protests the ongoing harassment of this outspoken, yet peaceful
publisher who, for years, has been documenting the numerous freedom to publish
violations in Turkey and has been an advocate of the freedom to publish of all
publishers. IPA therefore urges the Turkish authorities to drop all charges
against Zarakolu as soon as possible.
“Turkey is a signatory of international human rights
treaties and is therefore under the obligation to observe individuals’ human
rights, including in particular Article 19 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 10 of the European Convention on
Human Rights (ECHR). IPA remains concerned that these rights will be denied to
Zarakolu, and several other intellectuals, including Deniz Zarakolu and Büşra
Ersanlı, who should be released immediately. More writers are either in prison
or on trial in Turkey than in any other country in the world.
“On 14 June 2012, the 29th IPA Congress adopted a
resolution ‘rejecting the abuse of broad definitions of terms such as
defamation, state security, state secrecy, or terrorism as dangerous inroads
for censorship, harassment of the media, and undemocratic influencing. It is in
the public interest to give openness and transparency their primary, due, and a
prominent role in legislation’.”
Background:
Ragıp Zarakolu was arrested on 28 October 2011. Forty-one
people were also arrested around the same time under what is known as the Koma
Civaken Kurdistan (KCK), or Democratic Society Congress, operation. The KCK operation was initiated in 2009 and
aims at cracking down on Kurdish political parties and has led to hundreds,
even over one thousand arrests and trials. The KCK is seen as the
civil/political wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and thus
illegal.
After his arrest, Zarakolu was moved to a high security
“F-Type” prison in the city of Izmit, 80 kilometres east of Istanbul. He was
held on pre-trial detention for more than 160 days between 4 November 2011 and
10 April 2012. It was only on 19 March 2012 that he was officially indicted
under Turkish anti-terrorism legislation for “aiding and abetting an illegal
organisation,” a charge that could carry a 15-year sentence.
Zarakolu was one of fifteen suspects accused of
membership in the KCK who were released pending trial on 10 April 2012. The
Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court cited the length of time suspects had already
been imprisoned, “the nature of their crimes” and “the state of the evidence”
as reasons why the fifteen suspects were released.
Zarakolu’s lawyers have been denied access to the
investigation file and related documents for months. It appears that his arrest
and pre-trial detention were based solely on his attendance of two public
meetings of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), a legal organisation. This is
unacceptable and seriously questions the rule of law in Turkey. Zarakolu’s
lawyers have therefore filed an application to the European Court of Human
Rights, accusing Turkey of violating articles 3, 5 and 10 of the European
Convention on Human Rights. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe,
Thorbjørn Jagland, recently declared that 1,000 of the pending cases before the
European Court of Human Rights concern freedom of expression in Turkey. Turkey
is actually the country which regularly gets the highest number of convictions
by the European Court on Human Rights, ahead of Russia. Presently, Turkey has
more writers and journalists in prison than any other in the world. All of this
is incompatible with the values of a free and democratic society.
For more information, please visit:
www.freedomforragip.wordpress.com
More about Freedom to Publish in Turkey:
The EU Commission’s 2011 Turkey Progress report stressed
that legal amendments to the Turkish anti-terror legislation are needed to
comply with various rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. IPA has also
witnessed an increasing use of the anti-terror law (ATL) to stifle freedom to
publish in Turkey in the last couple of years. ATL has long been criticised as
being too vague in its definition of terrorism and terrorist organisations.
This coupled with the lengthy trial processes, sometimes years long, makes the
application of the ATL particularly problematic.
On 25 October 2011, the European Court of Human Rights
ruled in Altuğ Taner Akçam v. Turkey that Article 301 TPC as amended in 2008
still violates Article 10 of the ECHR. IPA and PEN International support their
Turkish members’ request that Article 301 be repealed. Following the recent
explosion of obscenity cases under Article 226 TPC, IPA also supports its
Turkish members’ request that the Prime Ministerial Board for the Protection of
Children from Harmful Publications be disbanded as it insists on banning
literature for adults which has been described by the European Court of Human
Rights as “belonging to the European literary heritage”.
IPA further notes with concern the ruling made by
Istanbul’s 14th High Criminal Court in August 2011 that the printer of a book
be considered “like its author”. This
was used to condemn the owner of Berdan Printing House, Sadik Daşdöğen, to a
9-month prison sentence in absentia for printing a book that included
interviews of Abdhullah Öcalan. Daşdöğen was convicted of “spreading propaganda
for an illegal organisation”. If the printers are held responsible for the
books they print, the consequences on freedom of expression, freedom to write,
and freedom to publish in Turkey could be severe.
To curb the flow of freedom of expression and freedom to
publish trials in Turkey, Turkish legislation (Articles 125, 216, 301 […] TPC,
Law 5816, Anti-terror legislation, etc.) and practice should be amended to meet
international standards, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
European Union. Turkey was reminded of this by its peers when it came under
review during the 8th Session of the Universal Periodical Review (UPR) of the
UN Human Rights Council in May 2010 in Geneva. To see the joint submission on
Turkey to the UPR Working Group of IPA, PEN International and Index on
Censorship, please go to:
www.internationalpublishers.org/images/stories/MembersOnly/FTPC/UPR/turkey%20upr
%20_3_.pdf
More about IPA:
The International Publishers Association (IPA) is the
global non-governmental organisation representing all aspects of book and
journal publishing worldwide. Established in 1896, IPA's mission is to promote
and protect publishing and to raise awareness for publishing as a force for
cultural and political advancement worldwide. IPA is an industry association
with a human rights mandate. IPA currently has 65 member associations in 53
countries.
For further information, please contact:
Alexis Krikorian
Director, FTP
IPA
3, avenue de Miremont
Tel: +41 22 704 1820
krikorian@internationalpublishers.org
www.internationalpublishers.org
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