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The New Anatolian, Turkey
July 28, 2006
Court: Criticizing military service is no crime
The New Anatolian / Ankara
Perihan Magden, a Turkish author and journalist, was acquitted of
charges of turning people against military service yesterday.
Magden's trial, decried by Turkish intellectuals as a sign of new
state laws criminalizing legitimate dissent, began last month after
the General Staff's Legal Office denounced the writer for defending
the rights of a conscientious objector in her weekly magazine column.
She is among a string of writers and journalists who have faced trial
for expressing mostly anti-state opinions on highly sensitive issues
such as the so-called Armenian genocide claims and the Kurdish
problem, seen as taboos by the great majority of the public.
However the court's decision came as a blow to one of these taboos,
constituting a challenge to both the military and the state when it
ruled that Magden's article amounted to "heavy criticism conveyed
within the scope of freedom of _expression," and wasn't a crime.
Magden faced up to three years in prison had she been convicted.
In her column, published in a December issue of the weekly magazine
Yeni Aktuel, Magden defended conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan,
who was sentenced to a record four years in a military prison for
disobedience after refusing to wear his military uniform.
She called his choice an "inalienable human right" and argued that
Turkey needs to establish a civilian service as an alternative to
compulsory military conscription.
Conscientious objectors find few supporters in Turkey, where the
military is revered, conscription has widespread support and young
men are sent off to do their military service amid celebrations.
Magden's first trial last month ended with unrest sparked by a group
of ultranationalists who jeered her as she the left the courthouse.
The group both insulted and attempted to attack Magden, but the
security forces moved the group -- made up of mostly of veterans and
families of soldiers killed in fighting the terrorist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) -- away from Magden and her supporters.
Conscription is obligatory for men over 20 and the country doesn't
recognize the right to conscientious objection. Objectors have also
been prosecuted on charges of turning people against the military.
The indictment underlined the tough geographic conditions in the
region around Turkey and said that the country needs both military
service and a powerful armed forces.
The government said it has no plans to change conscription laws and
ruled out amendments to the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) or to the
recently enacted Anti-Terror Law, which several non-governmental
organizations and press institutions have warned give the government
arbitrary power to use against those critical of it.
The government has also repeated many times in cases in which charges
were merited, the cases have been eventually dropped and defendants
acquitted.
European Union officials argue, however, that even if charges are
dropped, the threat of prosecution remains a deterrent against people
wishing to express their opinions.
Late last year a Turkish court dropped charges against Orhan Pamuk,
one of the country's most prominent novelists, who was briefly on
trial on charges of "insulting Turkishness" for alleging an Armenian
genocide by Turks around the time of World War I. The charges were
dropped on technical reasons amid intense international pressure.
July 28, 2006
Court: Criticizing military service is no crime
The New Anatolian / Ankara
Perihan Magden, a Turkish author and journalist, was acquitted of
charges of turning people against military service yesterday.
Magden's trial, decried by Turkish intellectuals as a sign of new
state laws criminalizing legitimate dissent, began last month after
the General Staff's Legal Office denounced the writer for defending
the rights of a conscientious objector in her weekly magazine column.
She is among a string of writers and journalists who have faced trial
for expressing mostly anti-state opinions on highly sensitive issues
such as the so-called Armenian genocide claims and the Kurdish
problem, seen as taboos by the great majority of the public.
However the court's decision came as a blow to one of these taboos,
constituting a challenge to both the military and the state when it
ruled that Magden's article amounted to "heavy criticism conveyed
within the scope of freedom of _expression," and wasn't a crime.
Magden faced up to three years in prison had she been convicted.
In her column, published in a December issue of the weekly magazine
Yeni Aktuel, Magden defended conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan,
who was sentenced to a record four years in a military prison for
disobedience after refusing to wear his military uniform.
She called his choice an "inalienable human right" and argued that
Turkey needs to establish a civilian service as an alternative to
compulsory military conscription.
Conscientious objectors find few supporters in Turkey, where the
military is revered, conscription has widespread support and young
men are sent off to do their military service amid celebrations.
Magden's first trial last month ended with unrest sparked by a group
of ultranationalists who jeered her as she the left the courthouse.
The group both insulted and attempted to attack Magden, but the
security forces moved the group -- made up of mostly of veterans and
families of soldiers killed in fighting the terrorist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) -- away from Magden and her supporters.
Conscription is obligatory for men over 20 and the country doesn't
recognize the right to conscientious objection. Objectors have also
been prosecuted on charges of turning people against the military.
The indictment underlined the tough geographic conditions in the
region around Turkey and said that the country needs both military
service and a powerful armed forces.
The government said it has no plans to change conscription laws and
ruled out amendments to the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) or to the
recently enacted Anti-Terror Law, which several non-governmental
organizations and press institutions have warned give the government
arbitrary power to use against those critical of it.
The government has also repeated many times in cases in which charges
were merited, the cases have been eventually dropped and defendants
acquitted.
European Union officials argue, however, that even if charges are
dropped, the threat of prosecution remains a deterrent against people
wishing to express their opinions.
Late last year a Turkish court dropped charges against Orhan Pamuk,
one of the country's most prominent novelists, who was briefly on
trial on charges of "insulting Turkishness" for alleging an Armenian
genocide by Turks around the time of World War I. The charges were
dropped on technical reasons amid intense international pressure.