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GENOCIDE, FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Today's Zaman
July 28 2010
Turkey
If you've ever visited official buildings in Turkey, you may have
noticed this "quotation" thing: On every building we have quotations
from Ataturk.
There may be some other quotations from other prominent figures, but
mostly from the founder of the Turkish Republic. If we have enough
confidence one day, I believe, we will put insightful quotations from
all historical figures across the globe.
Why don't we see an inspiring sentence from Socrates, Kant, Spinoza,
Dostoyevsky or a great number of others on official Turkish buildings?
This would be a fantastic education for all of us, reminding that we
are members of humanity, not only a nation.
If I had the opportunity I would put a few quotations about freedom
of expression on the buildings of the courts across the country. As
you know, we still have a lot of problems when it comes to expressing
ideas that are in conflict with the official ideology or official
interpretation of history in Turkey.
We have some shameful bans; we cannot access YouTube, for example.
Silencing and intimidating journalists through court cases is still
a very strong tendency. It is quite ironic, but so many journalists
are under prosecution because of news they prepared or columns they
wrote about the Ergenekon case. These cases are brought against
the journalists who fight against the gang, whereas pro-Ergenekon
publications enjoy much greater freedom of expression and also make
a fuss by their allegations that the Ergenekon case has turned Turkey
into a republic of fear. Å~^amil Tayyar, from the Star daily, has just
recently declared that he would cease writing his column due to the
enormous number of criminal cases brought against him. He said there
is almost one case pending for every single article he has written.
Tayyar is most famous for his books and articles revealing the
connections of the Ergenekon network.
We are in this shameful situation not only because of the prevailing
mentality within the judiciary, which always opts for limiting free
expression wherever it finds the opportunity to do so, but also due
to this government's gross negligence and unwillingness to change
the articles and laws that limit freedom of expression in Turkey. As
a result of this terrible combination of bad laws and extremely
restrictive interpretations, we still have a serious freedom of
expression problem.
I would like to put the following three quotations on courts and on
some ministries' buildings in Turkey.
The first one is of course from Voltaire, a famous one about the
moral premises of free expression:
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your
right to say it."
For those who imposed censorship on the Internet, a quote from American
comedian Tommy Smothers: "The only valid censorship of ideas is the
right of people not to listen."
We should also find a place for this magnificent quote from Noam
Chomsky: "If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we
despise, we don't believe in it at all."
But I should definitely put the following comment from the European
Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the Handyside v. United Kingdom
judgment on the walls of every single criminal court in Turkey dealing
with press and freedom of expression-related cases:
"Freedom of expression is applicable not only to 'information' or'
ideas' that are favorably received or regarded as inoffensive or
as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock
or disturb the state or any sector of the population. Such are the
demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without
which there is no 'democratic society'."
Amongst all these pessimistic things I mentioned there has been
a quite hopeful development very recently which somehow has not
attracted the attention it deserves.
As you know, the infamous Article 311 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK),
which concerns "denigrating Turkishness," had been amended in 2008
and to introduce prior permission from the Ministry of Justice as
a precondition to file a case under this article. Despite the harsh
criticism coming from the EU and human rights circles, we could not
get rid of this article altogether. However, the recent refusal of
the Ministry of Justice to grant permission for further prosecution
of editors of the Armenian Agos newspaper has sparked hope for the
future of freedom of expression in Turkey.
The Ministry of Justice sent exactly the same paragraph quoted
above from the ECtHR judgment to the prosecutors who had wanted to
press charges against Agos and told them that the usage of the word
"genocide" is within the acceptable limits of freedom of expression.
I really hope this interpretation by the Ministry of Justice will be
the beginning of a new era in Turkey in which the limits of freedom
of expression will be gradually expanded. I hope, after this comment,
the government will review Article 301 and many other articles of the
TCK to expand the limits of freedom of expression and bring Turkey
into the first league of democracies.
From: A. Papazian
Today's Zaman
July 28 2010
Turkey
If you've ever visited official buildings in Turkey, you may have
noticed this "quotation" thing: On every building we have quotations
from Ataturk.
There may be some other quotations from other prominent figures, but
mostly from the founder of the Turkish Republic. If we have enough
confidence one day, I believe, we will put insightful quotations from
all historical figures across the globe.
Why don't we see an inspiring sentence from Socrates, Kant, Spinoza,
Dostoyevsky or a great number of others on official Turkish buildings?
This would be a fantastic education for all of us, reminding that we
are members of humanity, not only a nation.
If I had the opportunity I would put a few quotations about freedom
of expression on the buildings of the courts across the country. As
you know, we still have a lot of problems when it comes to expressing
ideas that are in conflict with the official ideology or official
interpretation of history in Turkey.
We have some shameful bans; we cannot access YouTube, for example.
Silencing and intimidating journalists through court cases is still
a very strong tendency. It is quite ironic, but so many journalists
are under prosecution because of news they prepared or columns they
wrote about the Ergenekon case. These cases are brought against
the journalists who fight against the gang, whereas pro-Ergenekon
publications enjoy much greater freedom of expression and also make
a fuss by their allegations that the Ergenekon case has turned Turkey
into a republic of fear. Å~^amil Tayyar, from the Star daily, has just
recently declared that he would cease writing his column due to the
enormous number of criminal cases brought against him. He said there
is almost one case pending for every single article he has written.
Tayyar is most famous for his books and articles revealing the
connections of the Ergenekon network.
We are in this shameful situation not only because of the prevailing
mentality within the judiciary, which always opts for limiting free
expression wherever it finds the opportunity to do so, but also due
to this government's gross negligence and unwillingness to change
the articles and laws that limit freedom of expression in Turkey. As
a result of this terrible combination of bad laws and extremely
restrictive interpretations, we still have a serious freedom of
expression problem.
I would like to put the following three quotations on courts and on
some ministries' buildings in Turkey.
The first one is of course from Voltaire, a famous one about the
moral premises of free expression:
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your
right to say it."
For those who imposed censorship on the Internet, a quote from American
comedian Tommy Smothers: "The only valid censorship of ideas is the
right of people not to listen."
We should also find a place for this magnificent quote from Noam
Chomsky: "If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we
despise, we don't believe in it at all."
But I should definitely put the following comment from the European
Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the Handyside v. United Kingdom
judgment on the walls of every single criminal court in Turkey dealing
with press and freedom of expression-related cases:
"Freedom of expression is applicable not only to 'information' or'
ideas' that are favorably received or regarded as inoffensive or
as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock
or disturb the state or any sector of the population. Such are the
demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without
which there is no 'democratic society'."
Amongst all these pessimistic things I mentioned there has been
a quite hopeful development very recently which somehow has not
attracted the attention it deserves.
As you know, the infamous Article 311 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK),
which concerns "denigrating Turkishness," had been amended in 2008
and to introduce prior permission from the Ministry of Justice as
a precondition to file a case under this article. Despite the harsh
criticism coming from the EU and human rights circles, we could not
get rid of this article altogether. However, the recent refusal of
the Ministry of Justice to grant permission for further prosecution
of editors of the Armenian Agos newspaper has sparked hope for the
future of freedom of expression in Turkey.
The Ministry of Justice sent exactly the same paragraph quoted
above from the ECtHR judgment to the prosecutors who had wanted to
press charges against Agos and told them that the usage of the word
"genocide" is within the acceptable limits of freedom of expression.
I really hope this interpretation by the Ministry of Justice will be
the beginning of a new era in Turkey in which the limits of freedom
of expression will be gradually expanded. I hope, after this comment,
the government will review Article 301 and many other articles of the
TCK to expand the limits of freedom of expression and bring Turkey
into the first league of democracies.
From: A. Papazian