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THE PERILS OF DEFENDING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Jan 13 2015
by ORHAN KEMAL CENGÄ°Z
In the old days, when an intellectual started to annoy the state
(military circles) in Turkey, some of the words from a speech or
article they penned were carefully chosen, distorted and used to
demonize them.
Hrant Dink, for example, was killed in an atmosphere created by such a
campaign against him. In 2005, Dink wrote a series of articles about
Armenian identity and how hatred of Turks poisoned Armenians. He
said, "Turkish hostility poisons the blood of Armenians." However,
in some media outlets his words were quoted as if he had said, "The
Turks have dirty blood." Unfortunately, this dirty campaign produced
its desired results. Dink was killed in front of Agos, the daily for
which he was working as editor-in-chief. When the murderer was caught,
he specifically referred to these distorted words; namely, he claimed
that Hrant insulted Turks by saying that "the Turks have dirty blood."
After all these years, after all this pain and suffering, one would
think that Turkey has drawn some lessons from this terrible past.
However, I found out that not a single lesson has been drawn from
those events. This time, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)
circles are playing the same dirty games. They pick some of your
words and use them against you. I am referring to the AK Haber
website (which uses AK Party's name, so it must be controlled by
party officials or at least published with their consent), which
portrays me as someone who wishes that Turkey will one day will be
a country in which the Turkish flag will be burned. "I hope we'll
be a country in which flags are burned," I was quoted to have said,
as seen on the webpage http://www.akhaber.com/ak-parti/haber-6859572/.
I was on Bugun TV for two hours on Sunday. We mainly discussed
the bloody murders that took place at satirical magazine Charlie
Hebdo in France. Among other things, we discussed whether insulting
religious sentiments can be seen as within the confines of freedom of
expression. My point was this: If there is no hate speech targeting
vulnerable groups, then there should not be any limitation on freedom
of expression. To emphasize how backward Turkey is in relation to
freedom of expression, I referred to the US Supreme Court decision on
flag burning and how they reached the conclusion that even this is
a way of expressing one's ideas, and therefore should be protected
as part of freedom of expression. I concluded that I hope Turkey
will one day reach that level of broad understanding of the freedom
of expression.
The AK Haber website twisted my words. To increase the provocative
effect, the website said Orhan Kemal said these words looking into
the eyes of a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy. It is obvious
they are trying to provoke nationalist circles against me.
I told you this entire story to show you how defending the freedom
of expression can make you a target. While I was trying to show how
broad freedom of expression is in other countries, I was transformed
into someone who calls for the burning of flags.
Time is passing, so many things are happening, but some things never
change in this country and one of them is the terrible distortion of
words, turning you into a target if you share thoughts that disturb
those in power.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/orhan-kemal-cengiz/the-perils-of-defending-freedom-of-expression_369691.html
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Jan 13 2015
by ORHAN KEMAL CENGÄ°Z
In the old days, when an intellectual started to annoy the state
(military circles) in Turkey, some of the words from a speech or
article they penned were carefully chosen, distorted and used to
demonize them.
Hrant Dink, for example, was killed in an atmosphere created by such a
campaign against him. In 2005, Dink wrote a series of articles about
Armenian identity and how hatred of Turks poisoned Armenians. He
said, "Turkish hostility poisons the blood of Armenians." However,
in some media outlets his words were quoted as if he had said, "The
Turks have dirty blood." Unfortunately, this dirty campaign produced
its desired results. Dink was killed in front of Agos, the daily for
which he was working as editor-in-chief. When the murderer was caught,
he specifically referred to these distorted words; namely, he claimed
that Hrant insulted Turks by saying that "the Turks have dirty blood."
After all these years, after all this pain and suffering, one would
think that Turkey has drawn some lessons from this terrible past.
However, I found out that not a single lesson has been drawn from
those events. This time, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)
circles are playing the same dirty games. They pick some of your
words and use them against you. I am referring to the AK Haber
website (which uses AK Party's name, so it must be controlled by
party officials or at least published with their consent), which
portrays me as someone who wishes that Turkey will one day will be
a country in which the Turkish flag will be burned. "I hope we'll
be a country in which flags are burned," I was quoted to have said,
as seen on the webpage http://www.akhaber.com/ak-parti/haber-6859572/.
I was on Bugun TV for two hours on Sunday. We mainly discussed
the bloody murders that took place at satirical magazine Charlie
Hebdo in France. Among other things, we discussed whether insulting
religious sentiments can be seen as within the confines of freedom of
expression. My point was this: If there is no hate speech targeting
vulnerable groups, then there should not be any limitation on freedom
of expression. To emphasize how backward Turkey is in relation to
freedom of expression, I referred to the US Supreme Court decision on
flag burning and how they reached the conclusion that even this is
a way of expressing one's ideas, and therefore should be protected
as part of freedom of expression. I concluded that I hope Turkey
will one day reach that level of broad understanding of the freedom
of expression.
The AK Haber website twisted my words. To increase the provocative
effect, the website said Orhan Kemal said these words looking into
the eyes of a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy. It is obvious
they are trying to provoke nationalist circles against me.
I told you this entire story to show you how defending the freedom
of expression can make you a target. While I was trying to show how
broad freedom of expression is in other countries, I was transformed
into someone who calls for the burning of flags.
Time is passing, so many things are happening, but some things never
change in this country and one of them is the terrible distortion of
words, turning you into a target if you share thoughts that disturb
those in power.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/orhan-kemal-cengiz/the-perils-of-defending-freedom-of-expression_369691.html