TURKEY: Monthly “301” Action – 19 December 2007

 

17 December 2007

 

 

PEN members are asked to continue the monthly action taking place on or around 19^th of each month in memory of the murdered Armenian-Turkish Editor, Hrant Dink, killed on that day in January 2007.

 

*Total number of writers and journalists on trial under Article 301 – 20*

 

In this alert:

 

Ø      Progress Towards Human Rights in Turkey Remains Slow

Ø      Ragip Zarakolu Trial Drags into 2008: Other 301 Trials Continue

Ø      Memorials Planned for Hrant Dink on Anniversary of his Death

 

 

Progress Towards Human Rights in Turkey Remains Slow

As 2007 draws to a close, almost a year after the outcry at the murder of Hrant Dink, Turkish human rights monitors are unhappy with the lack of progress in human rights reform. On 10 December 2007, International Human Rights Day, the Human Rights Association and Turkish Human Rights Foundation issued a joint statement in which they expressed disappointment at the continuing problems in Turkey. Their report refers to the systematic use of torture in detention centres, lapses in fair trial practices, restrictions on the use of Kurdish in some areas of civil society, and, most pertinent to PEN, the remaining abundance of laws that curtail freedom of expression.

Ø      To see more go to Bianet report Turkey's Human Rights Situation "Discouraging"

 

Publisher Ragip Zarakolu, himself on trial – see below - also records a depressing picture in a report he issued as Chair of the Freedom to Publish Committee of the Turkish Publisher’s Association. He welcomes that there has been a drop in the numbers of titles banned compared with 2006, and publishers are no longer liable for books they publish, leading to cases being dismissed or acquittals. However responsibility has been transferred to translators and, where the authors lived abroad, the publisher then becomes liable. The report lists 43 trials against books and publishers in 2007.

Ø      The TPA report is available on request from sara.whyatt@internationalpen.org.uk.

 

Ragip Zarakolu Trial Drags into 2008: Other 301 Trials continue

On 5 December, Ragip Zarakolu, who has been on trial for over two years under Article 301 for publishing the book The Truth Will Set Us Free heard that the hearings will continue into 2008. At this latest hearing, the author, George Jerjian, who lives in the UK, wrote an open letter to the court in which he stressed that he “grew up in a family which was protected by a Turk, and it was thus unthinkable for our family to have any bad intentions or thoughts towards Turks.” He called for Zarakolu’s acquittal, saying “I am asking you how Zarakolu can insult the memory of a brave leader like Ataturk, who himself accepted that what happened to the Armenians was a crime?” The next hearing against Zarakolu will be on 31 January 2008.

 

In another case, that of Irfan Ucar  and Umur Hozatli, journalist and editor respectively for Ülkede Özgür Gündem, the trial is set to linger at least another five months. Ucar is accused under Article 301 for an article that criticised another trial under the same legislation, this time against publisher Fatih Tas who himself was tried for publishing a book about a journalist, Nazim Babaoglu, who disappeared in 1994. Hozatli is accused for an article on a bombing in the south eastern city of Diyabakir in 2006 that killed a number of children. Ucar told the free media monitor, Bianet, “Even if we are not convicted, we experience stress all the time.”

Ø      To take action on Zarakolu’s case, see below

 

Memorials Planned to Mark the Anniversary of the Death of Hrant Dink

Memorial events commemorating Hrant Dink are being planned by Turkish human rights groups and other NGOs, alongside Dink’s family and his newspaper Agos to take place in Istanbul on and around 19 January, the first anniversary of his murder. International PEN and Turkish PEN plan to be present at these memorials. Meanwhile, Rakel Dink has been travelling the world to receive awards on her husband’s behalf, most recently, on 10 December, the International Press Institute’s nomination of Dink as its 52^nd World Press Hero in recognition of his “significant contribution to freedom of expression and press freedom of Turkey.”

Ø      For more information the memorials, please contact sara.whyatt@internationalpen.org.uk

Ø      Also visit the Agos website www.agos.tr

 

 

ACTION

 

PEN centres are asked to continue to protest the trial against Ragip Zarakolu and to call for the abolition of Article 301.

 

Please send appeals:

 

-                     Protesting that the trial against Ragip Zarakolu continues, over two years since it opened;

-                     Urging an end to the continuing trials against other writers and journalists under Article 301 and other laws that suppress the right to freedom of expression;

-                     Pointing out that these trials are in contravention of international standards protecting the right to freedom of expression as enshrined under Article 19 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 10 of the European Covenant on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory;

-                     Therefore expressing the hope that these trials will be dropped in recognition that they are in breach of the international treaties to which Turkey is committed;

-           Supporting calls for the repeal of Article 301 in recognition of the fact that it has been used to bring numerous people to the courts solely for  having legitimately expressed their opinions, in direct violation of international human rights standards.

 

Appeals to:

 

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Office of the Prime Minister

Basbakanlik

06573 Ankara

Turkey

 

Fax: +90 312 417 0476

 

Minister for Foreign Affairs

Mr Ali Babacan

Office of the Prime Minister

Basbakanlik

06573 Ankara

Turkey

 

Fax: +90 312 287 8811