AMENDING CENSORSHIP

"Did you ever hear anyone say, 'That work had better be banned because I might read it and it might be very damaging to me?'"
~ Joseph Henry Jackson

Check Gordon Taylor's latest post, which he calls a "mish-mash" of news. Some of it, however, is very important news, such as the release of Cüneyt Ertuş from prison. Now when is the regime going to charge the fascist police who were filmed breaking Cüneyt's arm? I doubt very much that there will be charges or, if there are, they will be delayed, delayed, delayed until the whole case is lost in the infinite bureaucracy that is Turkey. Obviously these cops knew they'd face no punishment and that's why they broke the kid's arm in front of TV cameras.

Among many other items, Gordon has a link to a BBC article on Ragıp Zarakoğlu's trial. There's an update on this at Info-Turk:

Istanbul Criminal Court of First Instance N2 decided to wait until article 301 is amended in the case against publisher Zarakolu. Zarakolu was charged under article 301 for publishing George Jerjian's "The truth will set us free."

Zarakolu is charged with “insulting the state and the republic” and “insulting the memory of Ataturk” (prison sentence for seven and a half years.) Trial will continue on 17 June.

Translator Atilla Tuygan is charged with “insulting Turkishness” and “insulting the armed forces” for translating Prof. Dr. Dora Sakayan's book "Memoirs of an Armenian Doctor-Garabet Haçeryan's İzmir Journal."

AKP submitted its drafts amending article 301 and article 305 "acting against fundamental national interests" to the Chairing office of the Parliament on 7 April.

Draft proposes the phrase “Turkish nation” to replace “Turkishness” and “Turkish republic” replace "the republic.” The upper limit for prison sentence will be reduced from three to two years. This makes it possible to postpone the execution of the sentences. (antenna-tr.org, April 10, 2008)

The last paragraph makes a joke of postponing the trial until June because Zarakoğlu is charged with "insulting the state and the republic". So that means what, that Zarakoğlu faces two years' imprisonment instead of three?

If you scroll down the Info-Turk article you come to another one on Article 301 by activist Şanar Yurdatapan:

1. It is meaningless to discuss “amending,” or correcting the bits and pieces of this article.

2. Since such an article has no place in a democratic society.

3. The reason of existence for the article is “to stop criticism” in the pretext of “preventing insult.”

What are the main points of those who defend the article?

1. Anyone can swear at the state and the nation. Should they be allowed to do that?

2. The western countries have similar articles too.

3. The article does not punish ‘criticism’. Look at the last sentence added to the article.

4. Abolishing it would not be a solution since there are certain institutional sensitivities. Let us solve it through amending it.

5. Outside pressure is high. We can not let them say, “They abolished it because the EU put pressure.”

6. If we amend it then they will say amend article 305, 318, 216, or 288, there is no end to it.

Let us answer one by one:

1. There are other articles preventing insult and they are adequate. Moreover, so what if an individual swears at the mighty state? It can be a subject to a court case when an adult insults at another adult. However, what would you say if an adult broke the head of a kid because the kid swore at him? The punishment of insulting the state should not being imprisoned, but being reproached and not being taken seriously by the society.

2. If the western democracies still have similar articles, it is a shame on them. Let us set an example. It is true that similar articles exist in few countries, but those articles are the relics from the times of totalitarian regimes, those countries are not even thinking about using those articles against their writers and journalists. Nobody has ever thought of trying Nobel prise winner author Günter Grass who said “he was shamed to be a German” and moved to another country.

3. Yes there is a sentence at the end, which says “criticisms” would be outside the scope of the law, but what is it good for? Prosecutors and judges set the limits of criticism according to the limits of their own minds, and when any of them decides “This exceeds the limits of criticism” that is it. Elif Şafak stood trial over the words of a fiction character. Orhan Pamuk got almost lynched, Hrant Dink was lynched. All of that happened during the period of article 301. Who has been protected by the last sentence?

4. What does “certain institutional sensitivities” mean? Let us speak clearly. The army is at the top of the list of those who resist the amendment of article 301. Many cases against journalists and writers have been filed on the complaints of the Office of the General Chief of Staff anyway. Is the Office of the General Chief of Staff under or above the Office of the Prime Minister? Is not the Turkish Parliament above all of them? So the law makers will want to abolish an article but will not be able to do it? How can we accept such a regime as a democracy?

5. The mentality of “we can not do it since those and those put pressure” can work wonders. What if The Association for Kemalist Ideas noticed that and holds mass “Respect head scarf” rallies to create pressure against the ban on “the head scarf”? If this article had been removed when the new TPC was prepared, there would have been neither so many scandals nor any pressure from the EU. (Orhan Pamuk would be in Turkey and Hrant Dink would be alive.)

6. Of course they will, we will, let us say it now. Abolish article 299 and 300 too. (301’s siblings) Abolish 305 and 318 too, amend 216 and 288 … etc. etc… Abolish Anti-Terror Law, you promised that while making the new TPC anyway. Abolish, amend, change all antidemocratic laws and articles; the Constitution, the Elections Law, Law on Political Parties, The Law on Internet, Pres Law, Penal Procedural Law, Penal Execution Law… We will continue saying and demanding these until Turkey, which is not even ruled by the superiority of the codes becomes a country, which is ruled by the superiority of the law.

Then follows a long list of people who've been charged under Article 301. If half the people in Turkey thought like Yurdatapan, there might be some hope.

Don't forget to check Hevallo to see who the US considers as "terrorists".

HPG has released the identities of two guerrillas killed by defenders of fascism in Amed (Diyarbakır), Zara area on 10 April:

Şehîd Nemirin!

NEWS FROM THE "MODEL OF DEMOCRACY"

"Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses."
~ H.L. Mencken.

There has been an identification of two bodies from a mass grave of Kurds extra-judicially murdered by Turkey's Bolu commandos in the Kulp district, from Yeni Özgür Politika:

The identities of two of the eight people who had been taken by Bolu Brigade from their homes under the pretext of showing them an address, and then returning them, have been revealed. These people were Hasan Örhan and his brother, Mehmet Selim Örhan. In 1994, during a Bolu Command Brigade operation, these eight people were raided and their bodies were burned. Recent DNA results revealed the identity of the two, out of eight. IHD Diyarbakir branch held a press conference in order to declare the results of the DNA test.

As the deputy chief of IHD, Reyhan Yalçındağ, gave a brief background of the incident: "14 years ago, on 24 May 1994, the soldiers who held an operation in Diyarbakır Kulp district, Çağlayan village, Deveboyu region, detained Mehmet Selim Örhan, Hasan Örhan, and Cezair Örhan. Despite their family members' resistance, who are today among us, a high-ranking soldier mentioned that he would take them in order to show them an address and then he would release them. However, no one heard from them since."

According to Yalçındağ, regional departments and prosecutors conclude that there are approximately 5,000 similar cases. Since IHD could not find any resolution for these cases because of [Turkey's] internal law, it has applied to the European Court of Human Rights. Regarding these issues, ECHR found Turkey guilty.

In 2004, the Örhan family found eight unidentified bodies. After the DNA testing of these bodies, it became clear that two of these bodies were Hasan and Mehmet Selim Örhan.

IHD revealed the results of the DNA tests in a press conference at which the Örhan family was present without knowing the results. When the results were announced, indicating that the bones of Hasan and Mehmet Selim Örhan were found, many family members suffered breakdowns. Thus, IHD had to cut short the press conference.

So there we have yet another example of why the Bolus are particularly hated in Kurdistan and why the TSK should be brought before an international tribunal on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Human Rights Association (TIHV) suffered a highly suspicious robbery on 24 March:

Thieves who broke into the TIHV center stole 18-years worth of archives of torture victims. Without touching anything else in the center, the thieves escaped.

Even though there is an alarm system in every room, some unidentified people stole the server which contained torture and human rights violations reports. Without stealing anything else, valuable or without value, it was revealed that the thieves had attempted to commit this robbery three days' prior--an attempt that failed.

TIHV General Secretary Metin Bakkalci said it was no coincidence that the server was stolen. Metin Bakkalci says: "Despite the security precautions, three days' after the first attempt, they succeeded in getting into the building. Here, there were applications regarding human rights violations and some related information dating from 1990." He indicated that the archive that was stolen was Turkey's human rights violations and torture "memory".

Thus, the thieves stole Turkey's human rights violations and torture reports "memory".

The biggest question here is who were the thieves working for? The Kemalist Deep State or the Islamist Deep State? Both would benefit by wiping out the records of Turkey's dirty history.

In some good news, it looks like Russia is shutting down Fethullah Gülen:

Russian constitutional court banned Fethullah Gülen's "Nurcu cemaat" and their activities as the court considered them an "illegal Islamic movement". According to BBC news, the case that has been brought by the chief prosecutor, resulted in the banning Fethullah Gülen's activities in Russia. According to the Russians, the Nurcu houses turn into illegal madrassas that teach an extreme religious ideology. In additon, many Gulen schools, mainly in St. Petersburg, have been considered illegal also by this court, by saying their activities are illegal.

A check of BBC English and BBC Türkçe revealed no report as quoted here. However, the news has been fairly prominent in Turkish media, such as this example from Hürriyet. According to Hürriyet, the Russians had previously closed down Gülen schools. Were the Fethullahcı attempting to bypass the previous Russian ban by referring to themselves as Nurcular? This would not be unusual since Gülen, the bawling village idiot, stole the writings of Seîd Kurdî (aka Said Nursi by Kurd-haters) to sucker people into his cult.

It's too bad the Americans won't follow in Russia's footsteps and ban the wildly out-of-control Fethullahcı in the US. Perhaps the Russians really banned the Fethullahcı because the US is using them as a fifth column against Russia, just as it did with the mujaheddin in Afghanistan in the 1980's. And we all know how well that turned out.

Please note that Amnesty International (AI) has issued a statement about Cüneyt Ertuş. Also available in German, if you're so inclined.

AI also has something on Eren Keskin's recent conviction:

Human rights activist Eren Keskin has been sentenced to six months and 20 days in prison after being convicted of “denigrating the Turkish army”.

The conviction comes under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which Amnesty International has long campaigned against.

Eren Keskin's sentence can be converted into a fine of 4,000 Turkish Liras (US$3,250) but she has refused to pay it. Instead, she is appealing the verdict. Should she be imprisoned, Amnesty International would consider her to be a prisoner of conscience.

Okay, so how does one actually "denigrate the Turkish army"? I mean, they do that well enough on their own. Fittingly enough, Eren Keskin has a page at Heroes for a Better World. If you need to know more about Eren--and you probably do--check this.

Finally, the word has gotten around that Leyla Zana has been convicted for her remarks at Newroz last year. Some feckless articles have claimed in headlines that she's been jailed already, but do not mention jailing at all in their text. So far I have not seen anything at all in Turkish-language media that says Zana has been imprisoned or jailed yet, so I am not certain about it. The question is whether an appeal is filed automatically and whether or not she remains free pending the results of an appeal. I will continue to watch for further news on this issue.

What I have noticed, however, is that the Turkish media has been unusually silent over Zana's conviction. Would this have anything to do with the fact that her conviction was announced on the same day that those two great defenders of democracy, Olli Rehn and Manuel Barroso, arrived in Turkey? Barroso even went to the TBMM to bleat about political and social "reforms", and went so far as to praise efforts to "reform" the excruciatingly vague new version of the excruciatingly vague old version of Article 301.

At this point, I suspect that Zana will once again be sacrificed on the altar of "democracy".

Since I have mentioned two courageous Kurdish women in this post, let me also point out that a new website is in the works that will focus on Kurdish women. You can take a look at Kurdistan's Women.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING

"Time is making fools of us again."
~ J.K. Rowling.

First of all, kudos to Hevallo for posting a link to a video on the PKK that's been missing from the Internet for some time. I had first posted a link to it back in May 2006 when it was available on Google video. Shortly thereafter, it was removed. Now that it's on Youtube, watch it while you have the chance. Runtime is about 25 minutes. In particular, pay attention to the commentary and Murat Karayılan's remarks at the end--bearing in mind the recent Turkish aerial bombing campaign and land invasion, both conducted with US (and Israeli) help:

While Turkey has offered token concessions to its Kurdish citizens, it says it won't negotiate with terrorists. Instead they have massed 1,000 troops inside Iraq with the express purpose of annihilating the PKK. With America promising to help its ally Turkey to eliminate them, the future looks bleak.

[ . . . ]

A regular army would need years to dislodge the guerrillas. We'll make an effort to prevent that happening. We'd make tactical moves if necessary. But if they come to annihilate us in the end, we won't surrender.

Dont forget to check out Hevallo's tribute to Şehîd Halil Uysal. We will sorely miss his brilliant photography and documentation of Kurdistan.


And there's more great news from Bush's great Model of Democracy for the Middle East, from Goran at Mideast Youth:

Last year, a group by the name of The Children’s Voices of Diyarbakir that consists of Kurdish youth aged 8 to 16 years of age, many who are orphaned, received a rare opportunity to participate in a World Music Festival in California. The kids put on a wonderful performance that could - and perhaps did - even put tears of joy to the eyes of non-Kurdish attendees as much as they did for Kurdish attendees.

This Kurdish youth group is composed of mostly orphans and was put together through a program initiated by Kurds in Turkey to help get the youth off the streets by engaging them in positive activities. At the festival in California, the kids sang a wide range of traditional Kurdish folk songs, played instruments, and even danced for the audience.

Now, back in Turkey, a few of them are facing charges by Turkish prosecutors for singing these songs in California…

To cut to the chase, the song the children are being prosecuted for is "Ey Reqîb," which is well-known throughout the Kurdish world and was used to close the broadcast day, every day, on Roj TV. Not that Turkey needs an excuse to persecute Kurds and in this case, as in every case, it stoops to the level of the absurd. I kind of suspect that the Ankara regime's behavior is the result of a mass inferiority complex which is the legacy of Kemalist ideology. There's probably a big chunk of guilt complex mixed in, too, since the regime knows very well who it was that helped it out during the war for independence. In fact, there would have been no independence without Kurds standing and fighting.

The EUObserver reports on the AKP's recent bellydance to win over the EU in order to have someone in their court over the closure case:

The Turkish parliament is next week likely to pass a bill softening a law which sets limits on freedom of the speech by criminalizing insults to "Turkishness".

[ . . . ]

I believe we will push the amendment to Article 301 through parliament next week," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday (8 April), according to press agencies.

Late on Monday, the Turkish government submitted its draft proposal for amendments to the parliament, suggesting, among other things, that the country's president should give his consent before prosecutors can launch cases in that field.

It also proposes that the vague term "Turkishness" be replaced by "Turkish nation", and the prison time envisaged be decreased from three to two years while the sentence could be suspended or converted to a fine, AFP reports.

The move comes just days before a visit to Turkey on Thursday and Friday by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn.

Okay. That fourth paragraph should read: "It also proposes that the vague term "Turkishness" be replaced by the equally vague term "Turkish nation" . . .

Here's more:

Faced with the looming possibility of being closed down by Turkey’s Constitutional Court, the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) seems to be making a political turn back toward the center. Perhaps hoping Brussels might come to the rescue, party leaders in recent days have refocused attention on European Union-oriented reforms as a way of staving off the threat to their political future.

[ . . . ]

The Constitutional Court threat seems to have reinvigorated the AKP’s reformist intentions. The government now says it will present to parliament an amendment that would make it harder to for cases to be opened under Article 301. The bill would make the Turkish president responsible for approving any prosecution related to law, taking it out of the hands of prosecutors who may be acting with nationalistic motives. Other reforms also appear to be in the offing.

[ . . ]

[Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for Enlargement] Rehn is due to arrive in Turkey on April 10 for a three-day visit, along with European Commission president José Manuel Barroso.

The AKP's plan is to welcome Rehn and Barroso with the appearance of lurching toward democracy by playing around with the language of Article 301. Or, maybe I should say this was AKP's plan.

You see, there's a minor snag. AKP was hoping to have the proposed changes to Article 301 in the parliamentary works by Rehn and Barroso's 10 April visit. However, the president of the parliament, Köksal Toptan (AKP), is in China. He's supposed to forward the proposal to the justice commission in order to initiate the parliamentary process for change to the constitution. He's got a deputy, though, right? No problem. Wrong. His deputy, Güldal Mumcu is CHP. She has determined that the issue is not serious, so she's sitting on the proposal until Toptan returns from China.

OOPS!

The clock is ticking . . . Rehn and Barroso are due to arrive any time. Meanwhile, Mumcu continues to file her nails and eat lokum, while sitting on the 301 proposal . . .