(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 21 March 2001 RSF press release: TURKEY Yeni Evrensel banned for a week In a letter to the Turkish Justice Minister, Hikmet Sami Türk, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders, protested the week-long suspension of leftist daily Yeni Evrensel. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, asked the minister “to […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 21 March 2001 RSF press release:
TURKEY
Yeni Evrensel banned for a week
In a letter to the Turkish Justice Minister, Hikmet Sami Türk, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Reporters Without Borders, protested the week-long suspension of leftist daily Yeni Evrensel. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, asked the minister “to cancel this decision.” The organisation recalled that in January 2000, the Diyarbakir prefecture of the emergency region banned regional distribution of Yeni Evrensel without any explanation. Moreover, the organisation pointed out that in 2000, on several occasions, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey “for violating freedom of speech.”
According to information obtained by RSF, the appeals court confirmed the seven-day ban (pronounced by the Istanbul State Security Court Number 3) against Yeni Evrensel. In an article published on 8 January 2000, the fourth anniversary of the murder of reporter Metin Göktepe, the paper denounced the impunity received by two Istanbul police civil servants, Orhan Tasanlar and Kemal Bayrak, who were charged in connection with the murder. The paper was accused of making the police a target for illegal organisations. The newspaper’s owner, Fevzi Saygili, and its editor-in-chief, Ali Karatas, were fined 475 (about 540 euros) and 235 million (about 267 euros) pounds.
On 8 January 1996, Metin Göktepe, a reporter for the leftist daily Evrensel (which succeeded Yeni Evrensel), was beaten to death by policemen on the grounds of an Istanbul sports complex. He was covering the funeral of two prisoners who were killed during an Istanbul jail riot.
