(RSF/IFEX) – In a 26 October 2001 letter to Minister of Justice Hikmet Sami Türk, RSF expressed its indignation over the publicaton ban imposed on “Idea Politika” magazine and the institution of legal proceedings against Erol Özkoray, the magazine’s founder and editor-in-chief, for “insults against and contempt for the army and the Republic.” The trial’s […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a 26 October 2001 letter to Minister of Justice Hikmet Sami Türk, RSF expressed its indignation over the publicaton ban imposed on “Idea Politika” magazine and the institution of legal proceedings against Erol Özkoray, the magazine’s founder and editor-in-chief, for “insults against and contempt for the army and the Republic.” The trial’s first hearing is scheduled for 9 November at Istanbul’s Criminal Tribunal.
“We are going to draw European institutions’ attention to the importance of this trial, which will serve as a test. Is it possible to criticise institutions and the army in Turkey or not? If the answer is no, it will be apparent that there is no room for Turkey among European democracies,” stated Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. “We ask that you intervene so that the charges brought against Erol Özkoray are lifted,” added Ménard.
According to information collected by RSF, Özkoray, founder and editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine “Idea Politika”, is being prosecuted in accordance with Article 159 of the Turkish Criminal Code, for “insulting the army” and “insulting the Republic.” In several articles, he analysed the Turkish army’s role within institutions, its omnipresence in politics and its economic weight, which are obstructing the democratisation of the country, which is a candidate for European Union membership. The trial, which will open on 9 November at Istanbul’s Criminal Tribunal, is connected to the magazine’s publication of an article in March, which was titled “Permanent Coup d’état and Democracy ‘alla turca'”. Because of the article’s publication, Özkoray faces a possible twelve-year prison term. Two other legal proceedings have been instituted against him. Between the various actions brought against him, Özkoray faces up to thirty years’ imprisonment. Moreover, on 14 September, the Ministry of Justice seized and banned the publication of “Idea Politika”‘s fall issue, titled “What is the army’s purpose?”, further to a request by the army’s chief of staff. On 4 October, Istanbul’s Second Criminal Tribunal lifted the publication ban. According to Özkoray, “we are facing the relentlessness of the army, which is frightened by the European Union, and, as such, democracy itself. ‘Idea Politika’ has but one objective: defending the European Union’s values. The army wants to prevent Turkey’s entry into the European Union because it knows that it will lose all of its power and its right to oversee the political process.”
