(RSF/IFEX) – On 20 May 2004, former “Milli Gazete” editorialist Hakan Albayrak was sentenced to 15 months in prison without bail for “insulting the memory of Ataturk”, founder of the Turkish Republic. The same day, the daily “Vakit” was ordered to pay the equivalent of 500,000 euros (approx. US$605,000) in damages for defamation of 312 […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 20 May 2004, former “Milli Gazete” editorialist Hakan Albayrak was sentenced to 15 months in prison without bail for “insulting the memory of Ataturk”, founder of the Turkish Republic. The same day, the daily “Vakit” was ordered to pay the equivalent of 500,000 euros (approx. US$605,000) in damages for defamation of 312 Turkish Army generals.
RSF has expressed shock over the ruling, which, it notes, falls contrary to United Nations and Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) recommendations that press offences not be punishable by prison terms.
In a letter to Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, RSF called for the journalist’s immediate release, saying, “It is unworthy of a democracy to jail a journalist for writing an article, whatever it might be.” The organisation also condemned the exorbitant sum demanded of “Vakit”, saying it would “signal the death of the paper.”
Albayrak was sent to Ankara’s Kalecik prison, after being found guilty of “insulting Ataturk’s memory”, under the 1951 law on crimes against Ataturk. Article 1 of the law sets a one to three- year prison term for such “insults”. Article 2 allows for the doubling of this term if the “insult” is carried in the press.
The offending editorial, published in 2000, criticised the reciting of prayers at the funeral of atheist writer Mina Urgan, comparing it to the burial of Ataturk. The item concluded, “Was Pasha Mustapha Kemal not buried without prayers? Neither the state not society seemed concerned about it at the time.”
The same day as the Albayrak sentence, a court sentenced Nuri Aykon, owner of the daily “Vakit”, along with the paper’s editor-in-chief, Harum Aksoy, and journalist Mehmet Dogan to pay around 500,000 euros to 312 generals in the Turkish Army. Dogan is the author of an article that appeared in the 25 August 2003 edition of the paper, entitled, “The country where a soldier who does not deserve to be sergeant becomes a general”. The article, published under a pseudonym, denounced the incompetence of top ranking army officers, but stopped short of naming any. All the generals who filed defamation suits were awarded damages.
The paper’s lawyer, Haci Ali Ozhan, described the sentence as dangerous, saying he fears it could determine jurisprudence. The paper plans to appeal the sentence.
