(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ has learned that on Wednesday 23 June 1999 an Istanbul court banned distribution of the book “Mehmed’s Book: Soldiers Who have Fought in the Southeast Speak Out,” written by Turkish journalist Nadire Mater, a freelance reporter with Inter Press Service (IPS). The court ruled that the book, first published in April 1999, […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ has learned that on Wednesday 23 June 1999 an Istanbul
court banned distribution of the book “Mehmed’s Book: Soldiers Who have
Fought in the Southeast Speak Out,” written by Turkish journalist Nadire
Mater, a freelance reporter with Inter Press Service (IPS). The court ruled
that the book, first published in April 1999, had insulted the military and
thus violated Article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code.
Copies of the book, which consists of a series of interviews with forty-two
retired Turkish soldiers who have fought in the civil conflict in
southeastern Turkey, were confiscated by police from the book’s
Istanbul-based publisher, Metis Publishers. Since April, four editions of
the book have been printed and around 9,000 copies sold.
Mater also faces possible criminal charges under Article 159.
