Articles by IPS Communication Foundation – Bianet
ECHR condemns censorship under emergency law, awards compensation to journalists
(BIANET/IFEX) – The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has awarded compensation to journalists who were punished under emergency law and whose newspaper was banned in the Emergency Law regions. The ECHR considered the cases of journalists from the “Evrensel” and “Günlük Evrensel” newspapers on 8 January 2008. The court decreed that the punishment of […]
Court case against writer, editor and magazine owner dropped on technicality
(BIANET/IFEX) – The court case against sociologist Ismail Besikci, “Esmer” magazine owner Ferzende Kaya, and the magazine’s editor, Mehmet Ali Izmir, has been dropped because of “lapse of time”. The three had been charged under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code for “inciting hatred and hostility” because of an article Besikci wrote in the […]
Writer receives 14-month suspended sentence over “Aktüel” magazine article
(BIANET/IFEX) – Writer Perihan Magden has been given a 14-month suspended prison sentence under Article 125 of the Penal Code for reporting on what people said about Aytac Akgül when Akgül was the governor of Yüksekova district, in the southeastern province of Hakkari. She has been convicted of insulting Akgül. An article published in the […]
Union representative on trial over article using Kurdish alphabet; Kurdish leader condemns those expressing opinions contradicting PKK line
(BIANET/IFEX) – In two separate cases, free expression is being suppressed in relation to Kurdish language, culture and politics. In one case, this suppression is the result of actions by Turkish authorities, in the other, of actions by a Kurdish political leader. Kiyasettin Aslan, a trade union representative based in Kilis, in southeastern Turkey, is […]
Editor facing criminal charges over article on politician after being ordered to pay compensation in civil suit
(BIANET/IFEX) – A civil court has ruled that a website editor’s article about a politician, published in a newspaper, was insulting and has ordered him to pay compensation. The editor is also now facing criminal charges that may net him three years in prison if convicted. Yalcin Ergündogan, the editor-in-chief of the sesonline.net website, wrote […]
Journalists, politicians in court for referring to army’s alleged use of chemical weapons against PKK
(BIANET/IFEX) – Trials of journalists and politicians for violations of the Turkish criminal code’s controversial Article 301 are continuing, despite government assurances to the European Union (EU) that the article will be significantly modified or abolished. Dutch member of the European Parliament Joost Lagendijk, chair of the EU Joint Parliamentary Committee with Turkey, recently stated […]
Investigation into murders of publishing house employees overly focused on victims’ “missionary activities”
(BIANET/IFEX) – The trial concerning the murder of three men working for Zirve Publications starts on 23 November 2007. Of the 32 investigation files, only eight are about the murders, while the rest relate to “missionary activities”. On 18 April, Tilman Ekkhart Geske, Necati Aydin and Ugur Yüksel were murdered in their office in Malatya. […]
Activist-lawyer receives criminal conviction over references to “Kurdistan”
(BIANET/IFEX) – On 16 October 2007, the Penal Court in Viransehir, in the province of Sanliurfa in southeastern Turkey, convicted human rights activist and lawyer Eren Keskin to one year in prison for saying: “If we look at the state statistics on perpetrators of sexual violence in Turkey and Kurdistan, then soldiers are in the […]