Journalist Convicted Because of Anecdote about the President

In the first and only session of the case on 15 September the Adana 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance decided to pass sentence of 11 months and 20 days' imprisonment to Sevda Turaçlar. Turaçlar works as an IT operator for the Turkish 'Ekspres' newspaper and published an anecdote about Turkish president Abdullah Gül. Insulting the president by printing the anecdote was the reason for the court's decision. The penalty will be executed only if Turaçlar will commit an offence of the same kind within the coming 5 years.

Turaçlar told bianet she will not file an appeal against the decision: "We respect the decision of the law. I am working in journalism for 20 years and this is the first time I am experiencing something like this. I received support from all over Turkey. I thank everybody".

"I was not aware of commiting a crime, I did not check the anecdote's content"

Un-detained defendant Turaçlar explained the incident from her point of view: "I am working at the newspaper in the technical service department as an IT operator. The anecdote came to me via email and I did not check it before I used it. I had used anecdotes about former president Süleyman Demirel and former prime minister Yıldırım Akbulut before. I was not aware of committing a crime".

Turaçlar argued that she had not been able to check the anecdote because of time constrains and applied for her acquittal. However, prosecutor Hasan Öz claimed to penalize Turaçlar for a public insult of president Gül. Öz stated that the anecdote published on 28 December 2008 was of "ignoble" content.

5 years' suspension of the sentence on probation

Initially, the court decided for a 1 year and 2 months' imprisonment. Yet, seeing Turaçlar's positive conduct during the hearing, the penalty was decreased to 11 months and 20 days. Furthermore, the court decided for a 5 years' suspension of the sentence on probation since the prison sentence fell below a duration of 2 years and because the defendant did not intentionally commit a crime before. Turaçlar's decent personality and her attitude showed during the hearing were taken into account for this decision as well. The penalty will only be affected if Turaçlar commits a crime of the same kind within the next 5 years.

The 'Ekspres' daily newspaper has been publishing in the city of Adana (south of Turkey) for 30 years. Turaçlar is doing journalism for 20 years and works for 'Ekspes' for 17 years.

Because of the anecdote subject to Turaçlar's conviction, also the Milas Önder newspaper and its editorial director Melih Kaşkar are on trial at the Milas 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance under charges of "insult of the president via the press". (The city of Milas is located on the southwest coast of Turkey.) Kaşkar is facing a sentence of 2 years and 8 months' imprisonment for the anecdote's "ignoble" content regarding prime minister Erdoğan and president Gül. (EÖ/VK)