Juridical Culture Bars Freedom of Expression

In the opening sessions Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) representative on Freedom of Media Arnaud Amouroux talked about their activities in Turkey while Laurent Pech from Galway University Law School commented on the European Court of Human Rights decisions concerning freedom of expression.

Sophie Redmond of the Article 19 group, named after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and works worldwide to combat censorship by promoting freedom of expression, and Christoffer Badse of the Danish Institute for Human Rights dealed with international law proceedings on the subject.

Problem is not merely legal

IHOP is an independent platform founded by Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, Human Rights Association (İHD), Amnesty International Turkey branch and Organization for Human Rights and Oppressed People (Mazlum-Der).

Organizing Ankara University (AU) Human Rights Center chair Gencay Şaylan made the opening speech and thanked all participants for coming together to talk on a critical subject in a critical period.

IHOP spokesperson Ayhan Bilgen noted that a mentality change is urgently needed in Turkey regarding freedom of expression side by side with legal improvements. "The authorities don't want to take the initiative" he added.

Taking from there, lecturer in Hacettepe University, Mustafa Erdoğan put the emphasis on the juridical culture causing the problems.

He urged that the legal norms are applied in consistency within the legal ground they're found on and added that the courts one too often scrutinize the freedom of expression by giving totally opposing decisions on similar occasions. He named this as the "influence of state perspective on jurisdiction".

Taking the stand, Amoroux said only five countries among 56 OSCE members presume imprisonment for false accusation offences.

Quoting BIA Media Monitoring Reports, Amoroux added that 16 articles of the new Turkish Penal Code are problematic regarding the freedom of expression.

Reporter of Constitutional Court Osman Can reflected his personal thoughts saying that the constitution needs to be read again with a liberating perspective.

Chair of Human Rights Association Yusuf Alatas claimed that the establishment in Turkey isn't based on a democratic institutional base.(EÖ/TK/EÜ)