Courts Punish Media, ECHR Punishes Turkey

With the new Turkish Penal Code, new prison penalties are being introduced, the Radio and Television Higher Board law, which limits freedoms, is being left unchanged, and the anti-terrorism law is threatening the freedom of expression of the media by introducing prison terms of five years.

Moreover, media employees are still not members of a union, and are deprived of social security, while foreign investors are preparing to become media owners or partners in Turkey.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has personally contributed to efforts to limit press freedom by suing the "Gunluk Evrensel" (Daily Evrensel) and the "Cumhuriyet" (Republic) newspapers for a caricature, and the "Zafer" (Victory) newspaper in Gaziantep, for an article.

BIA2 Media Monitoring Desk has prepared a three-month report, which covers the months of January, February and March, and which talks about rights violations in the media sector.

The 19-page report covers 49 cases, and the situations of 74 media institutions and 76 reporters. It also provides an account of all rights violations under the topics: "attacks and threats", "detentions and arrests", "trials and attempts", "European Court of Human Rights", "RTUK practices", "regulations and legal procedures" and "reaction to censorship."

Less attacks, prison sentences on the rise

During the period, there were two attacks, three threats and three detentions in the media sector. New trials were opened against eight programs or reporters, and courts continued with nine cases. Ten reporters from seven newspapers were handed penalties.

Reporter Sebati Karakurt from the "Hurriyet" (Freedom) newspaper, is standing trial for publishing interviews with militants of the PKK Kongra-Gel organization. He is being charged with "publishing the statements of a terrorist organization," and "disseminating propaganda of a terrorist organization."

Four reporters were acquitted during the period. The Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the 20 months prison term handed to writer Selahattin Aydar of the "Milli Gazete" (National Newspaper), ruling, "provocation requires call for violence." The same court upheld the punishment handed to reporter Mehmet Sevket Eygi under the same article.

Six reporters arrested in 2005 or before were released. Memik Horuz, the general manager of the "Isci Koylu" (Labourer Villager) magazine, has been in prison for "membership in an illegal organization" for the last four years. Seven media employees have been under arrest for the last four months for protesting the Penal Execution Law.

There were almost 10 cases opened against the "Birgun" (One Day) newspaper, which is only a year old. One of the cases against Birgun was brought by Transport Minister Binali Yildirim.

A total of 273 cases were opened against a total of 396 issues of "Ulkede Ozgur Gundem" (Free Agenda in the Country) newspaper. Nine of the 24 finalized cases resulted in a penalty, and 15 resulted in acquittals. Newspapers were fined a total of 113,000 new liras (USD 84,000).

Many warnings issued by RTUK; less programs were ordered off the air

RTUK ordered "Radyo Dunya" (Radio World) off the air for 30 days for presenting a book which had been confiscated. In the year earlier period, RTUK had ordered programs off the air for a total of 120 days.

While a total of 21 programs were ordered off the air during the year-earlier period, a total of 11 programs were ordered off the air in current period.

Programs were ordered off the air for "negatively affecting the development of children", "denouncing people for religious reasons", "attacking national and moral values", and "exceeding the limits of criticism."

RTUK asked for defenses from radio and televisions on 21 instances, and issued warnings in 86. In the year-earlier period, RTUK had asked for defenses for 19 programs, and had issued a total of 39 warnings.

Kurdish and Laz dialect banned on TV

"Gun TV" (Day TV) in Diyarbakir is still waiting for permission for Kurdish broadcasts. "Can TV" (Life TV) in Diyarbakir was asked for a defense after a Diyarbakir court banned Aynur Dogan's song named "Kece Kurda" (Kurdish Girl). The song is broadcast by the national media.

A year after TRT began broadcasting programs in the Bosnian, Kirmanchi, Zaza, Arabic and Circassian dialects, it didn't allow singer Birol Topaloglu to sing a song in the Laz dialect.

ECHR hands Turkey a fine of 426,726 new liras

Courts decided there was a lack of grounds for legal action in two complaints by the Tunceli provincial paramilitary police commandership against lawyer and jurist Huseyin Aygun. He will be tried for saying "I am being threatened."

Journalist Abdurrahman Dilipak is being tried by a military court for "damaging relations between the junior and senior levels." The military prosecutor appealed the case as Dilipak's file was being sent to a civilian court.

Erol Ozkoray, the general manager of "Idea Politika" (Political Idea) was fined 1,708 new Turkish liras (USD 1,250) for publishing an article titled "What is the army for?) on the Web site. A Turkish court had acquitted Ozkoray in a trial brought against him for publishing the article in the

magazine.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) fined Turkey a total of 241,085 euros (426,720 new Turkish liras) in damages in cases about freedom of expression. (EO/NM)