‘President must have more tolerance for harsh criticisms'

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Sefer Selvi, a cartoonist for Turkey's critical Evrensel newspaper, was standing trial for "insulting the President" with his 11 comics that he had drawn from 2014 to 2017. At his final hearing at the İstanbul 18th Penal Court of First Instance, Selvi has been acquitted of the offense charged as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

CLICK - Our jaw has dropped in the face of this media freedom!

Pronouncing its justified ruling after the hearing on January 8, the court has referred to the Article 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) regarding the limits of freedom of expression.

The court has noted that public officials must show more tolerance to the criticisms about their actions and remarks while fulfilling their duty:

"The ECtHR concludes that the words that are not based on accusations, do not require proof and are limited to value judgments can be conisdered within the right of criticism and freedom of expression. Similarly, it is widely accepted by democratic societies that politicians and senior bureaucrats must tolerate harsh criticisms more than other people do."

The detailed ruling of the court has also emphasized that "hurting, shocking or disturbing" expressions fall within freedom of thought and referred to freedom of expression as a must for a democratic society.

'Freedom of expression is a must for democracies'

"Freedom of expression is valid for not only well-accepted, harmless or indifferent information or ideas, but for hurting, shocking or disturbing information and ideas as well. It is required by tolerance, a must of democratic societies," the ruling of the local court has underlined further.

Indicating that the comics of Sefer Selvi involve political criticism through humor, the court has briefly concluded:

"When the remarks in the comics are considered, it has been concluded that these expressions involve political criticism, sometimes accompanied by humor; even though it is certain that the expressions are disturbing, the President of the Republic of Turkey, who also has political duties, must tolerate these criticisms more than other people do, as required by his duty; given that these expressions that do not involve public defamation or an attack on honor and respectability, it does not constitute the offense charged; the court has ruled for the defendant's acquittal of the charged offense, the elements of which were not constituted."

Önderoğlu: TCK 299 is a litmus paper

Speaking to bianet about the acquittal of Sefer Selvi, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Representative to Turkey Erol Önderoğlu demands that the Article 299 of the TCK (insulting the President) be repealed:

"We hope that the acquittal of cartoonist Sefer Selvi and journalists Can Ataklı and Necla Demir in the last two months set a libertarian legal precedent for the legislation on 'insulting the President'.

"However, the fact that prosecutors appeal the rulings of acquittal in many files shows that they do not have an easy time at the judiciary.

"Article 299 and its practice, as a litmus paper, show us that we should not get hopeful very easily. Those who claim that we belong to the European Union (EU)... What are they waiting for to repeal this anti-democratic article in compliance with the call of the Venice Commission?" (HA/SD)