Local Newsmen Sued on Police Sex Report

Journalist couple Selmi Yılmaz and Fakir Yılmaz have been sentenced by a local court to pay 8,000 YTL (5,800 USD) in damages for reports and articles claiming the provincial police chief Mehmet Gurtekin had failed to take any measures against growing prostitution in the city.

The journalists were found guilty for a news report headlined "Our population has increased" accompanied by a commentary titled "Law and order intact" in the June 2, 2005 issue of the local daily "Kuzeydoğu Anadolu" (Northeast Anatolia).

Fakir Yilmaz had claimed in his article that prostitution, which he referred to as "sex work", had become considerably easy under the police chief Gurtekin who appeared to be a man of religion.

Gurtekin, demanding 20,000 YTL in damages, said the news report referring to him was untrue, that his individual rights had been violated and that he had not neglected his duty. The complainant maintained that the author had attacked his religious beliefs and violated his private life.

The court decided to grant Gurtekin part of the damages in the case launched on October 14, 2005, taking as evidence the investigations launched against prostitution in Ardahan as well as their consequences since the police chief took office in September 2004. (EO/AD/II/YE)