‘There is no crime, but a show for political purposes’

* Photo: Dilek Şen - bianet

Click to read the article in Turkish

Protesting the appointment of Prof. Melih Bulu as the new rector of their university, two students of Boğaziçi have been arrested and two have been placed under house arrest over a picture of the Kaaba on display in an exhibition as part of their protest at the South Campus in İstanbul.

The students are charged with "degrading or inciting the public to enmity and hatred" over this picture with four LGBTI+ flags on its corners.

The arrest of students came amid the targeting remarks of the appointed rector Melih Bulu, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül and President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş.

Levent Pişkin, the attorney of the arrested students, has spoken to bianet about what has been happening over the past few days.

CLICK - Two Boğaziçi University students arrested

'Constitutional Court, ECtHR judgements are clear'

Referring to the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Court of Cassation and Constitutional Court on freedom of expression, attorney Levent Pişkin underlines that this incident cannot be considered solely as a matter of freedom of expression:

"Even if it is presumed that there is an insult to 'religious values', it is an art exhibition and what is expressed there is art.

"The criteria of the Court of Cassation, Constitutional Court and ECtHR are clear enough. Freedom of expression in works of art shall be evaluated within a wider perspective than any other statement. Besides, even if we agree that there is a crime which is under investigation, not the owner of an artistic work, the students who organized the exhibition are investigated here. But these evaluations are, above all else, a concern of the law."

'Investigation is not lawful'

Attorney Pişkin emphasizes that the investigation is not lawful:

"This is an investigation which is not lawful, this is an investigation which is legally null and void; no legal comment can be made about it.

"This is entirely a show, a performance put on for political purposes. I say 'legally' because there was a warrant for neither detention nor seizure. Moreover, the artwork subject to investigation is not there, either.

"It means nothing other than false imprisonment of people based on an investigation which is not there as to the merits.

'Elements of the crime are not there'

"Moreover, if we consider it from the perspective of the Article 216/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) (governing the offence of publicly provoking hatred or hostility in one section of the public against another section which has a different characteristic based on social class, race, religion, sect or regional difference), we still cannot do it.

"The prosecutor's office and the police department heard their statements as per the Article 216/3 (publicly degrading the religious values of a section of the public). During the investigation process, we found Article 216/1 before us. Did the elements of the crime indicated in Article 216/1 arise? No. Above all else, there is no intention, the mental element is lacking here.

'The ones who spread it are responsible'

"When we consider the material elements, the law is clear: It refers to provoking one group against the other.

"More importantly, it refers to the creation of an explicit and imminent danger to the public as the essential condition. It is not there, either. It was at least not there until the government became involved in the issue.

"A work seen by a few hundreds of people in a small campus was seen by millions of people because of this attitude. If there is a crime and if we will look for the criminal ones in any case, then, the ones who spread it to wider audiences are responsible, not the students."

(RT/SD)