Kaos GL Files Criminal Complaint Against Yeni Akit Newspaper
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Ankara-based Kaos GL Association has filed a criminal complaint against Yeni Akit newspaper on the ground of its news which target and disseminate hate speech about the association itself and LGBTI+ individuals.
In its petition to the Prosecutor's Office, the association has requested that a lawsuit be filed against the newspaper as per the Article no. 216 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), referring to the following remarks as hate speech and elements of crime: "Homosexual perverts who define themselves as LGBTI", "Homos fed by the funds of Western countries and German foundations", "perverted homos" and "homosexual immorals."
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ARTICLE 216 - (1) Any person who openly provokes a group of people belonging to different social class, religion, race, sect, or coming from another origin, to be rancorous or hostile against another group, is punished with imprisonment from one year to three years in case of such act causes risk from the aspect of public safety. |
Attorney Dikmen: "Verdicts of non-prosecution given for previous criminal complaints"
Speaking to Kaos GL, Legal Coordinator of the association Kerem Dikmen has referred to impunity as the reason for the increase in hate speech:
"We see that hate speech containing publications of newspapers such as Yeni Akit are on the increase. The main reason behind this increase is impunity. In the practices of prosecutor's offices in Turkey, hate speech is not subjected to any penal sanctions.
"Moreover, though there are judgements given by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which rules that hate speech cannot be evaluated as part of freedom of expression, the complaints made for the investigation of such news are evaluated within the frame of "journalism - press ethics" and "freedom of expression" and end in non-prosecution."
Reminding that Kaos GL previously filed other criminal complaints about the news which did or did not target the association itself, Dikmen has indicated that verdicts of non-prosecution were given for these complaints and their objections to these verdicts were also rejected. (EMK/SD)