KurdistanObserver.com

Turkey Prosecutes More Writers, Jeopardizing EU Bid
By Mark Bentley

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Five of Turkey's best-known columnists went on trial at an Istanbul court today, in a freedom-of-speech case that threatens to derail the country's bid to join the European Union.

Hasan Cemal of the Milliyet newspaper and Ismet Berkan, Murat Belge, Haluk Sahin and Erol Katircioglu of the daily Radikal face up to 10 years in prison. They criticized a judge for halting a September conference to discuss Armenian claims of genocide by Ottoman Turks in 1915.

``These curbs are unacceptable if Turkey wants to prove that it's democratic,'' said Oktay Eksi, head of the Turkish Press Council, in an interview on Feb. 2. ``We will continue to fight these restrictions until we, or the EU, persuade the government to abolish them.''

European Union officials say Turkey must conform to Western norms of free expression so as not to jeopardize membership talks that started on Oct. 3. Turkey last month dropped charges against prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, who had questioned Turkey's role in the killing of more than 1 million Armenians nine decades ago.

Cemal and his colleagues are appearing at Istanbul's Bagcilar court of first instance for ``insulting the judiciary.'' The Armenian conference was to have taken place at the city's Bosphorus University on Sept. 23. Organizers later moved the event to neighboring Bilgi University.

Membership Talks

Turkey's progress toward building a Western-style democracy has slackened since the membership talks began, making 2006 a crucial test year for its quest to join the EU, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said on Jan. 12. The accession process will probably last a decade or more.

``This case is one of the bumps on the road to the EU,'' Cemal told reporters at the Istanbul court before the trial. ``I don't expect a negative verdict. The reaction against freedom of expression in Turkey isn't as violent as it used to be.''

The European Court of Human Rights last year found Turkey in violation of laws governing freedom of speech 39 times, double the total in 2004. The Strasbourg-based court ruled against the EU's 25 members seven times in total.

Failure to win EU membership would jeopardize the Turkish government's efforts to pull in foreign investment and reduce debt equivalent to 80 percent of economic output.

The nation's bid to become the EU's first Muslim member is welcomed by only 31 percent of Europe's 450 million citizens, a poll sponsored by the EU shows. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed a looser ``privileged partnership'' for Turkey.

Penal Code

Rehn says the trial of the five columnists and similar legal proceedings are being sought by ``nationalist-minded'' prosecutors who are seeking to punish people for challenging state policy.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned down the EU's appeals to alter the nation's penal code, steps the bloc has requested in order to guarantee freedom of speech in the nation of 72 million people.

Turkey's democracy ``will not be built on solid foundations'' unless the legal changes are made, Camiel Eurlings, a Dutch member of the EU Parliament's foreign affairs committee, said on Jan. 23.

EU officials have vowed to monitor scores of other cases brought against lesser-known individuals for criticizing Turkish policy on issues including Armenia and treatment of the nation's 12 million Kurds. Twenty-seven are due by June, Jonathan Sugden, Turkey researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch, said in a telephone interview on Feb. 3.

EU Skeptics

``Skeptics within the EU shouldn't be given an excuse for chilling even further their attitude toward Turkey's candidacy,'' Sugden said. ``We need to have more leadership from the government on this. It almost looks like these prosecutors are looking for a fight, picking out cases to express their dissatisfaction and anger with the EU process.''

Turkey rejects claims that the Ottoman Empire committed genocide against Armenians, saying the deaths can be attributed to wider ethnic clashes. EU members including France and Italy have approved resolutions recognizing the atrocities.

Turkish officials say they are concerned Armenians would seek to reclaim land they or their family members once owned in Turkey and file with international courts for compensation, if the government admitted the persecutions.

Even the EU's politicians are not immune from prosecution in Turkey. An Istanbul court in December opened an investigation against European Parliament member Joost Lagendijk on charges of insulting the Turkish military. The probe was dropped on Feb. 3, NTV television reported.

``Unfortunately there are some people who are intent on destroying the system in Turkey,'' Kerem Kerincsiz, a director of the Hukukcular Birligi, an Istanbul-based lawyers' group that filed complaints with prosecutors against Lagendijk and the five newspaper columnists, told reporters before today's trial.

Recognizing the damage that the court cases might inflict on Turkey's EU bid, the Justice Ministry last month issued a circular reminding judges that European human rights legislation must take precedence over Turkish law, a requirement written into the constitution two years ago.

Ethnic Minorities

A Turkish prosecutor in November charged two Turkish professors with insulting the judiciary and ``encouraging criminal activity'' after they called for more rights for Turkey's ethnic minorities. A guilty verdict at their trial, due to begin in Ankara on Feb. 15, carries a five-year jail term.

Professors Ibrahim Kaboglu and Baskin Oran made the call in a report on Turkey's democracy requested by Erdogan himself.

``I'll accuse the prosecutor of violating human rights in Turkey, of neglecting and misusing his position and violating the Turkish Constitution,'' Oran said in a telephone interview Feb. 2. ``Turkey needs better human rights so its citizens can be treated like human beings. That's what we're fighting for.''