ARMENIAN CONFERENCE FALLOUT: PROSECUTORS TARGET

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 002058 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM TU SUBJECT: ARMENIAN CONFERENCE FALLOUT: PROSECUTORS TARGET JOURNALISTS FOR INSULTING THE JUDICIARY REF: A. ISTANBUL 2020 ¶B. ISTANBUL 1680 ¶C. ISTANBUL 1780 ¶1. (U) Adding to the growing list of publishers and writers being taken to criminal court (ref A),an Istanbul prosecutor filed charges December 2 against five prominent Turkish journalists for their articles criticizing the September 2005 Istanbul court decision that granted an injunction blocking the holding of that month's "Alternative Armenian Conference" (ref B) at two local universities. (Note: the conference was ultimately held at a venue not covered by the court injunction. End Note.) Milliyet's Hasan Cemal, along with Radikal Editor Ismet Berkan and columnists Murat Belge, Haluk Sahin and Erol Katircioglu, wrote critical columns and articles at the time, terming the postponement order an attack on academic freedom and a travesty of justice, among other things. ¶2. (U) Ismet Berkan is being charged under Article 288 of the penal code, which makes it illegal to make a statement about a case with the object of "influencing" any party to it, but the other writers are the latest victims of the penal code's infamous Article 301, which criminalizes insulting the state or state organs (the judiciary in this case). The journalists' trial is due to commence February 7, 2006; the defendents face sentences ranging from six months to ten years if convicted. Press reports indicate that the cases were brought to the Istanbul prosecutor by nationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz and his Union of Turkish Jurists, who were behind the court's September postponement order. Kerinsiz and his group have also filed an appeal seeking a harsher sentence in the case of journalist Hrant Dink's conviction for insulting "Turkishness" (ref C),and they have been in the forefront of recent demonstrations at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as well. ¶3. (SBU) Comment: These latest targets are all prominent and well-known commentators (as well as regular Consulate and Embassy contacts),and their cases are likely to assume a high public profile. Though no reminder was needed, given the upcoming case of Orhan Pamuk (which begins on December 16) and other recent cases, the indictments highlight once again the extent to which freedom of expression is constrained in Turkey. End Comment. JONES