NGO Protests Seizure of Book Detailing Attacks on Kurds

ALERT - TURKEY
27 August 2001
Journalist's book seized
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

(RSF/IFEX) - In a letter to Minister of Justice Hikmet Sami Türk, RSF protested the seizure
of journalist Celal Baslangiç's book, which contains testimonies implicating the Turkish
state in a series of violent acts against Kurdish civilians in the country's south-eastern region.

"It seems that Turkey, a candidate for European Union membership, still has no intention of
ending censorship," said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. "We ask that you pledge to
respect Turkey's commitments with respect to freedom of expression," added Ménard.

According to information collected by RSF, on 21 August 2001, the third edition of the book
"The Temple of Fear", written by Baslangiç, a journalist from the centre-left daily
"Radikal", was seized following an order by Judge Dursun Ali Gümüs. On 21 August,
Istanbul's state prosecutor launched legal proceedings against the journalist before the
Second Police Tribunal. The journalist is charged with making "unfair and false remarks
against the military" and "mockery and insults against the Turkish armed forces." 

Testimonies collected in the book "The Temple of Fear" implicate the state in massacres
committed during military operations against the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in the
country's south-eastern region. The book deals specifically with four series of violent actions
committed against the civilian population since 1989. The journalist faces one to six years in 
prison, in accordance with Article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code.

RSF recalls that those who are prosecuted for their beliefs still face imprisonment in Turkey,
a country which nonetheless is a candidate for European Union membership. On 29 June,
the State Security Court sentenced Fikret Baskaya, an academic and editorial writer, to a
sixteen-month prison term for "separatist propaganda by way of the press." He was
incarcerated the same day. In a 1 June 1999 editorial in the pro-Kurdish daily "Özgür 
Bakis", Baskaya wrote that "Turkish leaders have always considered the Kurdish problem to
be a public order problem though it is a national problem, and they thought they could solve
the problem by enforcing a chauvinistic, racist and nationalist policy." Zeynel Abidin
Kizilyaprak, publisher of a supplement in the daily "Özgür Bakis" titled "From 1900 to 
2000, the Kurds," was also sentenced to a sixteen-month prison term for having expressed
"separatist remarks" (see IFEX alert of 11 June 2001). He is scheduled to be incarcerated on
22 October. RSF renewed its appeal to the minister of justice for the release of journalists
Baskaya, Asiye Zeybek Güzel, Hasan Özgün, Mustafa Benli and Kemal Evcimen, and a fair
and impartial trial for journalist Nureddin Sirin (see IFEX alerts of 18 April and 7 March
2001, 22 and 20 December 2000 and 7 December 1999).

For further information, contact Jean-Christophe Menet at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris
75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: europe@rsf.fr,
Internet: http://www.rsf.fr

The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of RSF. 
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.
-------------------------------