Turkish justice strikes again

Reporters Without Borders condemns the eight-year suspended jail sentences that were imposed last week on two journalists as a result of their arrest at a demonstration in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir in 2008. Vedat Yildiz, a reporter for the DIHA press agency, and Lokman Dayan of the daily Guneydogu Ekspres were detained along with others on 21 October 2008 as they were covering a demonstration in the town of Idil that the authorities had declared illegal. The demonstrators were protesting against ill-treatment suffered in prison by Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan. Proceedings were started against the two reporters, as well as 23 demonstrators, by the public prosecutor’s office on 19 March 2009. Yildiz and Dayan were sentenced on 24 February to a total of 7 years, 11 months on three counts, all suspended. The pair received 6 years and 3 months for alleged membership of the rebel PKK, 10 months for spreading PKK propaganda and 15 months for “violation of the law on conventions and public gatherings.” The verdict handed down by a criminal court in Diyarbakir represents a blatant gesture of intimidation against the journalists, whose only crime has been to try to cover stories that the Turkish government has deemed out of bounds. Yildiz and Dayan were arrested while carrying out their legitimate work as journalists and yet were tried for the same offences as the demonstrators. The sentence is out of all proportion to the circumstances that led to their arrest and trial. The reporters were accused of not complying with an order by the security forces to disperse. The verdict was based on witness statements by six police officers, which in itself casts doubt on the impartiality of the verdict. As the sentences were suspended, the two men now have the threat of several years in jail hanging over them should they be accused of similar offences again. The effect of this is clearly intimidation. For the next five years the journalists know that if they commit any further offences they will find themselves behind bars. In effect, Yildiz and Dayan will no longer be able to do their job as journalists as they would wish. Once again Turkey’s anti-terrorist law, condemned several times by Reporters Without Borders has been used by the local courts to gag the media. Finally, the organization strongly condemns the use of violence against journalists. Yildiz had to be taken to hospital following his arrest after receiving an injury to his neck. He lodged a formal protest with the police authorities but his complaint was thrown out. Impunity of this kind cannot be tolerated. The journalists’ lawyer, Veysel Vesek, has appealed. Reporters Without Borders stands alongside him in denouncing a verdict, which “shows the dead end in which the Turkish justice system finds itself”. We insist that the appeal process take account of every single irregularity brought to light. Turkey was ranked 138th out of 178 countries in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. This verdict comes at a time when tension in the southeastern provinces is again rising following the Turkish government’s abandonment of an opening towards the Kurds and new clashes with the PKK.