A former editor of a Kurdish-language newspaper in Turkey is facing a 525-year sentence, less than two weeks after his successor was also imprisoned.
Vedat Kurşun, former editor of Kurdish daily, Azadiya Welat, has been charged with 105 counts of “helping and abetting the PKK organization by spreading propaganda” and “glorifying crimes and criminals” in articles published in numerous issues of the newspaper. On 12 February, his successor as editor, Ozan Kılınç, was convicted and sentenced to 21 years imprisonment for similar charges.
Kurşun has already served 13 months in jail awaiting his trial after being arrested in Istanbul in January 2009 as he arrived in the city to testify in another case. He has been held in Diyarbakır Prison in the southeast of Turkey since his arrest. His trial was scheduled to begin on Thursday, 18 February.
At a hearing in Diyarbakır High Criminal Court on Friday, 19 February, prosecutors in the case stated that although Kurşun was not a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – which is outlawed in Turkey – he was guilty of disseminating propaganda for it by publishing stories on the statements and activities of the organisation, including its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan. Kurşun’s lawyer rejected the charges and has demanded his acquittal. His trial has now been put on hold and Kurşun remains in prison.
Kurşun’s lawyer, Servet Özen, spoke to the Turkish press freedom organisation Bianet, pointing out that the news and opinion articles in question were published under the scope of freedom of expression and the right to inform the people, not as propaganda.
Ozan Kılınç, who assumed the role of editor-in-chief of Azadiya Welat after Kurşun’s arrest last year, was sentenced to 21 years for publishing propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organisation, belonging to a terrorist organisation and for committing crimes on behalf of a terror organisation.
“This is not the first time that the authorities have used anti-terrorism laws to stifle freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Turkey,” IPI Director David Dadge said on Monday, 22 February. “I am particularly concerned as this case comes less than two weeks after Kurşun’s successor, Ozan Kılınç, was sentenced to 21 years on similar charges.”
In the IPI’s World Press Freedom Review 2009, Dadge expressed concerns regarding Turkey’s consistently poor attitude towards press freedom and use of laws to prosecute journalists, including Article 301 – which bans “insults” to the Turkish state.
