Publisher Oztoprak Acquitted, Keskin?

Publisher Öztoprak was acquitted of charges of promoting separatism by publishing Mehmed Uzun book,Generating a Language. Publisher Abdullah Keskin faces imminent imprisonment.

London

On 20 June 2002, publisher Hasan Öztoprak on trial before the Istanbul State Security court since January - was acquitted of charges of promoting "separatism" by publishing Mehmed Uzun's book, "Generating a Language" (Bir dil yaratmak).

The book however remains banned. When summarizing the case, the judge stated that the reason for Öztoprak's acquittal was that the book had a small print-run of only 1,000 and would thereby not have sufficient impact.

This trial had been followed closely by International PEN alongside the International Publisher's Association, both of which were present at the 20 June hearing.

PEN welcomes Öztoprak' s acquittal but remains deeply concerned that by not lifing the ban on the book, the ruling had no impact on lessening the pressure on writers and journalists in Turkey today.

Publisher Abdullah Keskin faces imminent imprisonment

Fears have heightened that Kurdish publisher Abdullah Keskin may be served a lengthy prison term following a court hearing.

Keskin has been on trial since April under Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law for the Turkish publication of a book by United States author and former "Washington Post" correspondent Jonathan Randal.

Entitled "After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness? My Encounters in Kurdistan", the book was originally published in English in 1997 and subsequently also translated into Farsi, Italian and Arabic.

The charges are of advocating "separatism" and relate to references to the term "Kurdistan" in several instances in the book. (NM)