Two Kurdish Newspapers Banned, Güney Magazine Copies Seized

The Kurdish newspapers Azadiya Welat and Rojev and the left-wing Güney Magazine were banned under allegations of "spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization". The publication of both newspapers was suspended for a month, the copies of the Güney magazine were confiscated.

The Rojev newspaper had just resumed publishing after a long break on 24 August before the Istanbul 11^th High Criminal Court decided for the one-month publication ban.

The decision is based on the 36^th issue of the Kurdish paper published on 28 August which featured a picture of Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and a flag of the organization on the front page. Additionally, a chart depicting Öcalan and other members of the militant organization published on page eight of the same issue was given as a reason for the ban.

On 21 August, the Istanbul 14^th High Criminal Court suspended the publication of the Azadiya Welat newspaper, the only nation-wide Kurdish daily published in Turkey, on the grounds of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization" and "praising criminals". Reason for the decision is the issue published on the very same day.

The paper's responsible editor-in-chief, M. Nedim Karadeniz, said that the newspaper "faced unlawful bans" for eight issues within the past four years the daily was published. He announced that only in 2010, the daily was closed down three times already.

"None of these suspension punishments were in line with universal law. As a matter of fact, Turkey was convicted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in similar cases related to newspapers stemming from the tradition of the Free Press. Imagine a judiciary system where all the news and articles in the current issue of a twelve-page newspaper are considered a crime".

The decision is based on the Anti Terror Law which was not considered as opposing the Constitution by the Constitutional Court but was the reason for convictions at the ECHR. While the seizure was decided according to Article 25/2 of the Press Law (Confiscation and Prohibition of Distribution and Sale), the publication ban was based on Article 6/last paragraph (Disclosure and Publication) of the TMY.

Former Azadiya Welat chief editors Vedat Kurşun and Ozan Kılıç and Hawar newspaper official Bedri Adanır are still in prison.

Confiscation of Güney magazine

The issue of the first quarter of 2010 of the three-monthly Güney magazine was confiscated upon a decision of the Mersin 2^nd Magistrate Criminal Court. However, the article does not mention the name of any illegal organization.

The police seized the copies on 26 August from the printing house of the magazine in Mersin (eastern Mediterranean coast), informing the staff about the confiscation decision. The police delivered a written notice about the court decision to the magazine's central office in the Esenyurt district of Istanbul.

The article entitled "Children Rights of (Kurdish) children in the dungeon" written by Ali Dağdeviren was given as the reason for the seizure. However, the article does not mention the name of any organization. The writing criticized the "treatment of thousands of Kurdish children" despite the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child both singed by the Turkish government.

A statement the magazine announced, "This mentality which fills prisons with thousands of children could not tolerate an article criticizing this situation". (EÖ/VK)