Fine May Be Worse Than Imprisonment

Owner of the "Datca Haber" (Datca News) newspaper and a reporter for the Dogan news agency, Kara was fined 30 billion Turkish Liras (USD 20,000). Kara's lawyer Burhan Apaydin criticized the regulations made after the parliament passed a series of EU-reforms:

"The prison sentences handed out to journalists have not been lifted. They have been converted to fines ranging from 30 billion TL (USD 19,000) to 100 billion TL (USD 62,000). No journalist in this country would be able to pay such a fine. In this case they should go in prison. As a result, the journalists would be sentenced to longer prison terms under the name of heavy fines," he told Bianet.

Kara petitioned against the heavy fine

Kara's lawyer Apaydin sent petitions to a Datca and a Mugla court and objected to the fine of 30 billion TLhanded to Kara on September 2.

He was sentenced to three months in prison

Sinan Kara was charged for "not sending newspapers to the head official of the district." The court sentenced him to three months in prison and fined him 91 million TL (USD 56). Just before Kara went to prison, he applied to the Datca attorney generalship with demands of a retrial in accordance with the regulated laws.

Taking into account the regulations made on August 9, 2002, on article 24 of

Turkish media law, the attorney generalship commuted Kara's sentence to a 30 billion TL fine.

The reform package is an obstacle

Kara's lawyer, Burhan Apaydin, a former Ankara deputy and former head of the

constitution commission, made a statement in Istanbul on September 3. He criticized the reform package setting Kara as an example:

* This incident is beyond Sinan Kara. It is a serious obstacle holding us back from joining the European Union (EU).

* The ruling and opposition parties in parliament are not exercising the control mechanism, which is imperative for democracy.

* For this reason, the expectations out of a democratic system are decreasing. Today, the press by itself is exercising control.

The press it the only control mechanism

* This disturbs some. They want to put the visual and printed media under

pressure.

* The regulations on the Radio and Television Supreme Board (RTUK) and

media laws make it seem like the prison sentences handed out to journalists have been lifted. However, in reality the regulations brought about a worse implementation.

* The regulations commuted prison sentences to fines ranging from 30 billion TL to 100 billion TL. No journalist in this country can pay such a fine.

If journalists don't pay the fine, they are sentenced to three years in prison.

* This results in three years in prison for a fine of 30 billion TL, six years in prison for 60 billion TL (USD 37,000), and nine years in prison for 100 billion TL. In reality, the prison terms have not been lifted but instead have been replaced with even longer terms under the name of "heavy fines."

* If these are the EU-reforms, the EU, of course, will not remain reckless towards the implementations in Turkey.

* In a country where there is no freedom of press, there is no freedom at all. The EU has embraced this rule. Unless Turkey recognizes and embraces this rule, the doors of the EU will not be open to Turkey. (EÖ/BB/NK)