Court Acquittal for Criticism of Turkish Armed Forces

Journalist Rahmi Yıldırım was on trial for an article entitled "The job for the qualified person, the sword for the person girding it", published on the Internet site sansursuz.com on 23 January 2005.

Tried under Article 159 of the old Turkish Penal Code for "insulting and deriding the military", his initial trial began on 17 March 2005.

The trial was initiated by a criminal complaint filed by İlker Başbuğ, then Deputy Chief of General Staff and now Chief of Staff.

"No limit to freedom of expression"

On 24 October 2005, the Ankara 12th Criminal Court of First Instance acquitted the journalist for the article, which spoke of "the pashas who are undaunted defenders of Atatürk's principles and reforms, the protectors of the capitalist order, ordinary conscripts, actors and extras...".

The prosecutor demanded an acquittal, citing decrees by the European Court of Human Rights, the Supreme Court of Appeals and parliamentary assemblies.

The prosecution argued that "even if it is hurtful, there cannot be a limit to the freedom of expression" and that there was no criminal element in the article as a whole.

The Supreme Court of Appeals' 9th Criminal Chamber approved the acquittal in March, but Yıldırım has only just found out about it.

"Hopefully a precedent"

He told bianet that his acquittal represented a great weakening of one of the most rooted taboos in Turkey, that of criticising the armed forces. "It is thus a decree that strengthens the freedom of thought and expression. I hope that this decree will set a precedent for other untouchable and taboo subjects, such as religion."

Yıldırım had said in his defence that he did not mention any soldiers on active duty in his article, but only retired  military or deceased generals who had been accused of corruption. He had thus argued that, according to the law, retired soldiers did not count as members of the "state's military forces" and that the accusation against him was thus invalid. (EÖ/AG)