Criticizing Headscarf Decision Takes Journalist Karaaliğlu To Court

A lawsuit was filed against chief editor of daily Star Mustafa Karaalioğlu for criticizing the decision of the Constitutional Court to annul the amendment that allowed wearing headscarf in universities. The prosecutor is asking for 14.5 year jail sentence.

Karaalioğlu, who penned on the June 6, 2008 an article titled “The End Of The Words, The Agreement Is Over”, will be tried for “Provoking people to hatred and hostility or denigration”, “Insulting public servants as a group”, “Provoking people to commit crime.”

Karaalioğlu said the decision “violated the law”

In his article, Karaalioğlu says, “The Constitutional Court went over its jurisdiction when it annulled the constitutional amendment designed to end a rights violation so that young girls can receive a university education. It ran over not only the law, but the religiosity of the society and a value that is the heritage of a belief going back hundreds of years.”

Bakırköy Media Prosecutor Ali Çakır prepared the indictment for the case and it will be held in Bakırköy Criminal Court of First Instance.

Writer Karabatak is also tried for his “headscarf” article

Writer Naif Karabatak from Adıyaman is also on trial for his article that appeared in newspaper Güne Bakış on February 28, 2008, in which he argued, against the decision of the Constitutional Court, for the right of the young women to wear headscarf. He is facing a jail sentence.

Writer Karabatak, who is on trial for his “Where are the prosecutors?” article, will face the judge again on November 27. The lawsuit was filed upon Adıyaman University Rector Prof. Dr. Mustafa Gündüz’s complaint.

In the previous hearing, Karabatak rejected the accusations by claiming that the sentences in the indictments were not his, different sentences were made with the words he used. He also objected the trial itself by claiming that Prosecutor Kerem Uçkan did not have the right to launch an investigation. (EÖ/EZÖ/TB)