Ataturk Law to Jail Publisher Onal

Istanbul's Beyoglu 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced Peri Publishing House owner Ahmet Onal to 13 months imprisonment on grounds that writer Evin Cicek's Turkish language book "Tutkular ve Tutsaklar" (Passions and Captives) had content that "insulted Ataturk", founder of modern Turkey.

Onal was initially sentenced to 12 months imprisonment on the insult charge but judge Irfan Adil Uncu increased his sentence by a further 6 months due to the offence being committed in print. Due to his good conduct the court concluded that Onal's total sentence of 18 months should be reduced to 13 months but refused to defer imprisonment because the bench did not reach an opinion that the defendant would not commit the offence again.

The publisher who was tried and sentenced for the same offence in 2003 had appealed against the court verdict after which the Court of Appeals in 2005 returned the verdict in favour of Onal, which started this retrial.

Onal has 27 separate cases launched against him on offences related to the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), the Press Code and the Law on Offences Committed Against Ataturk. 13 of these trials have been postponed but eight are continuing. 3 have already been approved by the Court of Appeals and have been served.

The Peri Publishing House has so far taken three of the concluded cases to the European Court of Human Rights.

Books on Trial

Publisher Onal faces three years imprisonment under article 159 of the TCK if found guilty for , M. Erol Coskun's book " Acının Dili Kadın" (The Language of Suffering is Woman).

Ahmet Onal is also on trial at the Kadikoy Criminal Court of First Instance for author Hejare Şamil's book "Diaspora Kurtleri" (The Diaspora Kurds) that went on sale in November 2005.

Another case based on charges of insulting Ataturk against Onal continued at the Fatih 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance for the book "Dersimde Alevilik- Munzur Cem" (Alawitism in Dersim). Onal had previously been convicted by the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court for content in violation of the old penal code article 312 in the same book.

In March 2004, Onal was sentenced to a fine of 1,690 YTL due to the book "Teyre Baz ya da Bir Kürt İşadamı Hüseyin Baybaşin-Mahmut Baksi" on Kurdish businessmen and organised crime. This sentence was successfully appealed against and the case is still continuing. (EO/KO/II/YE)