Freedom of Press Prizes Awarded
Laws encourage censorship
TGC president Orhan Erinc presented the awards at the ceremony at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul. In his opening speech, he said, "Today censorship is not the direct inspection of newspapers, but the limiting clauses placed in laws."
The award, which has been presented since 1989, was this year shared among
Hrant Dink, Ragip Zarakolu and Gülcin Cayligil as representatives of "all those journalists and writers who have suffered and been tried under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code."
Erinc added that the Penal Code both limited the freedom of expression and made the pluralism of opinions impossible. Article 301 was one of the problematic articles.
Dink: The truth will set us free
In her acceptance speech, Rakel Dink criticised Cemil Cicek, Minister of Justice when her husband was still alive. He had said, "Let them be happy, they get prizes because of us". Hrant Dink had replied, "Our greatest prize would be the abolishment of Article 301."
She reminded the audience that her husband had been denounced as a "traitor" in parliament, and said, "The possibilities for free thought are few. If they do not stop rearing only one type of person, no free individuals will grow up. The truth will set us free."
Zarakolu remembered 1908
Ragip Zarakolu of the Belge Publishing company, who has faced many trials, said, "It is meaningful to remember the revolution which abolished censorship in 1908 at a time when we are in need of a constitutional revolution."
Cayligil mentioned dismissed journalists
Lawyer Gülcin Cayligil reminded the audience that many journalists and writers have suffered in prison for the right to criticise. She sent her love to the journalists affected by the recent mass dismissals and thanked the TGC.
The Turkey Journalists' Syndicate (TGS) representative Ercan Ipekci, received the prize awarded for the struggle for economic, social and trade union rights in the name of the syndicate. He accepted the reward in the name of all those journalists who have been dismissed and those who are struggling for trade union rights. "This prize will provide courage and morale. Particularly the employees of ATV and Sabah [newspaper] have put up a good struggle." He called on everyone to support the TGS.
Among those attending the ceremony were Mehmet Ufuk Uras, newly-elected independent MP of Istanbul's first constituency, writer Bilgesu Erenus, Dr. Cengiz Aktar, head of the EU centre at Bahcesehir University, journalists Ipek Calislar, Nadire Mater, Nebil Özgentürk, Oral Calislar, Celal Baslangic and Erol Özkoray, human rights activist Sanar Yurdatapan and painter Bedri Baykam. (EÖ/AG)