Journalist Talu Faces Prosecution

Journalist Umur Talu of the " Sabah " newspaper has become the subject of a criminal complaint by the General Staff.

The complaint is based on an article by Talu published on 12 June 2007 and entitled, "Are these impossible?" Under Article 95/4 of the Military Penal Code, a sentence ranging from six months to three years is being demanded. The legal article also envisages an increment in the sentence because a published text is concerned.

Talu is being accused of "acting in an insulting and derisive manner aimed at undermining relations between junior and senior officers and destroying the trust in superiors or commanders". Talu gave a statement to the Press Prosecutor Ismail Onaran in Istanbul on 7 August.

The article, which expressed common complaints of lower ranking soldiers, included a call for "human treatment when alive for noncommissioned officers and the totally excluded sergeants by the high-ranking officers who attend their funerals", as well as "their admission to army leisure centres".

Lack of support

Talu has said that he is not upset by the trial and that he would repeat what he had written in court. It was the reaction of the media that had surprised and disappointed him.

He said that there was no solidarity from fellow journalists who had not brought up the issue or even found it newsworthy:

"Being left alone does not stop me from expressing my ideas, but in such situations one wishes to have support and reactions from professional organisations, writers, caricaturists and journalists. If not for me, then for the honour of the profession.

Trial under Military Penal Code

Because of a change in law made on 29 June 2006, Talu is being tried under the Military Penal Code by a judicial court.

The Initiative against The Crime of Thought has protested against Talu's prosecution, saying that Turkey's legal system is based on adherence to laws. The judge's discretion was secondary. As long as the laws were not changed, it did not therefore make much difference who was trying the case.

"Even if the judging institution has changed and the 'duty' of trying the case has been given to general courts rather than military courts, civilians are still being tried by Military Penal Law, which is incongruous with the promises made in the EU reform packages." (EÖ/NZ/AG)