PRESSURE ON POLITICAL GROUPS
Persecuted Left Groups Sue Local TV for Slandering
The Socialist Democracy Party (SDP) and the Platform for Social Freedom (TÖP) filed a criminal complaint against twelve officials of the Küre TV internet site at the Sultanahmet (Istanbul) Courthouse on Tuesday (28 September). Reason for the complaint is the websites' publications on an operation carried out against the two legal political groups under allegations of "affiliation with the Revolutionary Headquarters Organization".
The Revolutionary Headquarters is a clandestine organization that assumed responsibility for two bomb attacks in Istanbul in 2008. The organization had targeted the Istanbul Provincial Building of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Üsküdar (Istanbul) 1st Army Command.
Eight lawyers of SDP and TÖP stated that the news published on the website were "false, offending the personal rights of their clients and influencing the judiciary". The joint attorneys demanded punishment of those responsible for the broadcast. They furthermore requested to block access to the site where the news is still available.
The criminal complaint was filed on behalf of SDP members Rıdvan Turan, Ulaş Bayraktaroğlu, Günay Kubilay, Ecevit Piroğlu, Sultan Seçik Kubilay, İbrahim Turgut, Özgür Cafer Kalafat, Volkan Köse and Yasemin Deliduman and TÖP members Tuncay Yılmaz, Oğuzhan Kayserilioğlu and Semih Aydın.
The lawyers announced to appeal to the arrest of 13 people carried out on 25 September. They will do so at the Beşiktaş (Istanbul) Courthouse on 30 September at 12.30 pm.
The police hindered the lawyers and members of SDP and TÖP making a press release in front of the courthouse after the complaint had been filed. Thus, the lawyers switched to a nearby park to issue their press release.
Lawyer Tuncer: We brought unfounded publications to court
Lawyer Gülizar Tuncer said that the criminal complaint was about "unfounded publications allegedly recorded by police cameras and broadcasted on some internet sites". "We will file separate complaints against police officers of the Anti-Terror Branch and press institutions that broadcasted untruthful reports", Tuncer declared.
SDP member Köse: More sides are involved besides the police
SDP Central Steering Board Member Volkan Köse was among four people who were arrested in the course of the operation but released later on. In the press release he stated, "This operation is not carried out by the police only but together with judges, prosecutors and press institutions. They will be called to account on this within a few months. These are attacks against the social opposition and the rights of the oppressed".
TÖP member Elçi: Pressure against dissidents
TÖP member Halit Elçi claimed, "The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has started to attack oppositional socialist forces. They use trials as political manoeuvres. Just as they make use out of the Ergenekon case for their struggle for power, and out of the Revolutionary Headquarters, they oppress socialists, dissidents, labour forces and the Kurdish people by putting forward irrelevant issues that would not be said by any rational person".
Subsequent to the press release, the group shouted the slogans "Pressure cannot intimidate us" and "AKP, Police, Media; this siege will be scattered". (EÇ/EÖ/VK)