Prosecution Turns Plaintiff into "Suspect"

The Bakirköy Chief Public Prosecution has decided to drop proceedings against Emin Cölasan, former journalist with the "Hürriyet" newspaper for an article against historian Prof. Dr. Taner Akcam, who also writes for the Turkish-Armenian Agos newspaper.

Complaint dismissed, plaintiff "suspicious"

Cölasan had said about Akcam that "he insults his country", "he ran away from Turkey years ago", and "he is being fed by the Armenian lobby"; in response, Akcam had filed a complaint against Cölasan.

The decision to drop proceedings was announced on 7 November. The prosecution decided that no trial should be opened against Cölasan and "Hürriyet" newspaper's responsible editor Necdet Tatlican.

In its justification of the dismissal, the prosecution spoke of Taner Akcam as "suspicious" and argued that "there was no insult contrained in the criticism of the suspicious person as a scientist."

Appeal by lawyer 

Akcam's lawyer Murat Böbrek objected against the dismissal of proceedings on 22 November. In his appeal to the Eyüp Heavy Penal Court, Böbrek said, "The real victim of the dismissal of proceedings is not Taner Akcam but the state of law."

He added, "[This] expression clearly shows the subconscious opinions of the honourable prosecutor and how the event is being considered from outside the law. According to the prosecutor, the suspicious person is, unfortunately, my client."

"The reason why my client, who is the 'plaintiff' is considered a 'suspect' by the prosecutor is "his publicly known works and some statements". In other words, the prosecutor believes that the 'suspect' client has to accept all kinds of insults because he did not argue in congruence with the opinions of official state authorities in his works as a scientist and historian, and that it is permissible to call him 'a traitor', 'a man fed by the Armenian lobby', etc."

In an article published on 23 June 2007 and entitled "Well done Atilla Koc [Minister of Culture]! Turkey Should Be Introduced Like This!", Cölasan had criticsed the fact that Taner Akcam was listed as a famous Turkish writer on the website of the Ministry of Culture. (EÖ/NZ/AG)