Singer Tunc's Trial Postponed by Five Months

Singer Ferhat Tunc has faced trials before for his involvement in peace initiatives and speeches made at concerts.

Criticised imprisonment of Zana 

His latest trial, opened for an article on Leyla Zana, which he wrote for the "Yeniden Özgür Gündem" newspaper on 19 January 2004, has been going on for four years.

Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code has been applied to charge the singer with "insulting and deriding the court" in the article entitled "A Revolutionary Leyla and a Song".

In the article, Tunc wrote about the denial of release for Zana and the other DEP MPs. He said that he was not suprised by this decision, arguing that the result had been predictable, and that the trial was not legal but political.

Ever since, Tunc, as well as Mehmet Colak, the responsible editor who lives abroad, have been on trial at the Beyoglu 2nd Penal Court in Istanbul. At the latest hearing on Wednesday, 12 December, the trial was postponed until 8 May 2008.

An international organisation named Freemuse, dedicated to the freedom of expression in the music sector, has started a campaign to support Ferhat Tunc. As part of the campaign, the organisation has sent letters to Prime Minister Erdogan and former Minister of Justice Cemil Cicek, asking for the trial to be dropped.

Journalists denounce Article 301 

Article 301 has been used against more than 100 people like Tunc and Colak. The article was discussed at the prize giving night of the Sedat Simavi Journalism Prizes on 12 December.

Orhan Erinc, president of the Turkish Journalists' Society (TJS) had criticised the government for not keeping its promise to change the article: "We consider it unacceptable that journalists continuously feel pressurised by articles which foresee prison sentences and which are open to interpretation." (EÖ/TK/AG)