Turkish Publisher of “God Delusion” Acquitted

After introducing Turkey to Richard Dawkin’s “God Delusion”, the owner of Kuzey Publications, Erol Karaaslan, was tried for “inciting the public to hatred and hostility”. He faced a prison sentence of between 1.5 and 4 years.

However, the Sisli 2nd Penal Court in Istanbul decreed that there was no need to confiscate the books.

"Source of evil"

An Ali Emre Bukagili had filed a criminal complaint against the publisher on 1 November 2007, arguing that the book was “disgusting, fake, repellant, harmful, the source of evil", among other things.

President judge Hakki Yalcinkaya announced on 2 April that a ban on the book would only result in more sales, and that banning it would limit the freedom of thought.

The court cited implementations by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which argue that because the book criticised the understanding of God in the Jewish Religion it was within the freedom of thought.

"No insult to any religion" 

Prosecutor Mücahit Ercan had said that the case could be considered under Article 216/3 which deals with “denigrating religious values which part of the population espouses,” but that the book was written as a general criticism of religion and God and could be considere a defense of atheism. He concluded that there was no insult to any religion or its members.

In court, Karaaslan pointed out that he was not the writer of the book: “There have been 1.5 million copies of the book in different places around the world. I only translated the book and published it in Turkish. These kinds of books are frequently published and distributed in Turkey. I don’t accept the accusation. I demand my acquittal.”

Following the acquittal, complainant Bukagili announced that he would appeal. The case would then go to the Supreme Court of Appeals. (EÖ/GG/AG)