* Photo: Dilek Şen - bianet
Click to read the article in Turkish
Protesting the appointment of Prof. Melih Bulu as the new rector of their university, two students of Boğaziçi have been arrested and two have been placed under house arrest over a picture of the Kaaba on display in an exhibition as part of their protest at the South Campus in İstanbul.
The students are charged with "degrading or inciting the public to enmity and hatred" over this picture with four LGBTI+ flags on its corners.
The arrest of students came amid the targeting remarks of the appointed rector Melih Bulu, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül and President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş.
Levent Pişkin, the attorney of the arrested students, has spoken to bianet about what has been happening over the past few days.
CLICK - Two Boğaziçi University students arrested
'Constitutional Court, ECtHR judgements are clear'
Referring to the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Court of Cassation and Constitutional Court on freedom of expression, attorney Levent Pişkin underlines that this incident cannot be considered solely as a matter of freedom of expression:
"Even if it is presumed that there is an insult to 'religious values', it is an art exhibition and what is expressed there is art.
"The criteria of the Court of Cassation, Constitutional Court and ECtHR are clear enough. Freedom of expression in works of art shall be evaluated within a wider perspective than any other statement. Besides, even if we agree that there is a crime which is under investigation, not the owner of an artistic work, the students who organized the exhibition are investigated here. But these evaluations are, above all else, a concern of the law."
'Investigation is not lawful'
Attorney Pişkin emphasizes that the investigation is not lawful:
"This is an investigation which is not lawful, this is an investigation which is legally null and void; no legal comment can be made about it.
"This is entirely a show, a performance put on for political purposes. I say 'legally' because there was a warrant for neither detention nor seizure. Moreover, the artwork subject to investigation is not there, either.
"It means nothing other than false imprisonment of people based on an investigation which is not there as to the merits.
'Elements of the crime are not there'
"Moreover, if we consider it from the perspective of the Article 216/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) (governing the offence of publicly provoking hatred or hostility in one section of the public against another section which has a different characteristic based on social class, race, religion, sect or regional difference), we still cannot do it.
"The prosecutor's office and the police department heard their statements as per the Article 216/3 (publicly degrading the religious values of a section of the public). During the investigation process, we found Article 216/1 before us. Did the elements of the crime indicated in Article 216/1 arise? No. Above all else, there is no intention, the mental element is lacking here.
'The ones who spread it are responsible'
"When we consider the material elements, the law is clear: It refers to provoking one group against the other.
"More importantly, it refers to the creation of an explicit and imminent danger to the public as the essential condition. It is not there, either. It was at least not there until the government became involved in the issue.
"A work seen by a few hundreds of people in a small campus was seen by millions of people because of this attitude. If there is a crime and if we will look for the criminal ones in any case, then, the ones who spread it to wider audiences are responsible, not the students."
What does the work info say?Below the artwork subject to the investigation, the anonymous owner of the work introduces it briefly as follows: "In this work, I wanted to enter the center of religion, which is built as the biggest motivation of misogyny in society, and to encourage this secret and deep struggle of Anatolian women a little more. As for the green behind Shahmaran, it symbolizes heaven. If the freedom of women and animals gains this central position, this long sought image of heaven will be the world itself..." Statement of studentsD.D. (one of the arrested students) briefly said the following about the charges at the prosecutor's office: "I am a senior student at Boğaziçi University Department of Physics. Various events are organized at our campus as part of the protests against the appointment of a rector to Boğaziçi University. The work featuring Kaaba with a Shahmaran figure on it, which is subject to the investigation and you have asked me about, was sent as part of these events. "As I indicated in my statement, the work subject to the investigation, along with over 300 works, was a work sent to the email address [email protected], which we use commonly. "I do not remember whether I pinned the work on the board or not because my friends and I were working to hang hundreds of works and to exhibit them like that. I do not accept the charges." Sentenced to house arrest, S.N.B. also said: "The aim of the exhibition in front of Boğaziçi University is to communicate with everyone who wants an opportunity to express oneself about various issues and to open a space for them. This exhibition was organized independently from any institution or organization. The picture subject to the investigation was only one of 300 works on display at the exhibition. "I do not know the artist who created the work and sent it. It is completely anonymous. As for the reason why it was on the ground, the number of works sent to the exhibition was high and there was no space to hang them. As it was on vinyl, it was placed on the ground without considering its content, thinking that it would not be damaged on the ground. "The works were exhibited by the exhibition members without any discrimination or additional commentary. For this reason, the view expressed by this work is independent of the members. I do not accept the offense charged against me." |
(RT/SD)
