Apology Campaign to Be Investigated

A Heavy Penal Court has overruled the decision of the Ankara prosecution to dismiss proceedings in the case of the campaign of apologising to Armenians.

Erol Önderoğlu

The Sincan 1st Heavy Penal Court in Ankara has opened the way for a prosecution of the signatories on the Internet campaign apologising to Armenians for the events of 1915. The controversial Article 301 has been cited.

The Heavy Penal Court has overruled the dismissal of proceedings by the Ankara prosecution.

The Internet campaign was started in December 2008 and has resulted in nearly 30,000 supporters putting their names under the text:

“My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to them.

Ankara residents Hasan Hüseyin Satır, Sabahat Özgür, Mehmet İnal Kolburan, Hüseyin Erdoğan, Serdar Orhaner and Kürşat Karacabey had prepared a complaints campaign and had demanded the trial of the signatories of the apology campaign for “denigrating the Turkish nation”, i.e. an indictment under Article 301.

On 26 January 2009, the Ankara prosecution had decided that “even opposite opinions are protected under the concept of freedom of expression in democratic societies” and had dismissed proceeding. By overruling this decision, the Heavy Penal Court has made a trial against signatories possible. (EÖ/AG)

Origin

Bıa news centre

Erol Önderoğlu

[email protected]

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A graduate of the French Language and Literature Department at İstanbul University. He has served as the Turkey representative for the international organization Reporters Without...

A graduate of the French Language and Literature Department at İstanbul University. He has served as the Turkey representative for the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where he began as a reporter in 1996. Since 1999, he has worked at bianet, a project of the IPS Communication Foundation, as the coordinator of the Legal Support Desk, editor for freedom of expression, and editor-in-chief. He has authored more than 4,800 signed news articles and opinion pieces. He has also written for Bizim Gazete and the journal Güncel Hukuk. He currently prepares the Media Monitoring Reports at bianet.