Civil Disobedience Against Penal Code

A new civil disobedience action against the anti-democratic articles of the new Penal Code will start on March 28, 2006 Tuesday, at 10:00 AM. A press statement by the first signatories will be made in front of Besiktas Justice House in Istanbul.

İstanbul

Civil rights activists who are opposed to 31 paragraphs and 22 articles of the recently amended Turkish Penal Code will launch a new civil disobedience action for amending these articles alongside the guidelines of state-of-law and democracy.

10 representatives out of the list of "First Volunteers" are expected to visit the public prosecutor Tuesday to submit a petition informing themselves and invite the prosecutor open a case against all.

The activists are planning to call in the first hearing the court judges bring the articles in question before the Constitutional Court for annulment. These articles and paragraphs of articles contradict with the European Human Rights Convention by way of Article 90 of the Turkish Constitution, which declares the supremacy of international conventions undersigned by Turkey over the domestic law the activists believe.

In case the activists are indicted upon their own confession and the court will not accept their demand then each of the activists should theoretically be sentenced to prison sentences from 15 to 62 years and a fine of 15.000 to 155.000 YTL.

Among the First Volunteers are Abdurrahman Dilipak (Journalist, writer), Cevat Ozkaya (President of Mazlumder/ Organization of Human Rights & Solidarity for Oppressed People), Dogan Ozguden (Journalist, Info-Turk in Brussels), Ece Temelkuran (Journalist, Milliyet), Fikret Baskaya (Ass. Prof. Dr., Free University, Ankara), Gulden Sonmez (Lawyer, Human Rights Activist), Kazim Genç (Lawyer, President of Pir Sultan Abdal Association), Mahir Gunsiray (Actor, director), Mehmet Bekaroglu (Prof. Dr., Psychiatrist), Mustafa Sutlas (Patients Rights Activist), Noyan Ozkan (Lawyer, former president of Izmir Bar Association), Oya Baydar (Sociologist, writer), Perihan Magden (Journalist, writer), Pinar Selek (Sociologist, writer, journalist), Ragip Zarakolu (Writer, publisher, journalist), Sema Kaygusuz (Writer), Sanar Yurdatapan (Composer), Seyhmus Diken (Writer), Tolga Yarman (Prof. Dr., Nuclear Engineer), Yusuf Alatas (Lawyer, president of IHD/ Human Rights Association. (EK/YE)