Following the death of well-respected politician and physicist Erdal Inönü, "Sabah" journalist Umur Talu had written about a headline referring to Inönü as "The Politest Politician" and to news about Erdal Inönü which had circulated six years earlier, in an article published on 21 October 2001, entitled, "Saved from Confiscation by Foundation".
Talu had insinuated that some of those now mourning Inönü's death had engineered this article about him in 2001 at a time of early elections, when Inönü was preparing to form a new party. Inönü had then given up politics.
Lawyers question professionalism
Lawyers of the Dogan Media Group, which owns the "Hürriyet" newspaper that published the above mentioned article in 2001, sent a letter of refutation, in which they asked, "Does a person who has allowed his personal hostility to become an obsession that has led to unbelievable false accusations have the right to continue being a journalist?"
Talu calls for protests
Umur Talu printed the letter of refutation and his own reply in his column on 4 November. He called for professional associations and international organisations of freedom of expression to react to this threat to press freedom.
The Turkish Journalists' Society (TGC) and the Turkish Journalists' Trade Union (TGS) have condemned the lawyer's text, arguing that the legal right of "correction and answer" has been abused for a different purpose.
TGC: Judiciary encourages such abuse of rectifying publications
The TGC pointed out that the right to contradict a publication had recently been abused in order to insult, target and spread slander; the society accused the judiciary of encouraging such abuse by disregarding the content of such corrective statements in trials.
TGS: Text is invitation for his dismissal
The TGS reacted to a sentence in the statement which questioned "whether Talu had the right to be a journalist": "Talu has the right to be a journalist, but it should be debated whether media bosses who value commercial profit over the principles of the profession have the right to print and broadcast newspapers and TV programmes."
The TGS further said that those media bosses and editors-in-chief who member of the Association of Turkish Industrialists and Businesspeople (TÜSIAD) did not have the right to question Umur Talu's right to be a journalist:
"Asking whether he has the right to be a journalist is an open invitation for his dismissal. The media bosses secret alliances which prevent the employment of journalists who leave their group has become declared in this call by the employer's representative.
"We remind everyone that journalist Umur Talu and all people employed in journalism are protected by law against arbitrary demands and decisions of media owners and we announce the TGS's unconditional support for them. " (EÖ/AG)
