In 1999, Journalist Nadire Mater wrote a book containing interviews with 42 soldiers who had done duty in the southeast of Turkey, fighting against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The book represented a first because it offered alternative voices to the official army discourse glorifying war and vilifying “the enemy.”
The book was called “Mehmet’s book” in Turkish, making reference to the generic name “Mehmet” given to soldiers.
The book promptly caused Deputy Chief of General Staff Hilmi Özkök to file a criminal complaint in 1999, and the book was confiscated on 23 June of that year.
Acquitted of insulting the army
However, the Beyoglu 2nd Heavy Penal Court in Istanbul acquitted Nadire Mater and publisher Semih Sökmen of Metis Publications of “insulting and deriding the state’s armed forces in the press” (Article 159). The 9th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeal approved the acquittal on 16 April 2001.
Supreme Court found Cölasan's articles insulting
Following the initial acquittal, in July and August 2001 journalist Emin Cölasan of the Hürriyet newspaper wrote a series of articles about the book and Nadire Mater which led her to sue for compensation for insult at the Istanbul 3rd Civil Court of First Instance, demanding 20,000 YTL compensation.
The local court decreed that the articles were within the limits of legitimate criticism, but the 4th Legal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the decree, arguing that Mater’s personal rights had been violated. When the local court resisted the Supreme Court’s decree, the Supreme Court’s Legal Assembly again overturned the decree, but the local court continued to insist on its decision.
Supreme Court has agreed with local court
It has now emerged that the Legal Assembly has finally agreed with the local court.
According to the Taraf and Radikal newspapers, two members of the Legal Assembly voted for overturning the decision of the local court, while 41 members voted to approve it.
Mater will appeal to ECHR
Mater reacted by saying, “In 2001, the Supreme Court of Appeals acquitted the book. The same Supreme Court is now trying to re-sentence me with claims that have been refuted. The Supreme Court is contradicting itself.”
The journalist has announced that she will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). She added, “If I had even a little hope that people could entrust their dignity and rights to the state, this hope has been quelled by this decision.”
Lawyer Eyüboglu: What is the legal basis for this decision?
Her lawyer Meric Eyüboglu also questioned the decision, saying, “Cölasan’s articles did not only contain insults, but they also denigrated Mater and made her a public target. If this news is true, then it is difficult to understand the Legal Assembly’s decision within a legal framework.”
“If articles that were considered ‘insulting’ in 2005 are considered ‘criticism’ in 2008, then there is no need for a legal interpretation…”
"Voices from the Front"
Nadire Mater's groundbreaking work became a best-seller in Turkish and was later translated into German, Finnish, Italian and Greek, and English. The English version, with an inspiring foreword by Cynthia Enloe is called Voices from The Front. It was translated by Ayse Gül Altinay and published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2005. (EÖ/GG/AG)
