The roundtables provided the opportunity to illustrate an overall picture of civil and political rights in Turkey. A particular attention was paid to Freedom of Expression, the legislative changes in Turkey in the past two years and the problems in implementing them.
The roundtables attracted a diversity of audience, including members of the UN permanent representative of Turkey and individuals from Turkish and Kurdish community organizations in Geneva.
The speakers stated that the legislative changes gave hope and optimism for radical changes in Turkey, but such positive steps are jeopardized by the implementation problems due to remaining punitive laws and the bureaucratic judiciary.
The roundtables started with the introduction of the speakers by Alexis Krikorian, project manager of the IPA and Kjell Olaf Jensen, president of PEN Norway.
This was followed by a short video screening by Sanar Yurdatapan on the state of freedom of expression in Turkey.
Alfred de Zayas made a brief analysis of the current legislative changes in Turkey and he noted that Turkey needed to satisfy the EU schedule on progress when a further assessment will take place in 2005.
He also underlined the fact that trials against the members of the military and the police force are far from being satisfactory.
Sara Whyatt said the PEN International noted that, "although there is today no writer held in prison specifically for their writings, there are at least 40 books whose authors and/or their publishers standing before courts, some of whom are with us today."
Whyatt went on to say that the abolition of the most difficult areas of Turkey's anti-terror legislation is a move very much welcome, however "PEN fears that despite the changes, the existence of remaining laws may enable the imprisonment once again of writers in the name of 'anti-terrorism', when their only act had been to challenge the official line on this most fraught of issues."
Whyatt concluded her presentation by conveying the expectation of the PEN International to see the day "when every person in Turkey is free to express his or her views without fear of reprisal."
Fikret Ilkiz gave facts and figures on a series of "Harmonization Laws" enacted by the Turkish government in the past two years. He stated that the seven-harmonization law packages paved the way for positive changes in terms of reduction or abolition of harsh sentences.
"Nevertheless", Ilkiz stated, "the fines imposed in the trials brought in accordance with the Press Law following the legislative changes are too high to pay. Journalists, newspaper and magazine publishers and printers will soon face imprisonment due to the fact of being unable to afford the payment of such high fines. The local press is particularly in hardship."
Ilkiz pointed out that the "road map on freedom of expression", which foresees comprehensive changes in the laws that restrict freedom of expression by June 2004 towards a full compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights "would be a positive step, but the prospective changes in the Turkish Penal Code should be discussed also by the public opinion" rather than by politicians and law-makers only.
Muge Sokmen dealt with two major issues in her presentation: the "honor killings" and the law on "obscene publications".
She stated that the concept of "honor" victimized mostly women, particularly women who live in countryside and rural areas, and that there were a number of cases in which women were executed by family members for bringing disgrace to the "honor and dignity" of the family, regardless of whether they were victims left pregnant by the rapist.
Sokmen went on to say that there were some legislative changes on the issue of "honor", thanks to the committed efforts by a number of women's campaigning groups.
She also gave her own experience with the law on obscenity. She stated that her publishing house had published a dictionary of women's slang, and that the book was banned and both the author and the publisher have been on trial.
Ragip Duran stated that there were still a number of problems surrounding the Turkish press and publication industry.
He said that, along with the negative impacts of the monopolization of mainstream media by a handful of Turkish tycoons and their control over the editorial policies and promotion of their commercial interests, there have been "five big taboos" in the Turkish media, namely "the positioning, function, predominance and privileges of the Turkish Armed Forces within Turkish politics and society; critical-inquisitive work -even academic ones- on Kemalizm which manifests itself as the official ideology of the Turkish state; operation -referred to by Western sources as 'genocide'- that was conducted against the Armenian population in Eastern Anatolia in 1915 during the Ottoman Empire; the Kurdish issue -or separatism; and Shariah (Islamic Law) or the movement labeled as Political Islam."
Duran stated that the current punitive laws are still very much deterrent and threatening against those who intend to address or criticize these taboos.
Metin Celal gave examples of contradiction between the legislative reforms and the practice in real life. He stated that although the film Pianist, which secured an Oscar Award for actor Adrian Brody, was freely shown in Turkish cinemas, the Turkish translation of the book version of the movie was banned on the grounds of obscenity.
In a similar controversy, Turkish translation of Marquis de Sade's book Philosophy in the Bedroom was banned over 200 years after its first appearance.
Celal added that the application of other punitive laws in place of the amended laws was hindering the positive impact of the legislative reforms.
Ragip Zarakolu stated that Turkey still seemed to be obsessed with the notion of "national security" and therefore, he said, Turkey appeared to be a democracy under strict control.
He said that the extreme obsession with the protection of the State and its institutions against any form of criticism had resulted in a policy of intolerance and punishment.
Zarakolu added that such an attitude is a grave threat on freedom of publication and it had made it extremely difficult for writers and publishers to write and publish studies on several issues, including life and history of Kurds and Armenians.
Zarakolu gave a number of examples of prosecuted and imprisoned writers and publishers.
Hrant Dink presented an overview of the Armenian minority living in Turkey. He described the difficulties faced by Armenian minority in Turkey, along with other minorities.
He stated that although there were legislative changes in the recent years, it is however still nearly impossible for Armenian foundations or associations to acquire the ownership of real estates.
Dink went on to say that there were concerns about the lack of university level education opportunities in Armenian language, literature and history.
Umit Ozturk presented his observations in the form of a "bird's eye view" from abroad in an individual capacity. He stated that the legislative changes in Turkey during the past two years "gave hope and optimism for a change for the better".
He said that the current achievements would not have been possible without the support by the committed and dedicated international organizations.
Ozturk expressed his dissatisfaction with the extremely low level of communication by the representatives of Turkish diplomatic missions and the refugee/migrant organizations from Turkey living abroad.
He said that they needed to abandon decades of stereotypes and skepticism against each other.
He also mentioned the lack of "embrace-all" activities and the weak level of capacity building activities abroad such as education, research, training, publication and lobbying.
Ozturk also pointed out that the Turkish media abroad has an important mission and responsibility in the awareness-raising, and that they should not feel themselves under pressure or threats either by the diplomatic missions or the refugee/migrant community organizations from Turkey in order to avoid the risk of self-censorship.
Sanar Yurdatapan gave a background story of the Freedom of Expression Initiative, a campaign by dozens of writers, publishers, performers and activists in Turkey. He said that the initiative had started nine years ago and is still on trial for a number of booklets published and distributed by them.
He invited everybody to attend the "4th Gathering in Istanbul for Freedom of Expression", to be held on 21st November 2004.
The speakers and organizers called upon Turkish authorities to repeal all the incriminating legislation that impose heavy fines and prison sentences against writers and publishers solely for criticizing the Turkish State. (UO/YE)
