Two Journalists Face Prison for Alleged "Terrorist Propaganda"

Günlük daily columnist Veysi Sarısözen and managing director Ziya Çiçekçi will face court on allegations of "propaganda of terrorist organization," with regard to an article titled "We don't do propaganda, public does".

Prosecutor Hüseyin Ayar claimed that the article published on February 6th, 2009, is a violation of Article 7/2 of the Counter Terrorism Law. If convicted, Sarısözen and Çiçekçi face up to 7,5 years in prison. 

First hearing of the case will be held on June 19th at Istanbul 12th High Criminal Court. This is the first case involving the newspaper, which only reached 65 editions so far.

In his article, Sarısözen wrote, "We define the PKK [Kurdish rebel group] different than PM Erdoğan. We say that, in the Penal Code, PKK's actions should be regarded classified as the ban on uprising and armed organization to cause insurgence. Why would we make propaganda [of the PKK]? People do what they do. I never shouted or wrote Biji PKK [Long live PKK]. But I saw that in Diyarbakır, during the Newroz festivities one million people made propaganda against the Counter Terror Law".

In the indictment, Ayar alleged that "the author makes propaganda by saying that the PKK is not regarded as a terrorist organization by the public and by himself; it's defined as a insurgent movement; that the people don't call terrorist those who the PM calls terrorists… and the suspect managing director has participated in this crime by publishing the article."(EÖ/AGÜ)