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TURKEY: Publisher Ragip Zarakolu fined: Writer Mehmet Güler Receives Suspended Sentence
14 March 2011 | RAN 43/101
On 10 March 2011, Ragip Zarakolu, publisher and free expression activist, was sentenced to a fine, and author Mehmet Güler to a 15-month suspended prison term. The two were convicted of spreading propaganda seen to support the banned Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK), following the publication of Mehmet Güler’s book The KCK File/The Global State and Kurds Without a State.The Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International is troubled by the sentences against Zarakolu and Güler which contravene international standards safeguarding the right to freedom of expression.
The sentences come at a time of growing number of arrests of writers and journalists, a pattern that is particularly disturbing after a period where there was an apparent easing of pressure on journalists, with fewer arrests, trials and convictions. PEN is concerned at what appears to be a reversal of the past positive trend.
For information on one of these recent arrests visit Arrests in Turkey
For previous alerts on this case go to Zarakolu on Trial
Zarakolu is 62 years old and has been fighting for freedom of expression in Turkey for over 30 years, publishing books on issues such as minority and human rights. As one of the 50 writers chosen to represent the struggle for freedom of expression since 1960 for the Writers in Prison Committee’s 50th Anniversary Campaign – Because Writers Speak Their Minds because-writers-speak-their-minds-50-years-of-defending-freedom-of-expres sion/because-writers-speak-their-minds> –Zarakolu’s case is emblematic of the ongoing struggles many writers, publishers and freedom of expression and human rights activists in Turkey continue to face.
http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/freedom-of-expression/campaigns
Recommended Actions:
Appeals may be sent to the Turkish authorities
While welcoming that Ragip Zarakolu and Mehmet Güler have not received prison terms
Expressing concern that their convictions breach of Turkey’s commitments under bothArticle 19 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Urging that the Turkish government to review all relevant laws with a view to bringing them into accord with international human rights standards, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory
Send to:
Mr Sadullah Ergin Minister of Justice 06669 Kizilay
Ankara
Turkey Fax: 00 90 312 419 3370
Also to the Turkish ambassador in your country.
Please contact this office if sending appeals after15 April 2011
For further details contact Sara Whyatt PEN International Writers in Prison Committee London Office: Brownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER UK Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7405 0338Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7405 0339e-mail: sara.whyatt@pen-international.org
International PEN is trading as PEN International. International PEN is a company registered in England and Wales with registration number 05683997. International PEN is a registered charity in England and Wales with registration number 1117088. International PEN’s registered office is Brownlow House, 50-51 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6ER, UK.
