March 7
Yasar Kemal, LEGAL ACTION
An Istanbul State Security Court convicted the prominent Turkish author and journalist Kemal of "inciting hatred" and imposed a 20-month suspended prison sentence on him. He was convicted of violating Article 312 of the Penal Code for two articles he published in a collection of essays called Turkey and Freedom of Expression. One of the articles was originally written for the German magazine Der Spiegel. In that article, he accused the Turkish government of waging a "campaign of lies" to hide its oppression of the Kurds. He was sentenced even though the prosecutor recommended that Kemal be acquitted and despite the fact that in December 1995 he had been found innocent of similar charges regarding the same article's publication in Der Spiegel. Kemal's publisher was also convicted on the same charge but had his sentence converted to a suspended fine. Kemal is planning to appeal the suspended sentence, stating that accepting it would be tantamount to admitting guilt for writing about the Kurdish insurgency.

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March 19
Atilim, LEGAL ACTION, CENSORED
Ismail Akkin, Atilim, LEGAL ACTION
Ozgur Genclik, LEGAL ACTION
Istanbul's State Security Court ordered the weekly paper Atilim closed for one month for allegedly disseminating "separatist propaganda." The court also sentenced Akkin, the weekly's editor, to six months in prison on the same charge. Akkin is free pending an appeal. The order also suspended Ozgur Genclik, a magazine for young people published by Atilim. CPJ urged the Turkish government to reverse the closure of Atilim and the sentencing of Akkin.

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April 9
Evrensel, CENSORED
Ali Erol, Evrensel, LEGAL ACTION
An Istanbul State Security Court ordered the leftist daily Evrensel shut down for one month for charges relating to two articles it published on Aug. 30, 1995. The first article, titled "Special Forces Execution in Midyat," was ruled to have incited racism, which is in violation of Article 312 of the Penal Code. The second, "Efforts To Mediate Between Iraqi Kurdish Groups," was deemed a violation of Article 6 of the Anti-Terror Law banning the publication of "statements by terror organizations." Earlier, on April 4, Evrensel was ordered shut down for one month for "inciting hatred" and "promoting racism" in a September 1995 column about World Peace Day. The column called for an end to the fighting between the Turkish army and Kurdish rebels. The daily continued publishing pending an appeal. Also on April 9, Erol, the editor legally responsible for Evrensel, was sentenced to two years in prison and fined US$1,050 on the same charges as those made against the newspaper. On April 4, a previous two-year prison sentence against Erol was commuted to a US$60 fine. Erol remains free and the paper continues publishing pending appeals of these convictions.

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April 18
Evrensel, LEGAL ACTION
An Istanbul State Security Court ordered the leftist daily Evrensel closed for 10 days for publishing the statement of a terrorist organization, a violation of Article 7 of the Anti-Terror Law. The charge cited an article about the Revolutionary Front of the People's Liberation Party, published in the paper on Oct. 29, 1995.

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May 9
Evrensel, LEGAL ACTION
Ali Erol, Evrensel , LEGAL ACTION
Haluk Gerger, Evrensel , LEGAL ACTION
An Istanbul State Security Court ordered the leftist daily Evrensel closed for 20 days for publishing an article titled "Confessions of a Military Officer," which allegedly incited racism, a violation of Article 312 of the Penal Code. Erol, the editor legally responsible for Evrensel, received a two-year prison sentence, which was commuted to a US$50 fine. Earlier in May, in a separate case, Gerger, a free-lance writer and contributor to the newspaper, was convicted of inciting racial hatred and was sentenced to 20 months in prison for an article published in Evrensel in June 1995. He remains free pending appeal. In a letter to Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, CPJ expressed its fear that the paper was being targeted for demanding that policemen who beat an Evrensel reporter to death in January be brought to justice.

For more information contact mideastweb@cpj.org