Footnotes report Ocalan as a source, magazine confiscated
Footnotes report Ocalan as a source, magazine confiscated
The newly published Özgür Halk ve Demokratik Modernite (Free People and Democratic Modernity) magazine has been keeping the Turkish judiciary busy since the first issue was released this April.
As BIANET reports, initially, copies of the first issue were seized and the magazine was banned right after its release. After that, the prosecutor decided to drop procedures. However, the second issue was seized again and the 6th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakýr, a Kurdish-majority city in south-eastern Turkey, decided to suspend the publication of the magazine and confiscate all copies.
The magazine includes articles of intellectuals and journalists such as Milliyet newspaper writer Nuray Mert, Prof. Doðu Ergil, Labour, Democracy and Freedom Block Candidate Sýrrý Süreyya Önder, Kurdish politician Aysel Tuðluk, Ayþe Candaþ and Essa Moosa, lawyer of Nelson Mandela. The ban and the seizure of the magazine are based on footnotes on page 73 and 82 that quote a defence speech of Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), as a source.
Lawyer Özcan Kýlýç, legal attorney for the magazine, drew attention to the lack of investigation prior to the seizure. That way, it was intended to declare the magazine a prohibited publication, Kýlýç told BIANET.
Kýlýç noted that one or two copies of the magazine must have been investigated upon a notice before the second issue was seized. Thereupon, it was decided to seize the copies and suspend the publishing on the grounds of the elements of crime found in the issue, Kýlýç indicated. He said that they appealed the court decision but their appeal was dismissed by reasons of alleged "propaganda for an illegal organization".
As BIANET reports, initially, copies of the first issue were seized and the magazine was banned right after its release. After that, the prosecutor decided to drop procedures. However, the second issue was seized again and the 6th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakýr, a Kurdish-majority city in south-eastern Turkey, decided to suspend the publication of the magazine and confiscate all copies.
The magazine includes articles of intellectuals and journalists such as Milliyet newspaper writer Nuray Mert, Prof. Doðu Ergil, Labour, Democracy and Freedom Block Candidate Sýrrý Süreyya Önder, Kurdish politician Aysel Tuðluk, Ayþe Candaþ and Essa Moosa, lawyer of Nelson Mandela. The ban and the seizure of the magazine are based on footnotes on page 73 and 82 that quote a defence speech of Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), as a source.
Lawyer Özcan Kýlýç, legal attorney for the magazine, drew attention to the lack of investigation prior to the seizure. That way, it was intended to declare the magazine a prohibited publication, Kýlýç told BIANET.
Kýlýç noted that one or two copies of the magazine must have been investigated upon a notice before the second issue was seized. Thereupon, it was decided to seize the copies and suspend the publishing on the grounds of the elements of crime found in the issue, Kýlýç indicated. He said that they appealed the court decision but their appeal was dismissed by reasons of alleged "propaganda for an illegal organization".
