The Sandspur

Issue date: 10/2/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Courtesy of Metis Publishing House

The Republic of Turkey made the news recently for the latest in a series of court cases in which the country's dedication to freedom of speech itself seems to be on trial.

Prominent Turkish novelist Elif Shafak was brought up on charges of "insulting Turkishness," an action forbidden by the relatively new Turkish law Article 301 and for which the penalty could have been up to three years in prison. Although the case was thrown out on September 21, this is not the first time similar accusations have been leveled at authors, or even Shafak herself. With Turkey still waiting to gain entrance into the European Union (EU), Article 301 has been the target of much criticism from both within Turkey and from the world at large.

Shafak has the distinction of being the first person charged with violating Article 301 based on the words of fictional characters. In her second English language novel, several of Shafak's Armenian characters speak negatively about Turks and refer to the genocide of Armenians during the reign of the Ottoman Empire, an event that the Turkish government denies ever happened. Shafak was brought to court in June on charges that her characters disparaged Turkishness, but the case was thrown out. Prosecutors reopened the case in July, but the case was once again thrown out due to "lack of evidence."

Shafak is hardly the first person to stand trial for violating the provisions of Article 301. Since the statute was enacted, more than sixty individuals have been brought up on trial. The most famous of these cases was the 2005 trial of Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk.

One of Turkey's most popular authors both at home and abroad, Pamuk faced criminal charges after he referred to the Armenian Genocide during an interview with a Swiss publication. Although the brunt of the charges were eventually dropped, the reaction to Turkey's treatment of freedom of speech was overwhelmingly negative. The time in between Pamuk's and Shafak's trials, five of Turkey's best-known columnists, Hasan Cemal, Ismet Berkan, Murat Belge, Haluk Sahin and Erol Katircioglu, all faced criminal charges for violating Article 301.

Article 301 was enacted as part of a package of penal-law reform that Turkey passed in order to prepare for negotiations for the countries entrance into the EU. Ironically, Article 301 is one of the factors that stands the greatest chance of preventing Turkey from gaining admission into the EU. EU officials have been quoted as saying that Turkey must conform to Western norms of free expression by the time negotiations started on October 3, 2005, but the negotiations moved forward despite the continued existence and practice of Article 301.

There are many within Turkey that are vehemently opposed to the law. Some view it as an attempt by conservative minded isolationists to force the EU to deny Turkey membership. Others view it as a step backwards, accidentally taken due to overzealous nationalism. Those within the literary community are particularly concerned. "These curbs are unacceptable if Turkey wants to prove that it's democratic," said Oktay Eksi, head of the Turkish Press Council. "We will continue to fight these restrictions until we, or the EU, persuade the government to abolish them."

As concern over Turkey's freedom of speech infractions grows, those within Turkey are less concerned about possible ramifications in joining the EU and more focused on trying to secure what are considered universal human rights.

In the words of Turkish professor Baskin Oran, "Turkey needs better human rights so its citizens can be treated like human beings. That's why we're fighting."

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