How many people have any actual knowledge about the Turkish Legal system ?

Question

The reason I ask this question is because certain individuals continually propagate propaganda about the Republic of Turkey and comment on issues they have no idea about. First and foremost is article 301 of the Penal Code (Now do not get me wrong here I am not a supporter of that section and can go into detailled reasons as to why not but that is not my purpose in asking this question). Most individuals that criticise section 301 have no idea about how the Turkish Legal system works, the intention, reasoning and mechanics of section 301. I would like to hear your opinions and knowledge about section 301 and how it works or does not work. I give you a real life example of a Case in point,

Perihan Mağden (born 1960) is a Turkish writer of prose and poetry and is a columnist for the newspaper Radikal. She was tried and acquitted on July 27th 2006 in Turkey for calling for opening the possibility of conscientious objection to mandatory military service in that country.

In the trial, which took place on July 27, 2006, she was ACQUITTED when the court ruled that her opinions were covered by the freedom of expression and were not a crime under the Turkish penal code.[11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perihan_Magden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_301_(Turkish_penal_code)


FOR MY SIMPLE FRIENDS AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE I USED A SOURCE YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO GRASP WITH YOUR VERY SIMPLE MINDS WIKIPEDIA.

That section has been used 60 times since it's inception do you know how many people have been CONVICTED and how many of them SENTENCED TO A TERM OF IMPRISONMENT ? Out of a population of approximately 70 Million PEOPLE ?

By the above comment "That section has been used 60 times" I mean Section 301 . There have been 60 Charges brought against 60 individuals not all have gone to trial because prosecutors have withdrawan the charge before trial. I just thought I would make that clear for my simple minded friends. Do you why and how the charges were brought and how and why the charges were withdrawan ?

Alana my dear you don't answer the question AT ALL try answering the question, if you can comprehend what it says and asks of course.

It's funny how I could not find your link to the reported stats about the prosecutions on biant.org or whatever, (which happens to be a PKK sponsored site by the way). It's funny how wikipedia is totally reliable when it suits your purposes but otherwise unreliable when it doesn't ??

Alana what exactly do you know about how section 301 works ? what are the mechanics of it and how are charges brought and withdrawn do you have any idea at all ? That is my question.

EDIT Alana please get over yourself the question is not directed at you whatsoever, you chose to answer it and I made clarifications, if you can't take the heat in the kitchen then you shouldn't be there. Why answer if you can't take the constructive criticism?

I note you have removed your reference to Biant.org (or whatever it was) and replaced it with a link I have already provided in this question ?? Informing some one of the source or motivation being sponsored or being affliated with a terrorist organisation is just INFORMATIVE not childish my dear :)

Whaaaa :) (as you would say)

"Furthermore, you ask do I know the difference between having freedom of speech or not having it? NO and I do want to know either. Your question is pointless! It does not matter what the procedure is nor does it matter what the punishment. What matters most is that your right to freedom of speech is violated." That whole paragraph you have written makes no sense whatsoever. Where in the above paragraphs have I ever asked YOU about the difference between having and not having freedom of speech ? Bare in mind once published (typos and all) I can not correct any part of my question other than to delete the entire question. ? Further still if the procedure and punishment does not matter how do you know that your rights have been violated ? does that make sense to you ? You need to get out more "Over and out" as you would say.

Answer 1

People don't know anything they just talk to talk.
Without any knowledge, any research of theri own, any travel they just repeat what their politicians and their TV try to make them memorise. That's all.

Answer 2

I think its darn shame to see people who claim to be Turkish citizens support and defend laws that stifle a person's right to speak out against injustice.

Each day I find myself more and more disappointed with the Turks attitudes regarding these issues.

The Turkish legal system is unjust, I know it just by the fact Turkeys has an article 301 that has been placed in the system for purposes of ones limitations of freedoms.

Instead of defending this law or in this case trying to explain it why don't you protest it?

Answer 3

Article 301 has been used to bring charges against writer Orhan Pamuk for stating, in an interview with a Swiss magazine, that "Thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it". The charges were later dropped.[5][6]

In February 2006 the trial opened against five journalists charged with insulting the judicial institutions of the State, and also of aiming to prejudice a court case (Article 288 of the Turkish penal code).[7] Each of the five had criticized a court order to shut down a conference in Istanbul about the Ottoman Armenian casualties in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. (The conference was nevertheless eventually held after having been transferred from a state university to a private university.[8]) The charges carried a potential penalty of a prison term of up to 10 years. Four of the journalists were acquitted on a technicality, while the fifth, Murat Belge, was acquitted.[9]

Another high-profile case to result from this legislation involved the writer and journalist Perihan Magden, who was prosecuted for a December 2005 newspaper column in which she strongly defended the principle of conscientious objection and the refusal to perform military service. In response to this column, the Turkish military filed a complaint against her.[10] In the trial, which took place on July 27, 2006, she was acquitted when the court ruled that her opinions were covered by the freedom of expression and were not a crime under the Turkish penal code.[11] If convicted she could have faced three years' imprisonment.

In July 2006 the Istanbul public prosecutor's office prepared an indictment alleging that the statements in the book Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman constituted a breach of the article.[12] The publisher and editors of the Turkish translation, as well as the translator, were brought to trial accordingly, but acquitted in December 2006.[13]

In 2006 Elif Şafak also faced charges of "insulting Turkishness" because of her latest novel, The Bastard of Istanbul.[3] The case was thrown out by the judge after a demand by the prosecutor for the case to be dropped.[14]

In 2006, the well-known Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was prosecuted under the Article 301 for insulting Turkishness, and received a six month suspended sentence. He was subsequently assassinated on by radical nationalists. Orhan Pamuk declared, "In a sense, we are all responsible for his death. However, at the very forefront of this responsibility are those who still defend article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Those who campaigned against him, those who portrayed this sibling of ours as an enemy of Turkey, those who painted him as a target, they are the most responsible in this."[15] Hrant Dink was posthumously acquitted of the charges on June 14, 2007, in a retrial ordered by the Court of Appeals.[16]

Publisher Ragıp Zarakolu is on trial under Article 301 as well as for “insulting the legacy of Atatürk” under Law 5816.[17]

In 2007, Arat Dink (Hrant Dink's son) and Serkis Seropyan were convicted to one-year suspended sentences under Article 301 for printing Dink's claims that the killings of Armenians in 1915 was a genocide.

So whats the "good" side of it?

Answer 4

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your informative explanations regarding article 301. Frankly, I didn't have the compete information until I read your post and I did a little search about it with your guidance, of course.

But my point wouldn't be that for this question. My point is that I am astonished by your patience regarding your efforts on trying to inform a minor. You must be a dervish with that patience . :)) BRAVO. Will your efforts going to be effective? I don't think so ...

BTW.

Over and Out ... lol

Answer 5

do you know how many people have been CONVICTED and how many of them SENTENCED TO A TERM

You wanted to know who was charged,
now you know.

Listen if you write questions
for the sole purpose to insult
me then I suggest you email
me instead its cheaper.
Lets face the facts DEAR
calling my reference site a
PKK website is just a tad
bit childish.

Furthermore, you ask do I know the difference
between having freedom of speech
or not having it? NO and I do not want to
know either.
Your question is pointless! It does
not matter what the procedure is nor
does it matter what the punishment.
What matters most is that your right to
freedom of speech has been violated.

NO I did not remove it (link)! It is still there!
I only added another.

Turkey: Article 301 is a threat
to freedom of expression
Gul, (president of Turkey),
told reporters that there are
"certain problems with article 301."
The controversial article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code is the one
which was used by nationalist
lawyers to bring recently slain
journalist Hrant Dink to court
on charges of "insulting Turkey."
It has also been used in cases
against renowned Turkish authors
Orhan Pamuk and Elif Safak.
Gul said yesterday at Ankara's
Esenboga Airport, "With its current state,
there are certain problems with article 301.
We see now that there are changes
which must be made to this law."

Have a nice day. I'am out.

Answer 6

Very interesting proposition!

Answer 7

I think 301 can be re-phrased but it shouldn't be removed. We need something at hand that can put the likes of those behind the bars, who claim the Turkish blood in their veins to be filthy.

Answer 8

Hello brother,

Thank your for all these informations, it's very interesting...

(After all your are the Laws expert here, we all trust your knowledge )

As Istanbulbogazi said, most of people are talking about Turkey and Turks whithout having even read serious and reliable documents.
Those haters and manipulators don't even have knowledge...And as you know, they love using fake documents and make forgeries for their own dirty propaganda.

PS : The user called " Alana" is just a teen who blindly follows the crowd of these racist diaspora.
She dares talking about things that she doesn't even know.
She hides herself in the confort of her Glendale neighbourhood, spending rich daddy's money for shopping all day long in the Beverley Hills stores, that's pathetic, isn't it ? Why doesn't she help the starving children in cold Armenia, sending them some money and then preventing their mothers from being obliged to work illegally as a servant in Turkey ?...

Answer 9

301 ? what's that?

Answer 10

Well said,my friend.