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RR RUEHAG RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHIT #0172 0401413
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091413Z FEB 06
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4208
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000172 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM TU
SUBJECT: ARMENIAN CONFERENCE FALLOUT: TRIAL OF FIVE 
PROMINENT JOURNALISTS BEGINS 
 
REF: A. 05 ISTANBUL 2058 
 
     ¶B. 05 ISTANBUL 1680 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified.  Not for internet 
distribution. 
 
¶1.  (U)  Summary: Nationalist tensions took center stage at 
the opening hearing of five Turkish journalists charged with 
insulting and seeking to influence the Turkish judiciary as a 
result of columns they wrote criticizing the court injunction 
that temporarily blocked last September's "Alternative 
Armenian Conference."  Legal counsel for the nationalist 
lawyers group whose complaint led Istanbul prosecutors to 
file the initial charges protested vociferously when the 
judge did not permit a statement to the court.  Police 
closely controlled access to the court and the streets 
surrounding it, however, preventing recurrence of the mayhem 
that surrounded December's Pamuk hearing.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  The first hearing in the case against journalists 
was held February 7 at an Istanbul courthouse outside which a 
group of nationalist protesters demonstrated under heavy 
security.  Adding to the sense of drama surrounding the 
hearing was the presence of high-profile EU observer, Joost 
Lagendijk, the co-chair of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary 
Group, who was himself the subject of a Turkish prosecutor's 
investigation (eventually dropped) for "insulting 
Turkishness."  (Note:  Lagendijk was particularly outspoken 
in the case of Orhan Pamuk, and earned the wrath of Turkish 
nationalists for his criticism about the state of freedom of 
speech in Turkey.  End note.)  Press reports indicate 
Lagendijk was accompanied to the court by 10 police officers, 
in a clear attempt to prevent a recurrence of the fisticuffs 
suffered by EU observers at the Pamuk hearing. 
 
¶3.  (U)  All five defendants appeared in court and provided 
both oral and written statements to the effect that their 
articles were not an attempt to "insult" or "influence" the 
judiciary, but rather should be seen in the context of 
freedom of expression. (Note:  Some were charged under 
multiple articles of the penal code.  Four of the journalists 
were charged under Article 288 for attempting to influence 
the judiciary, while three were charged under Article 301 for 
insulting the judiciary.  End note.)  Also in attendance at 
the hearing were lawyers affiliated with the nationalist 
Union of Turkish Jurists, the group that had initially 
brought the complaint about the articles to the prosecutor's 
office last fall. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Turkish media reported that the judge occasionally 
was forced to call police in to "silence" this group of 
nationalists lawyers to maintain order in the court.  In 
response, the group reportedly has asked for the judge to 
recuse himself, alleging his partiality in not allowing them 
to give statements as complainants.  The session adjourned 
with the next hearing set for April 11, when the court will 
have had time to examine the defendants' statements and 
documents, as well as the recusal request. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Comment: Though the freedom of expression 
principles at stake are similar, the hearing lacked the 
celebrity attention that accompanied Orhan Pamuk's trial last 
December.  The dismissal of Pamuk's case was a positive 
development, but ongoing court cases underscore the fact that 
neither law nor tradition protects controversial speech in 
Turkey.  Some individuals currently charged with "insulting 
Turkishness" under Article 301 -- reportedly including 
academic Baskin Oran, who wrote a report on minorities in 
Turkey -- prefer to face the legality of such cases directly 
and publicly, rather than have the charges against them 
dismissed.  The issue will thus likely remain at the center 
of Turkey's human rights agenda with the EU in coming months. 
 End comment. 
JONES