press releases & Protests

Dec. 15, 2006

Mr. Akin Sait
Attorney General
Attorney General's Office
Saray Square
Lefkosa
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Mersin 10
Turkey

Dear Mr. Sait:

On behalf of the World Press Freedom Committee —an organization representing 45 press freedom groups from six continents— I wish to express my profound concern about the legal action you have personally taken against Dogan Harman, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Kibrisli newspaper, and against the publication itself for allegedly insulting you and your honor.

Your criminal defamation charges against Mr. Harman and his publication could land him in prison, force him to pay a stiff fine and shut down his newspaper.

The charges stem from an extensive journalistic investigation Mr. Harman has conducted about the murky dealings of a local businessman, which have inflicted extensive financial damage on several companies and public institutions in your country. Mr. Harman has been critical of the apparent inaction your office and other official agencies have shown during most of this process, and has demanded that an official investigation be conducted at once in order to ascertain whether serious crimes have been committed.

But Mr. Harman’s articles have elicited a lukewarm at best response from the very public officials in charge of conducting such an investigation and ignited a campaign of judicial harassment aimed at silencing his criticism of your performance in office. These tools of censorship are laws, including Criminal Code Cap 154, which were inherited from colonial times and, given their harsh nature, have been rarely used in your country.

The essence of these laws has its origin in the Roman Empire, which instituted them to shield the emperor from public criticism. Today, they act as a Damocles sword dangling over the collective heads of the news media, forcing them to fulfill their duties to keep the public informed at the risk of being imprisoned and their publications shut down.

International judicial entities such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have ruled that these laws are in direct violation of the fundamental right to free speech and to a free press, which are consecrated in your country’s Constitution.

These institutions also have abundant jurisprudence that supports the concept that public officials should expect more, and not less, scrutiny and criticism from the rest of society. This acceptance of being a willing target of the media’s slings and arrows also implies public officials should restrain themselves from invoking these laws in order to silence criticism directed at them. In fact, your country’s Constitution, specifically its Article 24, has adopted the essence of these freedom of expression principles emanating from the European Court.

The attempts to silence Mr. Harman and his publication send a disturbing message to all press freedom forces in your country and abroad. Media outlets like his constitute a vital component to the Turkish Cypriot democracy. Without a free and independent media, government officials and corporate executives cannot be kept accountable and responsive to the rest of society. Without this essential ingredient, transparency and good governance become impossible to achieve.

This judicial harassment against Mr. Harman —who is to appear in court on Dec. 18 to face these charges— and his publication directly contradicts the very press freedom principles whose respect is essential for the functioning of a democratic society. Therefore, Mr. Sait, I urge you to stop at once these efforts to silence Mr. Harman’s voice of independence and immediately drop your charges against him.

Respectfully,

E. Markham Bench
Executive Director