Quotes costs Turkish journalist prison sentence
Irfan Atkan has been sentenced to 15 months in prison under Turkey’s draconian anti-terror laws
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Turkey: Newspaper fined over article criticising army
On 7 May, two newspaper employees were fined over an article criticising the Turkish army’s system of patronage. Over 300 army generals sued the pro-Islamic Vakit newspaper for libel over an article entitled “The country where people who cannot become corporals become generals”. Haron Aksoy and Nuri Aykon were fined TL616,000 (£275,000) for the 2003 article.
In other news, an Istanbul court sentenced two journalists for spreading terrorist propaganda. İrfan Aktan was handed a five-year prison sentence and Merve Erol received a heavy fine for “spreading propaganda for an illegal organisation” over an article for the Express newspaper.
Murder sparks angry protests by Iraqi Kurds
Hundreds of university students assaulted a local parliament building in Erbil, the capital of Iraqs semi-autonomous Kurdistan region on 10 May. The students were taking part in an angry protest against the abduction and killing of Kurdish student and journalist Zardasht Osman. Protesters, many of them dressed in black, marched from the spot where Osman was abducted to the parliament building. They accused security and intelligence forces of being behind the killing. A similar protest will be held on Wednesday in Sulaimaniya.
Turkish mayor sentenced to one year detention for ‘Kurdistan’ reference
Selim Sadak, mayor of the city of Siirt in south-eastern Turkey, was sentenced to 1 year’s imprisonment on 26 April after being found guilty of “spreading PKK propaganda”. Sadak’s conviction is came after he used the term “Kurdiastan” in a statement given to a journalist.