By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
In old films, you would see children running through the streets, selling newspapers. They would shout out the most important news of the day with sentences starting, ‘Extra! Extra!…’ and try to attract attention. Thus, those who were curious would stop by, make the payment, pat the child on the head, pick the newspaper and start reading the incident announced. I hope that the news mentioned in the title of this article will never have to be written in our country in any period and under any circumstances.
Journalist Ali Kişmir, the president of Basın-Sen, was charged on 13 November due to an article he shared on his social media account, based on Article 26 of the Military Crimes and Punishments Law No. 29/1983, subtitled ‘Insult and defamation of moral personality’ and worded as ‘Anyone who insults and defames the moral personality of the Security Forces of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus in any way commits an offence and is sentenced to imprisonment for up to 10 years’, and the case was adjourned until today so that the prosecution witnesses could be heard.
Let alone the start of criminal proceedings, walls of shame came to be erected as soon as Ali was called to the police. While the country has turned into a hotbed of crime, while children stab each other in the streets, while violence and sexual abuse against women and children keep occupying the courts every day, while proverbs such as ‘those who handle honey lick their fingers’ and ‘those who do not benefit from the state’s property are fools’ have almost become a substitute for the law, what is this supposed to mean? Are you so afraid of the thinking process, of people expressing their opinions freely? Or are you angry because, despite all your efforts, you cannot destroy the minds that do not harm anyone, that reveal your manipulative and interventionist acts?
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First of all, let’s stop discussing the issue at the scale of individuals. Today it is Ali, tomorrow it might be you, who knows? Don’t you think that one day you might end up laughing out of the other side of your mouth? Times will change, and the injustices you did not stand against will knock on your door when you least expect it. History is full of such narratives.
The trial of a journalist with a prison sentence of up to ten years for an article s/he wrote while practising his/her profession is not only a problem related to the freedom of press. It is also a threat to the freedom of thought and expression, the right to access news and accurate information, and the democratic order of the whole society, that is, all of us.
Within the framework of legal rules and legislation, whether or not an offence has been committed is a matter for the Court. A conclusion will be reached after the trial. Even if the result is acquitted, this black mark will remain in the story of our freedom.
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Do you think that the moral personality of the Security Forces, a huge organisation, can be damaged with a single article? Is this the real reason for the lawsuit? Or is the aim to create a climate of fear, and eventually silence us?
So, what are we going to do in the meanwhile? If we do not make it clear that the case poses a problem for democracy and human rights, if we do not take sides in favour of justice in this trial, and if we contribute to the perception created as though Ali is on his own, in the future we will all, one by one, start to appear in the same dock. I am telling you that much.
My humble advice is that, do not be silent; let us not be silent, so that we do not lose our power to re-enlighten our increasingly darkening future. Let us defeat the mentality that has sworn to consume the law, human rights and the existence of Turkish Cypriots.
This article was originally published on 26.11.2024
Source: ‘EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT HOW THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS CONFINED!’
