Istanbul: A Turkish court on Thursday acquitted Elif Shafak, one of Turkey's leading authors, saying there was no evidence that she "insulted Turkishness" in a novel.
It was another high-profile case seen as a test of the relationship between Turkey and the European Union, which has called for judicial reforms and increased rights to free expression in Turkey.
The bloc has warned Turkey that putting writers and journalists on trial under repressive laws could hamper its efforts to join the bloc.
The court concluded in a 1 1/2-hour session that there was insufficient evidence to suggest that she committed a crime, presiding judge Irfan Adil Uncu said.
"We want a country where people are not interrogated because of their novels,'' said Muge Sokmen, Shafak's publisher.
"Her acquittal gives happiness, it is relieving. As the public, we need to be more tolerant to the thoughts of others."
Riot police contained angry nationalist protesters who briefly scuffled with another group outside the court room after the ruling. A small group of nationalist lawyers outside the courthouse burned a picture of Shafak in protest.
Shafak, 35, was charged over the words uttered by fictional Armenian characters in her novel The Bastard of Istanbul--a book she wrote while she was living in Arizona.
The book touches on one of the most disputed episodes of her country's history--the mass killings of Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
In the book, an Armenian character refers to "Turkish butchers." The Turkish government and some international historians reject the claim that a mass evacuation and related deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians living in Turkey from 1915 to 1923 was genocide. Turkey also says the death toll is inflated.
Shafak said the law on insulting Turkishness "has been used as a weapon to silence many people. ... My case is perhaps just another step in this long chain."
PAGE_BREAK
Turkish authorities have put a string of Turkish writers and journalists on trial for expressing opinions, despite calls from the EU to scrap the law that penalises insulting the Turkish Republic, its officials or "Turkishness".
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said the government would first monitor the implementation of the controversial penal code article 301 before considering making any amendments.
"How willing are you to let people curse at Turkey, insult Turkishness and get away with it?" Yusuf Kanli, editor-in-chief of Turkish Daily News, quoted Cicek as saying in his column on Thursday.
Shafak, a University of Arizona assistant professor, gave birth on Saturday to a girl, Sehrazat Zelda, was still at the hospital and did not attend her trial in Istanbul. After the trial, she expressed satisfaction with the decision, however, and called for greater freedoms, private NTV television said.
''You would counter writing in writing, not with a gun,'' Shafak told NTV from the hospital, about protests and scuffles outside the court room. ''Insulting Turkishness? According to who? Who determines it?''
Her husband, Eyup Can, said before the trial started: ''It is a shame not just for her but for Turkey. The whole process is absurd. I am not worried about the verdict, I am ashamed at the whole process.''
Some 25 nationalist protesters outside the court held an EU flag with a Nazi swastika in the middle and a slogan that read: ''EU fascism.'' The protesters were also holding several Turkish flags.
If she had been convicted, Shafak could have received a maximum three-year prison sentence.
A Turkish court dropped charges last year against Orhan Pamuk, one of the country's most famous novelists, who faced trial for commenting on the killings of Armenians. The charges were dropped for technical reasons amid intense international pressure.
PAGE_BREAK
However, a high court recently confirmed a six-month prison sentence imposed on Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink for attempting to influence the judiciary after his newspaper ran articles criticizing the law that makes it a crime to insult Turkishness. Dink's sentence was suspended.
Comments
0 comment