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ANKARA: Supreme Court Allows Compensation Claims Against Orhan Pamuk

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  • ANKARA: Supreme Court Allows Compensation Claims Against Orhan Pamuk

    SUPREME COURT ALLOWS COMPENSATION CLAIMS AGAINST ORHAN PAMUK

    BIA Magazine
    May 15 2009
    Turkey

    Although a criminal case against him was dropped, the Supreme Court
    has decreed for the second time that people can claim compensation
    from the writer.

    Orhan Pamuk faced a trial under the controversial Article 301 after
    saying "30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians were killed on this
    soil" in an interview in Switzerland. He was accused of "denigrating
    Turkishness". The Ministry of Justice withheld permission for
    prosecution, so the case was dropped.

    The criminal case was dropped, yet he still faces compensation claims.

    Six people filed compensation claim Pakize Alp Akbaba, president of the
    Istanbul Mothers of Martyrs Solidarity and Support Association, lawyer
    Kemal Kerincsiz, himself now a detained defendant in the Ergenekon
    trial, and four other people have demanded 36,000 Liras compensation.

    The Å~^iÅ~_li 3rd Civil Court of First Instance in Istanbul has twice
    rejected the compensation claims.

    According to the Radikal newspaper, the Å~^iÅ~_li court had decreed
    that no one could claim compensation for "an attack on personal rights"
    just for being a member of the Turkish nation.

    However, the plaintiffs lodged an appeal, and the 4th Chamber of the
    Supreme Court of Appeals decreed that the plaintiffs fulfilled the
    conditions for making a claim. If personal rights had been attacked,
    it decreed, the legislation should be applied.

    The Supreme Court pointed out that according to Article 66 of the
    Constitution, "Everyone connected to the Turkish State with the bond
    of citizenship is Turkish", and that just as individuals had honour,
    feelings of belonging to a nation were also part of personal values.

    When the Å~^iÅ~_li court rejected the compensation claim for a second
    time, the case was sent to the Supreme Court of Appeal's General
    Assembly, which again overturned the local court's decree.

    It now remains to be seen whether the Å~^iÅ~_li court will resist
    the Supreme Court a third time...
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