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  • ANKARA: Turkish premier says media not exempt from penal code

    Turkish premier says media not exempt from penal code

    Yeni Safak website, Istanbul
    4 Jun 05

    Excerpt from interview with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
    published by Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak website on 4 June

    [Newspaper's introduction to interview omitted]

    [Question] You have been in office for two and a half years. Do you
    think that you have been successful during this period? In other
    words where have you been successful and where do you see deficiencies?

    [Erdogan] I would like to start with novel steps in domestic
    politics. I believe that we have made some very serious progress in
    domestic politics. We are not where we should be yet but we have made
    serious progress. Virtually no one was convicted because of his or
    her thoughts during our tenure.

    [Question] Could that happen in the future now that the new TCK
    [Turkish Penal Code] has gone into effect?

    [Erdogan] I do not view the penal code issue the way the press has
    approached it. An act that is considered criminal for an ordinary
    citizen must also be a crime for a journalist. In other words
    what is at issue here is not punishment for ideas. If there is any
    falsification of truth, any slander, or any false reporting anywhere,
    then the price paid for it. We have seen this in the past. It is a
    crime when an ordinary individual does it but it is not a crime when
    a journalist does it. For example they attack us over the issue of
    immunity. The media attack us. Now the same media that attack us over
    immunity want immunity for themselves. If you are attacking me then
    you should drop your own armour of immunity too. No one has objected
    to making this a crime. [There have been proposals to change] the
    penalty to a large fine instead of imprisonment.

    OK, but then the large fine must be imposed on everyone else. Then
    what will happen to people who cannot pay the fine? Then wealthy
    and well-to-do people in this country would not have a problem? Is
    that fair?

    [Question] The draft law does not refer to slander only. There is
    a provision about basic national interests. For example national
    interests could include issues such as the withdrawal of troops from
    Cyprus and the Armenian genocide.

    [Erdogan] The law has its own language. I am not a lawyer. I do not
    know what is said in the reasoning for basic national interests but
    I do not agree with that example. No judge could evaluate the matter
    that way. [Passage omitted]
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