Turkey: Freedom of Artistic Expression
2015
Turkey: Freedom of Artistic Expression
Update to UN Submission to the Universal Periodic Review
June 2014 to May 2015
18 June 2015
Introduction
1. Turkey’s poor record of protection of the right to freedom of expression is well known through the consistent reporting
of media freedom and human rights groups over many years. It is a key element in discussions around the country’s
adherence to international human rights principles.
2. Until recently, the focus of reports has been on press freedom: appropriately so given the extent of the repression faced
by journalists. However, there has been less concentration on the struggle that Turkish artists, in both the performing
and visual arts, have faced alongside their colleagues in the media. They too have found themselves arrested,
threatened, dismissed from their jobs and banned under the same laws, with similar breaches of the human rights
norms to which Turkey is a party. Other forms of censorship are also experienced, such as politically applied film
certification bans and denial of government funding. Threats from non-government actors are similarly an everyday
aspect of many outspoken artists’ lives.
3. In June 2014, a submission1 was made to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) jointly by the Denmarkbased organisation, Freemuse, which advocates against music censorship worldwide and the Turkey-based arts freedom
organisations, Siyah Bant,2 and the Initiative for Freedom of Expression3. It highlights key areas of repression faced
specifically by artists in Turkey in recent years and the legislation applied against them. It serves to supplement and fill in
the gaps left by the mainly media focussed reports presented to the UN.
4. This present document provides an update to the UPR submission, describing events as they affect artistic freedom of
expression in Turkey from June 2014 - when the submission was written - to date. It gives details of new judicial cases,
dismissals and other censorship. Information was gathered from reports provided by Turkish NGOs and national media.
Attacks on Freedom of Artistic Expression – June 2014-May 2015
Anti-Terror Law (TMK ) applied against Kurdish musicians
5. The June 2014 UPR submission refers to the numerous laws applied against artists and creative works in a manner which
breach the rights to freedom of expression, association and other guarantees under the UN International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights as well as the Constitution of Turkey. It refers to the view that it is often not the laws themselves
1
Joint stakeholder submission (2014) by Freemuse, Siyah Bant and the Initiative for Freedom of Expression:
http://freemuse.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/UPR-2014-Turkey.pdf
2
For more on Siyah Bant visit http://www.openspace-zkp.org/2013/en/journal.php?j=7&t=47 and www.siyahbant.org
3
Initiative for Freedom of Expression website http://www.antenna-tr.org/
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Turkey: Freedom of Artistic Expression
2015
but their implementation that is especially problematic. It is the ambiguous character of these laws that allows for
arbitrary, subjective decisions and actions.
6. One example is the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) that has an overly broad definition of what comprises an offence under the
law. This has impacted particularly upon those in the Kurdish regions of Turkey where many have been prosecuted with
little or no evidence of links to terrorism. Another report, published in November 2014 by the Norwegian Centre of PEN
International, Turkey: Freedom of Expression Under a Shadow, states that over 70% of TMK cases applied against
writers and journalists relate to their writings and activism around Kurdish issues.
7. Notably in December 2014, one of the heaviest sentences passed against an artist in recent years was that given to the
young Kurdish singer, Nûdem Durak4. In December 2014 she was imprisoned to serve a 10.5 year sentence. She was
among thousands of Kurdish activists and their supporters arrested through 2009 and 2011 in what is known as the
Kurdistan Communities Union (Koma Civakên Kurdistan - KCK) case. Established in 2005 by the Kurdistan Workers Party
(Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan - PKK) with the aim of setting up its own political system in the Kurdish region of south east
Turkey, the KCK trials have targeted Kurdish and Turkish civilians with pro-Kurdish sympathies, although many deny
links with the PKK.
8. Durak herself was arrested in March 2010. She spent seven months in prison before being freed pending trial, which
concluded four years later in December 2014 with her return to jail where she remains detained. According to her
lawyer, the only evidence against her are meetings she attended, and workshops she took part in, none of which could
be seen as calling for or actually engaging in violence. Her case is similar to that of other KCK defendants, and has led to
rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to conclude that many among them are prisoners
of conscience. There is good reason to believe that Durak is being targeted for prosecution because of her status as an
artist popular among a young audience.
9. These charges are consistent with those applied against other KCK defendants, and which has led to NGOs such as
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to conclude that many among them are being penalised for their
legitimate and non-violent political activism. Notable cases include the long time minority rights campaigner and
publisher, Ragip Zarakolu, acclaimed academic Buşra Ersanlı, and numerous other writers, academics, activists and
lawyers, many of whose cases have been subject to intense local and international advocacy in the past four years, and
most of whom remain on trial. (It is worth noting in the context of this report that among the charges against politicians
also prosecuted for membership of the KCK was their possession of recordings of Kurdish songs.)
10. On a positive note Kurdish singers, Mazlum Yerlikaya and Yekbun Avşar5, on trial for two years, were finally acquitted in
March 2015 after a court in Diyarbakir cleared them of charges of propaganda under the TMK for support for an ‘illegal
organisation’ for singing a Kurdish song at a Newroz - Kurdish New Year – celebration held by university students in
March 2013. Although good news, theirs is just one of many cases taken out against Kurdish artists in recent years, amid
concerns that the prolonged nature of these trials, many of which end with acquittals, could serve to chill creative
freedom.
Defamation – cartoonists, actors and musicians charged for insult to President Erdoğan
11. Defamation is sanctioned under both civil and criminal law in Turkey, with Penal Code Article 125 penalising cases of
defamation against a ‘public officer’, and carries prison terms of up to two years.
12. Recep Tayipp Erdoğan, both when he was prime minister and in his present role as President, has been particularly prone
to dealing with his detractors through this law. Visual and performing artists have also come under attack in recent
months, as have journalists, with cartoonists as particular targets, alongside musicians and actors. The following recent
cases have been reported:
4
Freemuse – Turkey: Young Kurdish Singer Imprisoned, 3/05/15 http://freemuse.org/archives/10051
Various Kurdish language reports – for an English summary go to
http://www.tuerkeiforum.net/enw/index.php?title=26_March_2015_Daily_Human_Rights_Report
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In March 2015 cartoonists Bahadır Baruter and Özer Aydoğan were each sentenced to 14 months in prison, converted to
a fine of TL7,000 [c. €2,500]. They are accused for a caricature published on the cover of the satirical magazine, Penguen,
in August 2014 during the Presidential elections and which was accused of having attacked the ‘honour and dignity of
[President] Erdoğan’. 6
Sensitivity was clearly at its height at election time. Two weeks before the election itself, musician Kutsal Evcimen sang a
song about a donkey titled Satın Eşek Sıpaları, at the Arguvan Folk Festival, and followed it with a short speech. In January
this year he found himself under investigation for insult of now President Erdoğan. The song, Evcimen has explained, was
written some 30 years earlier, and he denies that there was any element of insult within it.7
Even acquittal does not guarantee an end to prosecutions. Lawyers representing President Erdoğan in a case against
cartoonist Musa Kart, who was acquitted in October 2014 of charges of insult in a cartoon published earlier that same
year, appealed against the court’s decision and the case against the cartoonist was reopened. 8
13. Even those who display images can find themselves before the courtsIn March 2015 it was reported that television series
actor, Nazlı Gonca Vuslateri could face trial in Ankara for ‘insult’ to President Erdoğan for having posted a caricature on
her Facebook site. According to these reports, she faces up to two years in prison. The caricature had previously been
published in a satirical magazine.9
14. Cartoons by non-Turkish artists can also lead to prosecution. In January 2015 the New York Times reported that a
mathematics teacher was under investigation for having displayed during a demonstration a cartoon by an American
cartoonist, originally published in the newspaper’s international edition in December. The image of a joint of meat on a
spit with an image of the Turkish flag being sliced by the President could lead to maximum three year sentence for insult
to the Turkish flag. 10
15. The Turkish legal system can be long winded, and often defendants are the last to know that they have been convicted.
16. One example is that of actor and theatre director, Haldun Açıksözlü, who only discovered at an airport in February 2015
as he tried to leave the country for Germany where he was scheduled to perform, that a case launched against him in
2011 had concluded with a fine of TL6,000 [c. €2,000]. This was one of four cases launched against Açıksözlü since 2010
that sprang from his popular, one man, stand-up performance titled Laz Marks said to have had 200 performances before
over 100,000 audience members. Three of the cases relate to comments either directly referring to Erdoğan or seen by
the prosecutors to allude to the then prime minister. The fourth case has been made under Article 215 – ‘praising crime
or criminals’ - for a reference in his show to revolutionaries who had been killed in the 1970s. Haldun Açıksözlü chose to
pay the fine so as to be able to continue to Germany. 11
Denial of certification as a means of creative control: the Istanbul Film Festival – Bakur Case
17. As the UPR submission points out, although there is not any implication in the Constitution which leads to prior
censorship, the obstacles to the granting of film certification can be used as a means of control (see paras. 45-49). In
April 2015, this problem was thrown into sharp relief with the withdrawal of the documentary Bakur (North) that
investigates daily life in PKK camps from the Istanbul Film Festival program. The documentary, directed by Çayan
6
Various press reports. See Council of Europe Platform for the promotion of the protection and safety to journalists
statement 30/03/15 http://www.coe.int/en/web/media-freedom/-/turkish-cartoonists-bahadir-baruter-and-ozer-aydoganfound-guilty-of-insulting-president-erdogan
7
Freemuse – Turkey: Charges against musician of insult to prime minister 16/01/15
http://freemuse.org/archives/artist/kutsal-evcimen
8
Cartoonists Rights International – Musa Kart Exonerated in Latest Battle with Erdoğan http://cartoonistsrights.org/musakart-exonerated-in-latest-battle-with-erdogan/ (retrieved 18/05/15)
9
Freedom of Expression Initiative Newsletter 13/15 – 27/03/15
10
New York Times – Turkey’s President Traces a New Internal Threat: The Way he is Drawn 03/01/215
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/world/europe/turkish-leader-traces-a-new-internal-threat-the-way-hes-drawn.html
11
See also Freemuse/Siyah Bant UN UPR submission para. 29
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Demirel and journalist Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, was pulled by the festival organisers after they had received a notice from the
Ministry of Culture that this documentary had not been granted a registration certificate. However, other locally
produced films that also did not have this certification were screened without problems. Outraged by the decision
against Bakur, 23 film companies withdrew their own works from the festival, stating that was a clear case of censorship.
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Withholding of funding and dismissal as tools of censorship
18. While often difficult to confirm that withdrawal or refusing of public funding for theatres and arts work is linked to their
political content, in recent months there have been concerns that theatres that had been openly supportive of the 2013
Gezi demonstrations have found difficulty in obtaining previously available government funding, essential for many noncommercial theatrical productions. One example is the Dostlar Theatre Company, whose application for funding from
the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to stage a Turkish language version of Gogol’s Diary of a Madman was at first
refused, then overturned on appeal by a court in Ankara in July 2014, allowing the play to eventually go ahead. The
theatre director told the press that this company has not received funding for over a year. He added that around 16
other theatres had similarly been ‘blacklisted’ by the Ministry on grounds of their support for the protests.13
19. In another instance, actor Levent Üzümcü reportedly faces dismissal from Istanbul city theatres after being referred to
the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality High Disciplinary Board, which could result in him no longer being able to perform
in theatres funded by the city. The action is linked to a series of comments and statements he made following the Gezi
protests, and especially for a speech he gave to a 2013 Socialist International Conference.14
Inciting people to commit crimes – artists face possible prosecution for video on death of child shot during Gezi protests
20. In a recent and ongoing development, in April 2015 news agencies reported that several artists, including well-known and
popular musicians, television and film actors, face possible charges after the Media Crimes Bureau of the Istanbul Chief
Prosecutor’s Office called them for questioning for ‘calling people onto the streets [to committ crimes]’. They had
appeared in a video commemorating the anniversary of the death of Elvan Berkin, a 15-year-old boy who died in March
2014. He had been in a coma for nine months after having been hit in the head by a police tear gas cannister fired during
the June 2013 Gezi protests. The 5-minute video features a young girl asking “Where is Elvan Berkin?” followed by the
artists commenting “I am Elvan Berkin” and asking questions such as “How can you sleep at night?” and “Where are you
hiding his killers?”.15
21. Soon after, one of those who was shown in the video, actor Hamit Demir, who had appeared in 13 episodes of the
televison historical drama, Diriliş ‘Ertuğrul, had his contract terminated allegedly because of his involvement. His case
mirrors that of many other journalists and performers who, notably since the 2013 Gezi protests, have been dismissed or
had their contracts terminated after having criticised the government. Newspaper and media owners have been accused
of acting under direct or indirect instructions from the government.16
12
Artsfreedom.org – Turkey: Film festival censorship controversy and cancellations 16/04/15 http://artsfreedom.org/?p=8831
Today’s Zaman Genco Erklar Blames Turkey’s Theatre Circles for Censorship 19/11/14
http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_genco-erkal-blames-turkeys-theater-circles-for-censorship_364802.html
14
Today’s Zaman Actor Üzümcü Faces Dismissal from Istanbul City Theatres Over Criticism of Gov’t. 08/05/15
http://www.todayszaman.com/arts-culture_actor-uzumcu-faces-dismissal-from-istanbul-city-theaters-over-criticism-ofgovt_380184.html
15
Hürriyet Daily News Artists probed over film condemning impunity in Gezi victim’s death 22/04/15
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/artists-probed-over-film-condemning-impunity-in-gezi-victimsdeath.aspx?pageID=238&nID=81414&NewsCatID=509
16
Hürriyet Daily News Actor fired for taking part in video commemorating Gezi victim 05/05/15
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/actor-fired-for-taking-part-in-video-commemorating-gezi-victim.aspx?pageID=238&nID=81990&NewsCatID=339
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Recommendations
22. The Freemuse/Siyah Bant/Initiative for Freedom of Expression submission to the UN UPR in June 2014, made a number
of recommendations to the Turkish authorities – paras. 53-65 – all of which remain pertinent a year later, as illustrated
by recent developments referred to above. We repeat the key recommendations below:
23. The definition of ‘terrorism’ in the application of anti-terror laws is ambiguous. The notions such as ‘terror’, ‘terrorist
organization’, ‘membership of a terrorist organization’, and ‘making propaganda of terrorist organization’ should be
clearly defined in law.
24. Anti terror legislation should not be applied against artistic and creative works that clearly have no connection with nor
propagate violence.
25. Public officials should desist from statements allying artists with terrorism, and hence from turning artists into targets.
26. Revoke Articles 6/2 and 7/2 of the Anti Terror Law that penalise propaganda for or distribution of material by ‘terrorist’
organisations and which have led to many convictions that breach free expression guarantees. This should be among a
number of steps towards securing reforms that would remove the threats to freedom of expression and other rights
currently present in the Law.
27. Remove criminal defamation from the statute books by abolishing Article 125. In the meantime restrict public officials
and authorities from initiating defamation cases before criminal and civil courts
28. Protect artists and creative workers, as well as audiences engaged in artistic activities against threat and violence. No
person issuing or carrying out such threat should be granted impunity to do so.
29. Ensure that broadcast classification bodies are independent, have terms of reference, rules of procedure and activities
made public, and that there are effective appeals mechanisms.
30. Replace present pre-censorship mechanisms with a system of age-based classification that refrains from deleting or
modifying content and accords due representation to artists in its administration.
FREEMUSE – The World Forum on Music and Censorship is an independent international membership organisation advocating and
defending freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide. Freemuse has held Special Consultative Status with the
United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2012.
Jemtelandsgade 1, ST , 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark
Email: ole.reitov@freemuse.org
Turkey consultant – Sara Whyatt: sarawhyatt@gn.apc.org
Web: http://www.freemuse.org
SIYAH BANT - Founded in 2011, Siyah Bant is a research platform that documents censorship in the arts across Turkey by a group of
arts managers, arts writers and academics working on freedom of expression.
Tütün Deposu, Lüleci Hendek Caddesi No.12 , Tophane 34425 İstanbul, Turkey
Email: info@siyahbant.org
Web: http://www.siyahbant.org
INITIATIVE FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION - The Initiative for Freedom of Expression was established in Istanbul in 1995. The
initiative publicizes weekly bulletins, a yearbook and hosts the international ''Gathering in Istanbul for Freedom of Expression'' every
second year.
Nacak Sok. 21/11, TR-34674 Istanbul, Turkey
Tel: +90 216 492 0504
Email: antennatr@ gmail.com
Web: http://www.antenna-tr.org
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