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Freedom of Opinion in Turkey

Turkish Intellectuals Between Democracy and Nationalism

By Dilek Zaptcioglu in Istanbul

Turkish novelist Elif Shafak was taken to court on charges of "insulting Turkishness." It's a part of the Turkish penal code often used to go after intellectuals. But do the country's politicians have the courage to change it?

It's a scenario familiar to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Apply the criminal code to the work of a novelist, and massive protests from the European Union about the freedom of opinion in Turkey ensue. Indeed, Erdogan has been taking those protests to heart and has recently been trying to change the Turkish penal code's notorious section 301. In comments delivered on Thursday, Erdogan promised that the section will be deleted should a consensus be reached in parliament.

Such a consensus is not yet in sight. Novelist Elif Shafak was taken to court on charges of "insulting Turkishness" this week -- and acquitted for lack of evidence. So far, the most well-known victim of section 301 has been the editor-in-chief of the Armenian weekly Agos, Hrant Dink, who will be sentenced to six months in prison if he "re-offends."

Section 301 of Turkey's penal code makes "insulting Turkishness, the Republic or the National Assembly" punishable by a prison sentence of between six months and three years. The sentence increases threefold when the offense is committed abroad. The EU has been demanding the abolition of section 301 for months. Since the law went into effect about one year ago, it has been used to press charges against at least 82 writers, publishers, journalists and intellectuals. During the past 15 months, numerous periodicals and books have been confiscated, and Internet sites have been shut down, according to the most recent report by Turkey's Human Rights Foundation (TIHV). A total of 15 people have been sentenced under the law. It is widely expected that this year the European Union Commission will use its annual progress report on Turkey's fitness for EU membership -- due out in mid-October -- as an opportunity to demand a re-drafting of section 301.

But doing so would require a major transformation within Turkey, and that transformation has yet to occur. Danish Amnesty International member Elna Leth Pedersen, who monitored Shafak's trial, believes a "change of mentality" is needed. It won't do for the section to be scrapped and replaced by another, she believes.

"Many countries -- including EU countries -- have similar laws," says Joost Lagendijk, a member of the European Parliament, speaking in Istanbul on the day of Shafak's trial. "But these laws never lead to writers or journalists being arrested," Lagendijk adds.

Eugene Schoulgin, a representative of the PEN Club, the international writers association, has called Shafak's trial a "scandal" and pointed out that hers is not the only case his organization is keeping a watchful eye on. "There are genuine human rights violations occurring in various countries, from EU member states to Australia," says Schoulgin, a Norwegian who now lives in Istanbul. He adds that the rising number of trials in Turkey is to do with the country's "giant steps towards democracy," which he says are prompting strong nationalist reactions "in certain circles."

A Nationalist Backlash

In fact, the lawyers who always appear as joint plaintiffs in section 301 trials are genuinely reactionary. They are members of the far-right lawyers association "Hukukcular Birligi." Led by Istanbul lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, they are often the ones who press charges against authors. In their eyes, sensitive topics include the massacre committed against Armenians in 1915, the Kurdish question, the role of the military in Turkey -- and recent Turkish history in general.

For the past several years, Turkey has been undergoing a rapid cultural transformation. Thanks to the country's bid for EU membership, Turkey's past and present is being discussed more openly and controversially than ever before. But this also entails a growing rift between reformist forces and the rest of society. Many feel the reforms are happening too quickly and going too far.

Formally left-wing and now liberal-minded intellectuals such as Murat Belge, a professor of English literature, are speeding the EU reform process in the area of culture. Today these intellectuals are no longer as marginalized as they were 10 or 20 years ago, when they found themselves unemployed because of their views or were struggling to survive in small publishing houses. Now they hold teaching positions at Istanbul's many private universities, where they are using their connections to organize conferences on the Armenian and Turkish questions.

Official Turkish historiography is the main target of the criticisms repeatedly formulated at these conferences. According to Belge, official Turkish historiography has "achieved nothing so far besides denying the Armenian and the Kurdish questions and falsifying historical truths for extremely nationalist reasons." Turkey's liberal intellectuals make up a kind of "closed society" entertaining close contacts to the West; their activities are often financed with Western funds.

The result is that Turkish nationalists have a bone to pick. They're using section 301 as a weapon and they want to use the charges of "insulting Turkishness" and "damaging Turkey's reputation abroad" to expose the activities of intellectuals and writers to the public. The goal pursued by Turkish nationalists isn't necessarily that of getting writers into prison. Rather, it's to make these writers look like dangerous enemies of society to those Turks who haven't read their books.

The strategy is working. Most Turks view Kerincsiz and his right-wing lawyers as slightly overzealous champions of a just cause. Widespread popular support for the extreme nationalists and their struggles against the "enemies of the people" is even pushing the social democrat opposition in the Turkish parliament to argue against the abolition of section 301.

Elections will be held in Turkey in the fall of 2007. Even Prime Minister Erdogan will likely lack the courage to fully liberalize the Turkish penal code. Right now Erdogan is smugly playing the role of the democrat whose hands are tied. All he did on the eve of Shafak's trial was wish her the best of luck.