IHD - ISKD Trial Changed Hands
The last session of IHD-ISKD trial which was based on accusation of
"alienating people from military service" (Article 155 of Turkish
Penal Code) was held in the Military Court of General Staff on
December 1997. After one year passed, the Court decided that due to
the factors of Article 155 did not exist in the article which was
written by ISKD and published by IHD Ankara Section, the Military
Court of General Staff had no duty in the case. In addition, the
Court mentioned that the article includes factors of Article 159 of
Turkish Penal Code, "insulting the moral character of state". The
sentence of Article 159 is from 1 year up to 6 years and criminal
courts are on duty for it. So, the Military Prosecutor of General
Staff will send the file to the Criminal Court of Ankara and a new
trial will come into agenda on the accusation of "insulting the moral
character of state" (Article 159 of Turkish Penal Code).
Our opinion is that the Military Court of General Staff abstains
from giving a sentence because they do not want to open the way to
the European Human Rights Comission; but also they do not want to
give a decision of acquittal; so they send the file to the Criminal
Court. The army which has a modern and "democratic" appearance and
which is the guarantee of "Turkish democracy" against the
fundamentalist Islamic movement abstains from being in trouble with
Western world and loosing prestige. Probably, the Military Court of
General Staff considers that it can defend judgement of conscientious
objectors, because it is a matter of national security, etc; but it
considers that a trial against an article which critizes not
specially Turkish army but conscription all over the world can not be
legitimated. This is of course just a comment. In any case, this
seems as the result of hard working on the area of jurisprudence and
international solidarity.
Greetings
Serdar
About Anarchism in Turkey: Turkiye'de
Anarsizm