Journalist Tried for Leader of the Kurds

The owner of the monthly "Climate in Dersim", Ergüder Öner, and the editor-in-chief Emrah Öner are being tried for "praising crime and criminals". The montly newspaper appears in Tunceli, a mainly Alevi-populated province in the East of Turkey, which was called Dersim before 1938.

Two years demanded

The trial is based on Article 215 of the penal code, according to which "whoever extols a crime or a person for committing a crime will be punished with two years imprisonment".

Ergüder Öner commented that the trial was unfortunate for democracy and the freedom of the press, especially as his newspaper was preparing to celebrate its fifth anniversary. The article in question was discussing the allegations that Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK who was imprisoned in 1999, was being poisoned.

Ironically, so Öner, he was sent the notification of trial just as he was watching Prime Minister Erdogan talk at the International Press Institute 56th General Assembly in Istanbul.

Öner spoke of the difficulties that the "alternative" media faced in the light of monopoly and state control in the media, mentioning the murder of "objectionable" journalists, the closure of magazines and newspapers, and the obstruction of information. He called on everyone to support independent media organisations.

His monthly newspaper features commentaries on current affairs as well as Dersim history and culture. Every three months, there is a cultural supplement in Turkish, Zaza and Kirmanc. (EÖ/EÜ/AG)