Bebidas hidratantes.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) handed down a monetary fine to Turkey on the grounds of illegal restrictions of freedom of expression. The case was based on the application of executives of five weekly magazines. Erdal Ölmez and Ali Turgay, owners of the magazines Özgür Yorum, Haftaya Bakış, Yedinci Gün, Politika and Ayrıntı, had opened the case at the international court. On 5 October, the ECHR announced their verdict for a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights on

"Freedom of Expression".

The ECHR sentenced Turkey regarding the case of Nur Radio TV on the grounds of a restriction of freedom of speech. Nur Radio TV had applied to the Strasbourg-based court because the Radio Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) had revoked the company's publication licence on the grounds of pro-Islamic publications. The ECHR declared, "The decision to revoke the broadcasting licence had been taken by the RTÜK on account of the repetition of the offences of which the applicant company was accused: in

particular, after being banned temporarily for six offences, it was found to have committed a further offence by broadcasting its programme of 19 November 2001".

On 14 September, the ECHR convicted Turkey of a violation of the right to life, the right to an effective remedy and freedom of expression in the scope of the trial on the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Dink, then editor-in-chief of the Armenian Agos newspaper, was killed in front of his office on 19 January 2007. Turkey was sentenced to a monetary fine of € 133,595 in total. The ECHR furthermore decided for a violation of freedom of expression regarding Dink's conviction under article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCY), which bans "insults" to the Turkish state.

The ECHR convicted Turkey of an illegal restriction of freedom of expression on the grounds of the trials held against Aylin Güzel, owner and editor-in-chief of the Maya magazine, and Aziz Özer, chief editor of the Yeni Dünya için Çağrı magazine ('Call for a new world'). The decision was announced on 6 July. The ECHR unanimously decided for a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights on Freedom of Expression. Turkey has to pay a total of € 2,170 and another € 3,120 in compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage to applicants Gözel and Özer, respectively. In February 2003, the Maya magazine published an article entitled "Imminent war in Middle East threatens Turkish Bourgeoisie!". It contained a statement by an executive of the illegal Marxist-Leninist/Turkish Communist Party

(TKP/ML), concerning hunger strikes by prisoners of F type prisoners. Gözel was acquitted of charges of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization" but she was sentenced to a monetary fine on the grounds of publishing a statement of an illegal organization. Aziz Özer was sentenced to a monetary fine under the Anti-Terror Law. The publication of the magazine was suspended for two weeks on the grounds of having "undermined the national security".

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu finds it disturbing that Turkey, taking the lead in terms of reforms in the European Council, comes up frequently on the agenda of the ECHR. "Freedom of expression is a matter of principle. I cannot reconcile with making a defence. Many of the cases have been pending for ten years. These are violations caused by the conditions of 28 February [the military memorandum issued by the Turkish Military Leadership in 1997]... A defence must not be made", Davutoğlu stated.

The case opened by Abdurrahman Dilipak against the file related to the complaint of Güven Erkaya has reached its final state. Erkaya had opened a trial against Dilipak because his house was exempt from seizure after the journalist had been convicted to a heavy monetary fine on the grounds of his article entitled "If the pasha does not listen to reason". Dilipak is still negotiating with Erkaya to reach an amicable agreement while the pronouncement of judgement concerning the trials against Hurşit Tolon and İlgaz Zorlu are expected soon.

On 2 June, the ECHR decreed for the payment of € 17,000 (approx. TL 32,300) in compensation for politician Abdulkerim Bingöl. Bingöl had been sentenced to imprisonment under charges of "inciting the public to hatred and hostility" on the grounds of a speech he delivered at the Democratic People Party (DEHAP) congress. The State Security Court (DGM) had sentenced Bingöl to imprisonment of one year and six months according to the former Article 312 of the Turkish Criminal Law. The politician had quit his duty as a Muslim prayer leader in order to become a DEHAP candidate in the elections. He had previously served a prison sentence of seven months because of his thoughts he expressed on the Kurdish question on 28 February 2003. The ECHR unanimously decided for an illegal restriction of Bingöl's right to freedom of expression.

On 12 June, the ECHR sentenced Turkey to a monetary fine of € 22,600 (TL 44,000) in compensation because of the one-month publication suspension imposed on the two pro-Kurdish weekly newspapers Yedinci Gün ('Seventh Day') and Toplumsal Demokrasi ('Social Democracy'). 12 Turkish press professionals had applied to the ECHR, namely the owners, executive directors, editors-in-chief, news directors and journalists of the two weekly newspapers. In the 15 June hearing, the ECHR decreed that there had been a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights concerned with freedom of expression. The ECHR criticized the domestic courts, which "restricted the essential role of the press as a public watchdog in a democratic society". The publication of Yedinci Gün and Toplumsal

Demokrasi newspapers was suspended for one month in January 2008. The decisions taken by high criminal courts were based on article 6/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (printing or publishing propaganda for a terrorist organization).

On 8 June, the ECHR decreed for a monetary fine of € 3,000 in compensation for each of the applicants Ercan Gül, Deniz Kahraman, Zehra Delikurt and Erkan Arslanbenzer. The complainants had been arrested in November 1999 under charges of "propaganda for an illegal organization" because they

allegedly shouted slogans in favour of the TKP/ML organization (Turkey Communist Party/Marxist-Leninist). The ECHR found Turkey guilty of violating the right to freedom of expression. The court deemed the sanctions and procedures as "disproportionate" and decided for a monetary fine of € 12,000 in total. On 8 June, The European Court of Human Rights unanimously convicted Turkey of a violation of freedom of expression because of seizing the book "Tarkan, the Star Phenomenon" ('Tarkan, Yıldız Olgusu'). The ECHR decreed for a € 2,000 monetary fine in compensation to be paid to applicant Özcan Sapan, executive of

Chiviyazıları Publishing. Another € 1,000 has to be paid for court expenses, so the total fine for Turkey sums up to € 3,000 (TL 6,000). The book is based on a study into the star phenomenon of the popular Turkish singer Tarkan carried out by Assoc. Prof. Dr N. Aysun Yüksel, member of the Faculty of Communication at the Anatolian University. The study was published by Chiviyazıları Publishing.

On 20 May, the ECHR convicted Turkey of violating freedom of expression in the case of USA citizen Norma Jeane Cox. Cox had applied to the ECHR because she had been banned from re-entering Turkey due to her religious activities. Having worked as a lecturer at Istanbul University and the Middle East Technical University in Ankara during the 1980s, she was expelled and banned from re-entering the country by order of the Ministry of the Interior in 1986 on account of statements she had made before students and

colleagues on Kurdish and Armenian issues. The ECHR decreed for a violation of Article 10 and sentenced Turkey to a monetary fine of € 12,000 in compensation.

On 20 May, the ECHR unanimously decided for a violation of freedom of speech regarding the seizure of Günlük Evrensel newspaper ('Daily Universal'). The newspaper allegedly continued its publication after it had been suspended as the result of a raid. Turkey has to pay a total of € 9,000 (approx. TL 18,000) in compensation to newspaper officials Fevzi Saygılı and Nizamettin Taylan Bilgiç. The Istanbul State Security Court had ruled for a one-month suspension of the Yeni Evrensel ('New Universal') newspaper in November 2000. The publication of the Yeni Evrensel newspaper was suspended on 22 July 2001. The next day, the Günlük Evrensel newspaper started publishing. The police notified the newspaper of the decision to close down the daily on 8 September 2001.

On 16 March, the ECHR sentenced Turkey to a € 1,800 fine in compensation to be paid toAdnan Görkan, distributor of Evrensel ('Universal') newspaper. Görkan had been arrested by the police in June 2004 because of vending copies of the daily in a café. Judges Işıl Karakuş from Turkey and Danutė Jočienė from Lithuania voted against the decision. Görkan was asked for his identity papers by the police while selling copies of Evrensel daily in a café in June 2004. According to Görkan, the newspaper copies were seized by the police and he was taken to the police station. Görkan alleged that his detention in police custody for almost three hours had been arbitrary. The prosecutor declined Görkan's request to take action against the responsible people and decided to discontinue the proceedings. Thereupon, Görkan applied to the ECHR on 25 March 2005.

The Mayor Candidate for the district of Gaziemir (Izmir) Şeyhmuz Seyhan from the defunct DTP, applied to the ECHR because of his eight-month sentence for speaking Kurdish in the run-up to the elections. His sentence had been reduced to six months and the pronouncement of the judgement had been postponed. On 16 February, the ECHR convicted Turkey of a violation of freedom of expression in the context of the book "The Eleven Thousand Rods" ('Les onze mille verges') by French writer Guillaume Apollinaire published in 1907. The book was censored in Turkey and its publisher, Hades Publishing owner Rahmi Akdaş, was convicted by a Turkish court. The ECHR pointed out that the requirements of morals depended on time and place and therefore national authorities were more competent to perceive whether restrictions were necessary. However, in this case it should not be ignored that the work had been initially published more than a century ago. Since Akdaş had not requested compensation, the court refrained from

sentencing Turkey to a compensation fine.

On 8 February, it was reported that Kaos GL applied to the ECHR on the grounds of the seizure of the LGBT organization's magazine issue on the topic of "pornography". The issue had been seized by the government because of a "violation of the public moral". In July 2006, the Ankara 12th Magistrate Criminal Court decided to confiscate the 28th issue of the magazine of the Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (Kaos GL) because it was found to "oppose the public morality". The picture on subject was a picture by artist Taner Ceylan entitled "Taner & Taner".

On 2 February, the ECHR convicted Turkey of a violation of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights and decreed for a monetary fine of €20,000. The violation of the convention was based on the conviction of Esmer Savgın and Kerem Savgın because they had allegedly shouted slogans in favour of the PKK at the Newroz celebrations in 2001.

On 26 January, the ECHR sentenced Turkey to a total fine of € 43,500 in compensation in two cases concerned with one-month bans of five newspapers and the punishment of criticism related to prison operations respectively. The applicants were journalists fromGündem, Yedinci Gün, Haftaya Bakış, Yaşamda Demokasi and Gerçek Demokrasi newspapers and owner and editor-in-chief of the monthly Yeni Dünya İçin Çagrı ('Call for a new world') magazine Aziz Özer. The ECHR once more handed down a sentence referring to article 6/2 last paragraph of the TMY, which provides the possibility to silence newspapers for up to one month. The domestic courts did not leave it with the publication bans. Furthermore, newspaper executives Lütfi Ürper, Ali Turgay, Hüseyin Aykol and Hüseyin Bektaş were facing imprisonment in the trials opened against them. Özer was tried before the Beyoğlu (Istanbul) High Criminal Court for criticizing prison operations carried out in December 2000, leaving almost 30 inmates dead. In the magazine's February issue in 2001, the journalist described the operations as "barbaric

attacks". On 20 February 2001, the Beyoğlu Magistrate Criminal Court seized that month's issue of the magazine. Regarding the full publication ban imposed on the newspapers, the ECHR declared: "This went beyond any necessary restraint and amounted to censorship". Concerning the publications in Özer's magazine about the prison operations, the ECHR indicated that they were "of great interest to public opinion". The court stated that "the limits of permissible criticism are wider with regard to the government than in relation to private citizens".

On 19 January, the lawyers of 53 detainees, among them officials of the closed pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) and Gün TV General Publications Coordinator Ahmet Birsin, applied to the ECHR. The detainees have been kept in prison for a whole year under allegations regarding urban settlements of the Democratic Confederation of Kurdistan (KCK), the umbrella organisation that includes the militant

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).They have not been brought before a judge ever since. Upon the directive of the Diyarbakır Public Chief Prosecutor's Office, former DTP deputy co-chairs Selma Irmak

and Kamuran Yüksek were arrested together with another 51 people on 14 April 2009 in the course of an operation against the PKK organization. They have been detained in the Diyarbakır D Type Prison in the south-eastern Turkey.

The Çağdaş Tuzla newspaper, publishing in Istanbul, decided to apply to ECHR in order to bring former Justice and Development Party (AKP) mayor Mehmet Demirci to justice by reason of the unlawful closure of the newspapers offices. Demirci had the newspaper premises locked up and sealed on 26 September 2006. Owner of Çağdaş Tuzla ('Contemporary Tuzla) newspaper Halil Özen said that they took the decision to approach the ECHR upon the unlawful order of the Tuzla Public Prosecution to drop the case against Demirci. The newspaper was closed under allegations of "unauthorized work in a vacant building" and resumed work upon a referring judicial decision. Issues regarding Demirci's religious perceptions and his implementations in the municipality were broadly discussed in the media in this context.