Reuters Correspondent Acquitted p.15

By: Shawn Olson

Faced charges in Turkey based on information in her stories sp.

A TURKISH STATE security court in Istanbul, on Nov. 9, acquitted a Reuters correspondent Aliza Marcus on charges of inciting racial hatred in her reporting ? under Article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code. She was to face three years in prison if convicted.
The charges against Marcus, a New Jersey native, were based on a 1994 article she wrote about Turkish military operations against rebel Kurds in southeast Turkey. The article was published in a Turkish newspaper.
"We are delighted with the outcome, which is a complete vindication for Aliza Marcus personally and endorses Reuters' reputation for editorial independence and accuracy," said Reuters Editor in Chief Mark Wood.
Marcus said she was very happy with the court's decision and now she could "just concentrate on work."
"The psychological pressure of being on trial was tremendous," she added. "I didn't realize how much stress I was under."
The charges against Marcus originated when the Turkish government was looking for evidence in a case it was pursuing against the pro-Kurdish newspaper, Ozgur Ulke, a Reuters subscriber. The security court found an article with Marcus' byline, published in November 1994, which described the Turkish army's tactics of burning evacuating Kurdish villages as part of an overall military campaign to quell the 11-year Kurdish rebellion.
Charges were filed against Marcus in July and authorities did not notify her of the charges until September.
The prosecution asked for an acquittal of Marcus based on what it called insufficient evidence with no intent to commit a crime. However, it is believed that the publicity surrounding the case prompted the Turkish government's decision to stop pursuing the case.
In a letter to Turkish and U.S. government agencies dated Sept. 21, Committee to Protect Journalists' executive director William Orme protested the charges against Marcus. Walter Cronkite, honorary chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists, also intervened on the correspondent's behalf when he met personally in Ankara with Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller.
In his meeting with Ciller, Cronkite told her, "Turkey's international image as a democratic nation will be badly battered if the prosecution of Ms. Marcus moves forward."
Several U.S. congressmen, including Senator Bill Bradley (D.-N.J.), Senator Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) and Representative Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), also signed a letter protesting the charges. The letter was drafted by Mike Amitay, staff advisor for the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, an independent agency, which monitors implementation of the Helsinki Principles.
The acquittal coincided with the recent amendment to Article 8, Turkey's anti-terrorist law which makes it illegal to insult the prophet Mohammed and to spread separatist propaganda. Over the last four years, Article 8 has been used to shut down and prosecute Kurdish and left-wing publications.
The recent amendment and release of prisoners charged under Article 8 was described by Amitay as "pure politics." The moves were done, Amitay declared, to secure an upcoming customs union vote with the European Union. (The customs union would make Europe's markets more accessible to Turkey by reducing import taxes and restrictions.)
Reading from a statement reacting to Turkey's reforms, Amitay said, "Given the high priority Turkish political leaders have placed on entry into the European Customs Union, recent reforms and release of prisoners convicted under Article 8 reflect more of a commitment to good public relations than to newfound principles of democracy." Amitay said the new, amended version of Article 8, where intent must be proven by prosecutors, was already being used by Turkish prosecutors for arrests.