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| Europe |
| Publisher convicted of insulting Turkey |
| 2008-06-20 |
| The publisher of a book by a British author acknowledging the 1915 Armenian genocide has been convicted under Turkey's notorious Article 301, despite reforms intended to make the law less draconian. A judge sentenced Ragip Zarakolu to five months in prison after ruling that The Truth Will Set Us Free, written by George Jerjian, "insulted the Turkish republic". The conviction came despite a letter of support from the author to the court arguing that his book was intended to forge a "new understanding of history between Turks and Armenians". Translated into Turkish in 2005, Jerjian's book tells the story of the slaughter of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces during the first world war through the eyes of his Armenian grandmother, who survived largely thanks to the protection of a Turkish soldier. Turkey disputes allegations that the Armenians' deaths were a result of deliberate genocide. Zarakolu, who was acquitted of a separate charge of insulting Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern Turkish state, has been freed on appeal. He is not expected to serve time after the judge ruled that his sentence could be reduced to a fine, citing good behaviour. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 Intersting comparison to the US where insulting America is a cottage industry. Or insulting Bush, which seems to be the national pastime, replacing baseball which was just too damn boring, anyway. |
| Posted by: Glomorong the Prolific4657 2008-06-20 13:30 |