Sub-sub-series 30 - Gurbetelli Ersöz and others (Özgür Gündem)

3 files

Materials pertaining to the case filed by Gurbetelli Ersöz, Fahri Ferda Çetin, and Yaşar Kaya, and by Ülkem Basın ve Yayıncılık Sanayı Ticaret Ltd, a company having its head office in Istanbul, on 9 December 1993 against the Republic of Turkey with the European Commission of Human Rights (application number 23144/93, referred to internally within the Kurdish Litigation Project as Cases 39 and 40 and assigned to Bill Bowring as lead). The first two applicants were, respectively, the editor-in-chief and the assistant editor-in-chief of the newspaper Özgür Gündem of which the third and fourth applicants were the owners. The Commission later decided not to pursue the examination of the application in so far as it concerned Ersöz since she had died in autumn 1997.
Özgür Gündem (Turkish for "Free Agenda") was an Istanbul-based daily Turkish language newspaper, mainly read by Kurds. It was a Turkish-language publication with an estimated national circulation of up to 45,000 copies and a further unspecified international circulation. It incorporated its predecessor, the weekly publication Yeni Ülke, which was published between 1990 and 1992. Özgür Gündem was published from 30 May 1992 until April 1994. It was succeeded by another newspaper, Özgür Ülke (since April 1994, the publication continued under different names until Özgür Gündem was relaunched in 2011). The newspaper was known for its extensive reporting on the Kurdish-Turkish conflict and was regularly accused of making propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Its editors and staff were frequently arrested and prosecuted, which resulted in multiple publication bans. The case concerns the allegations of the applicants that Özgür Gündem was the subject of serious attacks and harassment which forced its eventual closure and for which the Turkish authorities are directly or indirectly responsible.
The following incidents are not contested.
Seven persons connected with Özgür Gündem were killed in circumstances originally regarded as killings by “unknown perpetrators”: (1) Yahya Orhan, a journalist shot dead on 31 July 1992; (2) Hüseyin Deniz, a staff member of Özgür Gündem, shot dead on 8 August 1992; (3) Musa Anter, a regular columnist for Özgür Gündem, shot dead on 20 September 1992; (4) Hafız Akdemir, a staff member of Özgür Gündem, shot dead on 8 June 1992; (5) Kemal Kılıç, the Şanlıurfa representative of Özgür Gündem, shot dead on 18 February 1993 (see A44/43/1/41); (6) Cengiz Altun, a reporter for Yeni Ülke, shot dead on 24 February 1992; (7) Ferhat Tepe, the Bitlis correspondent for Özgür Gündem, abducted on 28 July 1993 and found dead on 4 August 1993. The following attacks occurred: (1) on 16 November 1992 an arson attack on the news-stand of Kadir Saka in Diyarbakır; (2) an armed attack on Eşref Yaşa, also a newsagent, on 15 January 1993 in Diyarbakır; (3) an armed attack on the newsagent Haşim Yaşa on 15 June 1993 in Diyarbakır (this incident and that concerning the attack on Eşref Yaşa were the subject of an application under the Convention – see A44/43/1/60); (4) on 26 September 1993 Mehmet Balamir, a newspaper boy, was attacked with a knife in Diyarbakır as he was selling Özgür Gündem; (5) in 1993, in Ergani, boys selling the newspaper were attacked by a person with a knife; (6) an arson attack on a newsagent's in Mazidagı; (7) in Bingöl, on 17 November 1992 the car of a newsagent was destroyed by fire; (8) in Yüksekova, in October 1993, a bomb explosion damaged a newsagent's; (9) a bomb exploded at the Istanbul office of the newspaper's successor Özgür Ülke on 2 December 1994, killing one employee and injuring eighteen others.
The applicants also listed a large number of other incidents (arson attacks, attacks and threats on newsagents, distributors and newspaper boys) which the Government stated either did not occur or concerning which they stated that they had received no information or complaint. They also referred to the disappearance of the journalist Aysel Malkaç on 7 August 1993 and to the detention and ill-treatment of many journalists, one of whom, Salih Tekin, was found, upon his application to Strasbourg, to have been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment while in custody (see A44/43/1/54).
On 10 December 1993 the police conducted a search of the Özgür Gündem office in Istanbul. During the operation, they took into custody those present in the building (107 persons, including the applicants Gurbetelli Ersöz and Fahri Ferda Çetin) and seized all the documents and archives. In an indictment dated 5 April 1994, charges were brought against the editor Gurbetelli Ersöz, Fahri Ferda Çetin, Yaşar Kaya, themanager Ali Rıza Halis and six others, alleging that they were members of the PKK, had assisted the PKK and made propaganda in its favour. The Government have stated that Gurbetelli Ersöz and Ali Rıza Halis were convicted of aiding and abetting the PKK, by judgment of the Istanbul National Security Court no. 5 on 12 December 1996. Gurbetelli Ersöz had previously been convicted of involvement with the PKK in or about the end of December 1990 and had been released from prison in 1992.
On 16 March 2000, the European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but not of Article 14. The Government were ordered to pay Ülkem Basın ve Yayıncılık Sanayı Ticaret Ltd 9,000,000,000 Turkish lira, was ordered to pay Çetin and Kaya £5,000 sterling each in non-pecuniary damages, and was ordered to pay the applicants £16,000 sterling in costs and expenses (less 9,195 French francs received in legal aid).
The full judgment is available for viewing at https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-58508