23-year-old Safiye İnci, who was taken into custody due to insulting Atatürk in the video she recorded to send to a friend, was arrested due to ‘violating the Law Concerning Crimes Committed Against Atatürk No. 5816.’
“I am so ashamed of being [at Anıtkabir]. I only came because they insisted a lot. I don’t like Atatürk a single bit. Atatürk didn’t save Turkey. You know how there are people who don’t like Tayyip [Erdoğan] but like Atatürk… Atatürk can’t be the shit of Tayyip,” İnci says in the video.
The law states that “a person who insults or denigrates the memory of Atatürk will be imprisoned from one year up to three years.” The Law No. 5816 is another legal obstacles in criminal law against freedom of expression, just like Turkish Penal Code (TCK) Articles 299 and 301, which could be described to be regulating “crimes committed against the government.” Debatable notions like “insult,” “incitement,” “hostility,” “provocation” and “respect” being regulated with penal sanctions restricting freedom ultimately results with the restriction of freedom of expression.
Even when the sole existence of “the crime of insult” within criminal law is on debate (The European Court of Human Rights even finds penalty fines disproportionate), the sanction to arrest the suspect during investigation/proceeding is an issue in itself. The European Court of Human Rights have issued precedent decrees on violations of freedom of expression related to the Law No. 5816 as well.
23.07.2018
bbc.com/dusun-think.net