The Constitutional Court (AYM) has issued a significant verdict regarding the application of ‘Assassination of Admirals Case’ defendant Mehmet Orhan Yücel based on the claim that his right to protect his honour and dignity was violated.
The news related to the case asserted the personnel of Naval Forces Command were planning to assassinate the Naval Commander of the time and that Yücel’s name was included as the person who will transfer the details and the dates regarding the operation. Yücel filed a lawsuit due to the news with the allegation that his personal rights are damaged and even though the court sentenced 10 thousand TL moral indemnity to be paid to Yücel, the Court of Cassation reversed the sentence with the reason that the information included in the news take place in the Ergenekon indictment as well, that there is public interest in the content’s publication due to the context being related to a real and current issue, as well as that the text did not include any comment that may attack Yücel’s personal rights.
Yücel then made an individual application against the reversal at the Constitutional Court, the court denied the application due to “lack of basis.” Reminding the provision of the Press Law, which starts with “Press is free,” the Constitutional Court stated, “The courts can not define how the profession of journalism must be performed and the technique in which journalists report their news. For only those who express the opinions are to decide with which best method the opinion is to be expressed. In this context, the Article 26 of the Constitution not only protects the content of the expressed opinions and news, but also the methods in which they are expressed.”
02.05.2018
birgun.net