Gül hails scribes’ release, questions Sivas ruling

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Demonstrators in Ankara protest a court ruling to drop the Sivas Massacre case. DHA photo

President Abdullah Gül hailed yesterday the release of four journalists in the OdaTV trial, and said that the deadly 1993 torching of the Madımak Hotel in Sivas must be fully investigated.

“Of course it has pleased us that the journalists were released. The court has contributed greatly to Turkey’s image,” Gül told reporters yesterday.

Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay also expressed satisfaction with the release of the journalists, whose imprisonment last year on charges of involvement in anti-government conspiracies garnered international condemnation. “Turkey has been given a negative and unbecoming image in the international arena. It was a great injustice, given the so many positive steps towards democratization,” he said.

“We are working to expand freedom of thought. Freedom of thought should be fully ensured,” Atalay added.

’Crime against humanity’

In further remarks, Gül also commented on the dropping of charges against seven suspects in the Madımak trial under the statue of limitations. He described the torching, which claimed 35 lives, as “one of the most painful and shameful events in our recent political history” and stressed that the Court of Appeals would review the case. “The incident has yet to be fully uncovered, and light must be shed on to how it happened, who was involved,” he said.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli criticized the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for having failed to speed up the judicial process in the nine years it had been in power.
Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said Turkish law had been amended to exempt crimes against humanity from the statute of limitations, but argued that the changes could not be applied retroactively to the Sivas torching.

President Abdullah Gül hailed yesterday the release of four journalists in the OdaTV trial, and said that the deadly 1993 torching of the Madımak Hotel in Sivas must be fully investigated.

“Of course it has pleased us that the journalists were released. The court has contributed greatly to Turkey’s image,” Gül told reporters yesterday.

Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay also expressed satisfaction with the release of the journalists, whose imprisonment last year on charges of involvement in anti-government conspiracies garnered international condemnation. “Turkey has been given a negative and unbecoming image in the international arena. It was a great injustice, given the so many positive steps towards democratization,” he said. “We are working to expand freedom of thought,” Atalay added.

In further remarks, Gül also commented on the dropping of charges against seven suspects in the Madımak trial under the statue of limitations. He described the torching, which claimed 35 lives, as “one of the most painful and shameful events in our recent political history” and stressed that the Court of Appeals would review the case. “The incident has yet to be fully uncovered, and light must be shed on to how it happened, who was involved,” he said.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli criticized the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for having failed to speed up the judicial process in the nine years it had been in power