Prime Minister Racep Tayyip Erdoğan TC Basbaskanlik Ankara Turkey Fax: +90 312 417 0476
Cemil Cicek Minister of Justice TC Adalet Bakanligi Ankara Turkey Fax: + 90 312 417 3954
Copenhagen, 06 December 2005
Your Excellencies, We, the undersigned artists, members of Freemuse, The World Forum on Music & Censorship, are writing to express our concern over the forthcoming trial against our Turkish colleague, Mr. Ferhat Tunç.
We understand that Ferhat Tunç will be tried on December 28th, 2005, under article 159 of the [former] Turkish Penal Code because he used the phrase “deep judiciary” in an article he wrote to the daily GÜNDEM in 2004.
We are deeply worried about the continuous harassment of our colleague Ferhat Tunç by Turkish Authorities.
We also want to express regret that Turkey continues censoring and prosecuting its artists during a time when Turkey’s Human Rights and Free Expression records are under international scrutiny. We respectfully request immediate dismissal of the case against Mr. Ferhat Tunç.
We also request a review of Turkish legislation, with the aim of removing any remaining laws that can lead to the imprisonment of artists for practicing their right to free expression.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely
Salman Ahmad, musician, Pakistan/USA Joelle Khoury, musician, Lebanon Marcel Khalife, musician, Lebanon/France Nagam Cultural Project Mark LeVine, musician, USA Reda Zine, musician, France Khaled Al Shaykh, musician, Bahrain Marie Korpe, Executive Director, Freemuse |
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