On 2 October 2007 I went to Izmir in Turkey and joined a small delegation, which had flown in to observe a trial against the popular singer and composer, Ferhat Tunç.
The courtroom was completely packed and the front row was occupied by ten armed police officers. Initially Tunç was up for three years of prison, according to the prosecution authority. His only crime was to have expressed his compassion with dead soldiers on both sides of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict during a concert, which has cost the lives of 34,000 people. Tunç and his lawyers called the case “a disgrace” and that the prosecution “lacked proof”. After an hour the prosecutor very surprisingly chose to withdraw the charges against Tunç, leading to his acquittal.
I was and still am very delighted with the good result of the court case. A lot of attention helped. Our small delegation was comprised of the Danish folk singer and entertainer Niels Hausgaard, secretary general Poul-Henrik Jensen from the Danish Society for Jazz, Rock and Folk Composers (DJBFA), and Ole Reitov from Freemuse. There was also a representative from the European Commission’s office in Ankara, who wanted to pursue the case. They follow 140 other cases, some of which are about the violation of Turkish artists’ rights to freedom of expression as well. It helps to have a representative of the Commission present.
When we went to Izmir we had not imagined that Ferhat Tunç could participate in the massively attended press conference directly after the trial. But he could, and afterwards I could hand over to him my “Play Danish” prize from DJBFA. They awarded the prize to me earlier in 2007 — not for singing and playing — but for my continuous support for composer rights in the EU. Around 1400 euro also came with a statuette and after having consulted DJBFA and Freemuse, I decided to hand over the money to a composer in need or in prison.
The choice was obvious — Ferhat Tunç, as our Turkish and Kurd sources confirmed that he had no connections with the PKK, but continues to be targeted and harassed by Turkish authorities. Freedom of speech is one of the fundamental freedoms in the Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, which Turkey has joined and is therefore obliged to follow. It is also a condition for EU membership. This membership moved closer with Ferhat Tunç’s acquittal.
|
|
|
