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Wed, 13 Feb 2002 10:59:01 +0000 |
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South Bank University |
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1817000/1817598.stm
A Turkish publisher who printed political essays
by US academic Noam Chomsky has been
acquitted by a court of producing propaganda
against the unity of the Turkish state.
The author himself had travelled to Istanbul to
lend his support to Fatih Tas, who would have
faced a prison sentence if found guilty.
The book, "American Interventionism", contains
critical references to Turkey's 15-year struggle
with its Kurdish minority, accusing Washington
of supporting human rights abuses committed
by the Turkish Government.
Mr Tas was charged last September. But
correspondents say a conviction would have
been likely to have drawn international
condemnation at a time when Turkey is trying
to push itself closer to European Union
membership.
'Kurd cleansing'
Noam Chomsky, who is professor of linguistics
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
is famous for his attacks on US foreign policy.
In the essay entitled Prospects for Peace in
the Middle East, Professor Chomsky criticises
the United States for supplying weapons to
the Turkish Government, which he says used
them to perpetrate "intensive ethnic cleansing"
against the Kurds.
In 1999, the outlawed Kurdish PKK ended a
15-year armed struggle for self-rule that
claimed some 36,500 lives after the capture
and trial of rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.
"I am here mainly to
express support for the
writers, journalists and
human rights activists
who are willing to take
quite serious risks," he
told the BBC.
Professor Chomsky even said that he was
willing to have his name added to the charge
sheet "if it is a way of trying to protect the
human rights activists and others here, and to
bring the freedom of speech issue and the
Kurdish issue both to public attention".
"[The trial] is an extremely serious attack on
the most basic human rights and civilised
rights. I believe state officials will accept this
and withdraw the charges without delay," he
said in a statement released through the
publishing house before the aquittal.
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