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.