(New York, September 27, 2000)
On Friday, September 29, a Human Rights Watch representative will attend the final hearing of a Turkish journalist accused of "insulting the military." Journalist Nadire Mater and her publisher, Semih Sökmen, are being tried at Beyoglu Criminal Court No. 2 for insulting the military under Article 159 of the Turkish Criminal Code.
"What I wanted deep in my heart was to give a voice to those men of flesh and blood who had become involved in the conflict without their own consent, so that they can be heard by the public and their perspective on the conflict can be understood."
Nadire Mater
Turkish journalist
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In "Mehmet's Book," Nadire Mater collected interviews with veterans of the conflict in southeast Turkey. Nadire Mater has given a dignified and human voice to that generation of conscripts in a series of forty-two interviews; the public prosecutor is now requesting her imprisonment for twelve years.
"What I wanted deep in my heart was to give a voice to those men of flesh and blood who had become involved in the conflict without their own consent, so that they can be heard by the public and their perspective on the conflict can be understood," said Nadire Mater in her introduction to "Mehmet's Book."
James Ron, an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University, will be traveling to Istanbul as Human Rights Watch's representative to observe what is expected to be the final hearing in the trial on September 29, 2000. James Ron has researched and published on the sociology of the military and other political issues in the Balkans, Israel, Congo-Brazzaville and Turkey. He has also researched war crimes in a number of regions, including Chechnya and Kosovo.
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