IV. FOUR CASE STUDIES
4. Ismail Besikci, Sociologist

The case of sociologist Ismail Besikci is a tragic example of how limits to freedom of expression in Turkey affect social scientists. During his military service in the early 1960s, Besikci spent time in North Kurdistan where he developed an interest in the culture of the Kurdish people. He later became a researcher at Erzurum Ataturk University where he completed his doctoral dissertation, Social Change in Kurdish Tribes in Eastern Anatolia, in 1967. The publication of his dissertation in 1969 resulted in the loss of his position at the university and landed him nearly fourteen years in prison in 1972.^[47]  Although he was released two years later as a result of a general amnesty, he was not readmitted to the university and was subsequently re-arrested in 1979. Since that time, Besikci has pursued his research independently and has been repeatedly charged for the publication of his studies. Among his crimes is his criticism of the obstacles placed on science by state ideology, referring to the inability of scientists to study Kurdish issues. In an introduction to one of Besicki's books, Lale Yalcin writes:

Besikci's studies of Kurds inevitably led him to consider questions of ideology, and his latest works have focused on epistemological questions...official ideology presents this ethnic group as a Turkic people. To Besikci this falsified history can only distort the totality of scientific inquiry in Turkey and impede the strengthening of the democratic process.^[48] 

Besikci's legal conflicts at the commencement of his career set the pattern for a litany of prosecutions that continue to this day. Besikci has been charged under Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law, Article 142, dissemination of separatist propaganda, the Law to Protect Ataturk, No. 5816, discrediting Turkey's image abroad, and insulting the Turkish General National Assembly, the government, the ministries, and the state security forces.

Ismail Besikci pleads his case in court

At the time of writing this report, Turkish authorities had launched at least thirty-seven trials against Besikci in connection with almost all of his books and articles. These have resulted in a total sentence of seventy-six years and nine months in prison for Ismail Besikci. He has been fined 6,682,332,000TL (US$33,475). As of November 1995, the Supreme Court of Turkey had ratified thirty-five years and seven months of his prison sentence, as well as 2,226,660,000TL (US$11,154) in fines.^[49]  According to Besikci's lawyer, his pending cases and unpaid fines could amount to more than 100 years in prison.^[50]  He has been held in Ankara closed prison since 13 November 1993. The author requested permission to meet with Besikci during a 1996 mission; however, Turkish officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the request on the grounds that "Besikci has become a celebrity, and it would be unfair to the other prisoners to grant him the visit."^[51] 

The extraordinary sentences Besikci has accumulated are possible because he is often convicted several times for the material contained in one book. For example, in 1991 Besikci was arrested under the Anti-Terror Law in connection with a publication on the forced resettlement of the Kurds, although he had already served a prison sentence for the same book under Article 142 of the Turkish Penal Code.^[52]  These sentences are accumulated despite Turkish law indicating that he should only be given the maximum sentence for each offence.^[53]  In addition, he has been retried for books that have been republished and for which he has previously been acquitted. According to Turkish law, he should not be prosecuted twice for the same book.^[54]  He also was charged for publishing a compilation of the speeches given during his trial proceedings.

In 1979, Besikci was arrested for a series of three books that he wrote on Kurdish and Turkish history and sociology. He was released in 1981, but only for two months. He was re-arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison for discrediting Turkey's image abroad as a result of a letter that he wrote to the President of the Swiss Writers Union. In the letter Besikci complained that:

official ideology in Turkey obstinately continues to deny the existence of Kurdish people and a Kurdish language...An official ideology [denying the existence of the Kurdish people] has been imposed on universities, legal institutions, political parties, the press and media...For example, Turkish universities which follow the official ideology give up scientific truth and deny the reality of the Kurdish nation.^[55] 

Material published in the following five books: Kürt Toplümu Üzerine (On the Kurdish Society); Bir Aydin, Bir Örgüt ve Kürt Sorunu (An Intellectual, An Organization, and the Kurdish Problem); Bilimsel Yöntem ve Üniversite Özerkiligi Yönünden Ismail Besikci Davasi (The Ismail Besikci Case with Respect to the Scientific Method and the University Autonomy); Bilincin Yükselisi (Rise of the Conscious); Ismail Besikci Davisa 4/Yargitay'a Basvuru (The Ismail Besikci Trial-4/Appeal to the Supreme Court); and a speech made on 24 November 1995 have resulted in a sentence of twelve years and 1,500,000,000TL (US$8,176). ^[56]  The sentence was commuted to six years in prison and 600,000,000TL (US$3,270) following his retrial under the amended version of Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law.

The book An Intellectual, An Organization, and the Kurdish Problem, resulted in a sixteen-month prison sentence on 10 April 1996 under the Law to Protect Ataturk, Number 5816. The prosecutor alleged that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was insulted. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence. Besikci has also been charged with the dissemination of propaganda and insulting the Turkish General National Assembly, the government, the ministries, and the state security forces.

On 27 December 1995, he was sentenced to one year in prison and fined for an article published in August 1993 in the human rights bulletin of the Turkish Human Rights Association. This was the second time that he was tried for the article in question. In the previous trial, which ended on 5 May 1994, he was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 250,200,000TL (US$1,363). This verdict was overturned by the Supreme Court on 28 December 1994 on the grounds that the sentence was too heavy. He was then reprosecuted and sentenced to two years in prison and fined 250,000,000TL (US$1,362). The new sentence was overturned upon the amendment of Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law.

The Ankara State Security Court sentenced Besikci to four years and four months in prison and fined him 433,000,000TL (US$2,360) on 27 December 1994 in connection with fifteen books. Besikci had already been sentenced to four years and eight months in prison on 1 July 1993; however, the Supreme Court deemed the sentence "insufficient." He was therefore retried and sentenced to ten years and four months in prison and fined 416,000,000TL (US$2,267) on 30 June 1994. The decision was overturned after Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law was amended.

Besikci's book Kirletilen Kavramlar, Bilim-Esitlik-Adalet (Polluted Concepts, Science-Equality-Justice) landed him one year and four months in prison and a fine of 133,333,000TL (US$667) under Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law on 13 March 1996, which was handed down by the Ankara State Security Court. The sentence was not suspended because the court concluded that the defendant would continue to commit crimes.

On 21 June 1996, he was sentenced by the Istanbul State Security Court to one year, three months, and sixteen days in prison and fined 129,000,000TL (US$646) under the Anti-Terror Law in connection with an article published in 1994 in the now banned newspaper Özgür Ülke.

He was sentenced to one year and four months in prison and fined 133,133,000TL (US$666) by the Istanbul State Security Court on 27 June 1996 under Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law in connection with his book, Kendini Kesfeden Ulus: Kürtler (The Nation Which Discovered Itself: the Kurds). The sentence previously passed against him based on this book had been overturned when he was retried as a result of the amendment to Article 8.

The State Security Court sentenced Besikci to one year in prison and 145,000,000TL (US$726) on 8 July 1996 under amended Article 8 for another book Islevsizlesen Yasaklar: Düsünce Yasaklari-Dolandiricilik Yasaklari (Prohibitions that Became Ineffective). He had previously been sentenced to two years in prison and fined 550,000,000TL (US$2,998) for this book.

On 18 July 1996, a commuted sentence of one year and a 100,000,000TL (US$545) resulting from the amendment of Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law, which was handed down for a speech Besikci had given, was overturned by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also declared that he should be retried under the amended Article 8 for charges stemming from his article "Terör Örgütü PKK," published in 1993 by the newspaper Özgür Gündem.

One year and 100,000,000TL (US$570) were added to Besikci's lengthy prison sentence on 8 October 1997 for his contribution to the book A Panorama of Human Rights in Turkey, which was published by the Turkish Human Rights Association.

The prosecution, imprisonment, ill-treatment, and levying of fines against Ismail Besikci, and his dismissal from Erzurum Ataturk University for publishing his scientific studies on the southeast of Turkey and the peaceful expression of his views constitute serious violations of academic freedom and fundamental human rights. The government's actions also infringe on his right to carry out his professional sociological studies.

Besikci's prosecution for exercising his right to freedom of expression conflicts with Turkey's obligations to recognize the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; the right to freedom of expression; and the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of association as delineated by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Turkey is bound by international law to guarantee these rights and to respect the basic principles of human rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.