Turkey Prosecutes More Writers, Jeopardizing EU Bid

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Turkey Prosecutes More Writers, Jeopardizing EU Bid

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Five of Turkey's best-known columnists went on trial at an Istanbul court today, in a freedom-of-speech case that threatens to derail the country's bid to join the European Union.

Hasan Cemal of the Milliyet newspaper and Ismet Berkan, Murat Belge, Haluk Sahin and Erol Katircioglu of the daily Radikal face up to 10 years in prison. They criticized a judge for halting a September conference to discuss Armenian claims of genocide by Ottoman Turks in 1915.

``These curbs are unacceptable if Turkey wants to prove that it's democratic,'' said Oktay Eksi, head of the Turkish Press Council, in an interview on Feb. 2. ``We will continue to fight these restrictions until we, or the EU, persuade the government to abolish them.''

European Union officials say Turkey must conform to Western norms of free expression so as not to jeopardize membership talks that started on Oct. 3. Turkey last month dropped charges against prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, who had questioned Turkey's role in the killing of more than 1 million Armenians nine decades ago.

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