At the opening address a proclamation was read signed by 9 international and 22 national institutions from 5 continents.
Then for International PEN Eugene Schoulgin, writer, Vice President; for IPA publisher William Nygaard; for Human Rights Watch, Emma Sinclair Webb, reporter on Turkey, and for Amnesty International, Andrew Gardner, reporter on Turkey addressed their opening speeches. (Texts will be placed at our site as they are translated. Those that are ready can be found at: http://www.antenna-tr.org/sites.aspx?SiteID=43&mod=article&cID=1073&ID=4284
During the full day meeting, presented by Çağlar Çabuk, four forums on different aspects of freedom of expression took part.
Lawyer Hüsnü Öndül, representative of IHOP (Human Rights Jouint Platform) was the moderator at Freedom of Expression in Turkey forum where Mazlumder (Association for Solidarity with Oppressed People) Gen. Sec. Üstün Bol, İHD (Human Rights Association) Board member Gülseren Yoleri, and TİHV (Human Rights Foundation of Turkey) representative Coşkun Üsterci were the participants.
Nadire Mater, founder of Bianet was moderator at Freedom of Expression in the Media forum whereTurkey Journalists Guild president Orhan Erinç and Turkey Journalists Union President Ercan İpekçi were participants while Star Newspaper Editor in Chief Mehmet Ocaktan’s seat stayed unoccupied.
The third forum, Freedom of Expression in Arts, Literature and Publishings, moderator was Turkey Publishers Guild representative Hayri Erdoğan where Orhan Alkaya (İstanbul City Theatre former Art Director), lawyer Sabri Kuşkonmaz (Gen. Sec. of Turkey PEN Center), Cemal Uşak (Journalists and Writers Fund vice pres.) spoke.
The fourth forum, Freedom of Expression During the Drafting Process and in the Constitution, moderator was Prof. Dr. Turgut Tarhanlı (Bilgi University). Participants were lawyer Hüsnü Tuna (Barristers Asso. former president, 23rd term Konya MP), Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz (Bilgi University), and lawyer Fikret İlkiz (İstanbul Bar)
Before each forum videos of the general view on the subject were projected, and witnesses came to microphone to testify on their experience. İsmail Cem Halavurt (Hrant Dink case), Gülten Aslan (Mor Çatı/Purple Roof , violence on women), Esmeray (LGBT issues), Nedim Şener (his book), Mahmut Alınak (his articles/daughter Belga Alınak), Evrim Kepenek (Gündem/Azadiya Welat/DİHA-supression of the Kurdish media), Ahmet Şık (his banned book titled İmam’ın Ordusu), Ragıp Zarakolu (KCK defendant, publisher), Pınar Aydınlar (her folk song interpretations), lawyer Davut Erkan (Consciencious Objector), Abdullah Demirbaş ( Mayor of Sur district of Diyarbakır, mother tongue), Pınar Selek (Justice!?).
The panorama painted by the speakers’ and lawyers’ testimonies justifies the concerns voiced by the international declaration: freedom of expression is still being violated unfortunately, by a Prime Minister who had been a victim of freedom of expression violation himself in the past and whose freedom of expression rights were supported by most of those he has victimized today by his direct orders or filing cases personally.
Then came the international connections. First Halid El-Hammadi, whom we have hosted by PEN Norway backing, talked about the situation in Yemen and conveyed the anticipation for international solidarity and support.Later the visual conference calls on line started.
Prof. Noam Chomsky, author Paul Auster; Nobel Prize winner, Australian writer of South African origins John Coetzee; British writer, film producer, and activist of Pakistani origins Tarık Ali; Mexican journalist-writer living under death threats for fighting against the drug cartels, Lydia Cacho; IFEX, International Freedom of Expression Exchange network, CEO Annie Game, another Freedom of Expression institution Article 19 representative Nathalie Losekoot and Freedom House representative Karin D. Karlekar visually were with us. Mostly live at the moment but for those who were unable to connect successfully we used the recorded practice runs, thus their messages reached the audience.
Gathering was also transmitted live on the website of “Güvercinler Meclisi/Pigeons Parliament and viewed by over 1.700 people.
http://www.livestream.com/ist_gmtv?utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=footerlinks
The 9th İstanbul Gathering for the Freedom of Expression will be held on 24-25 of May 2014. We are once again proposing the hosting to be done by the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul, the elected authority of the city, not from time to time, not conditionally, but permanently.
http://www.antenna-tr.org/sites.aspx?SiteID=43&mod=news&ID=4265