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Alert

"Nokta" magazine's offices raided, files copied, premises occupied by police for four days, following critical articles about military

(BIANET/IFEX) - Weekly news magazine "Nokta"'s editor-in-chief Alper Görmüs said on 16 April 2007 that the publishing policy of his magazine will not change despite harassment by security forces and the judiciary following critical articles about the Turkish military.

On 13 April the magazine's offices were raided by some 50 police officers, who left on 16 April after finishing their examinations of computers belonging to the magazine's staff.

The editorial staff had to work in the presence of police officers on the new issue scheduled for release on April 19. The police were acting on a warrant from the Bakirköy Prosecutor's Office to examine and copy every single document on the desktop and laptop computers in the building.

Görmüs said the police raid did not discourage the staff. "We will continue to expose secrets" he said.

He added that the magazine's lawyers will be going to court over the raid on the building, but that the security force had not mistreated staff.

He also expressed resentment toward the leaders of the major political parties for not even calling the magazine to inquire about the raid or express support, but said he was pleased with other media outlets for being supportive of the news weekly at the time of the incident.

The editor-in-chief added that the raid also involved the violation of the privacy of the editorial staff, as personal e-mails and other documents on the computers were also copied by the police. He noted that legal experts were saying they could take the case to the European Court of Human Rights, which would most probably result in the Turkish authorities being ordered to pay hefty compensation to the magazine.