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Alert

"Atilim" newspaper closed down five times in 2009

(Antenna-TR/IFEX) - 18 December 2009 - Istanbul's High Criminal Court Number 14 has stopped the publication of the "Atilim" newspaper for one month over an interview with Democratic Society Party (DTP) MP and Co-President Emine Ayna.

The court decision was based on Article 6 of the Anti-Terror Law.

In the interview, Ayna said if the DTP were to be deprived of political channels they would have to resort to "other ways" and the authorities would regret the consequences. Ayna answered the question, "What would you do if the DTP is closed down?" by saying, "Our insistence on the DTP is our insistence on democratic politics. If they deprive us of the democratic process,we will have to move towards other options. They should not leave us hopeless with respect to democratic politics. They could regret the consequences." Ayna's statement saying "they could regret the consequences" was given as the reason for the newspaper's closure.

With this latest closure decision, "Atilim" was shut down a total of five times in 2009. The latest issue of the newspaper was confiscated.

The same court confiscated the "Aydinlik" magazine in December for "making propaganda for the Ergenekon terrorist organisation" and stopped its publication for a month.