Oran and Kaboğlu Acquitted

Good news for a change . . .

From Today's Zaman: The Supreme Court of Appeals' Penal General Council (YCGK) has released its reasons for acquitting two professors of charges of "inciting hatred and animosity" through a report on minority rights.

The reasoning, which was made public yesterday, said the report prepared by professors Baskın Oran and İbrahim Kaboğlu "clearly contains scientific information" and offers solutions and criticisms "within the boundaries of freedom of speech." The decision relates to a case that has been going on for years since the publication of their report on minorities by the prime ministerial Human Rights Advisory Board (BİHB) in November 2004.
Oran and Kaboğlu, who worked voluntarily for the BİHB, said in the report that religious minorities in Turkey were barred from careers in state institutions and maintained that legal restrictions on minority languages violate the country's commitments under the 1923 Lausanne Treaty.