Book Publisher Cleared of Propaganda Charges
A man hauled into court for publishing a book by U.S. linguist Noam Chomsky was acquitted of spreading separatist propaganda.
Fatih Tas had faced a one-year sentence for printing “American Interventionism,” a translation of a collection of essays and lectures by Chomsky in which he criticizes Turkey’s human rights record. Propaganda charges often are leveled at writers who criticize Turkey’s treatment of its 12 million ethnic Kurds.
At the hearing, attended by Chomsky, prosecutor Bekif Rayir Aldemir said he “understood that the book did not seek to divide the Turkish nation” and accepted the defense’s demand for an acquittal.
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