Inevitably the justice system finally caught up with Yagmurdereli again. He was convicted of encouraging separatism and sentenced to a year in prison, plus the nearly 22 years remaining on his previous life sentence. He had served just three weeks when the Government bowed to foreign pressure earlier this month and suspended his sentence for one year, a highly unusual if not unique maneuver. Turkish rightists were furious. The government is showing its weakness by releasing him.
Turkey is in a unique position among the world's human rights violators.
In many ways it is a free and open society. It considers itself pro-Western and is a valued member of the NATO alliance. Precisely these aspects of Turkish society encourage writers, politicians, and journalists to challenge the state in ways that would be unthinkable in Iran or Iraq, Burma or Belarus, Cuba or Kenya, Syria or Sudan. But in doing so, they confront a power structure that fears that open discussion of issues like Kurdish identity will encourage separatist terrorism. Like many of Turkey's problems, the human rights dilemma has its roots in the Kurdish southeast.