5.  The applicant was born in 1955 and was imprisoned in the central prison of Ankara at the time of the introduction of his application. He currently lives in Ankara. 6.  On 31 May 1995 an article titled “The International Atatürk Peace Award” (“Uluslararası Atatürk Barış Ödülü”) was printed by the applicant in the daily Yeni Politika newspaper. On the same day the newspaper was seized by security forces upon the order of the Istanbul public prosecutor at the printing office, before being distributed. 
The impugned article read:
“Peace, just like freedom, is a sacred creation of human consciousness and desire. This treasure deserves constant struggle, sincerity, alertness and solidarity for it. Peace, just like freedom, requires sacrifice and effort.
 It is certain that all peoples of the world understood the value and meaning of keeping peace better after the two world wars whose pain will continue to horrify the human consciousness for centuries. The rise of the anti-war movements, both at the national and international level, is the reflection of this consciousness. In fact, history has proven that for a permanent peace it is essential that an end be put to all forms of exploitation and discrimination and that the social system rest on the foundations of tolerance, mutual respect for rights, justice and the rule of law. This undisputable principle is also the only guarantee for today, both nationally and internationally.
Nowadays, peace movements in many countries, in addition to their own peace efforts in their countries, monitor the events out of their countries like a radar device and try to offer solidarity with people who fight for peace and freedom. In order to realize this purpose, national committees are being set up and the peace efforts of individuals and institutions are supported with annual peace awards. These committees’ decisions are generally taken after meticulous inquiries concerning the nominees. Among these awards, the Nobel Peace Prize is the most distinguished one.
As it is known, in the recent years the Republic of Turkey, having been influenced by the above-mentioned activities, introduced the International Atatürk Peace Award. By doing this, the statesmen, who have stripped concepts like freedom, equality, democracy, justice and law of their substance and who believe that they have succeeded in deceiving their own people and the international community with poor caricatures of those concepts, likewise have diluted and distorted the concept of peace.
First of all, those who cannot establish democracy in all the institutions and regulations of their country, those who ignore human rights and who want to destroy all values of the people with racist and ravaging policies should not have the right to use a high concept like peace, insincerely, for their political purposes. Which country, where people are tortured and killed in custody, made to “disappear”, shot in the middle of a street; where villages and towns are evacuated, forests are burned down, gives a peace award? No. Nobody has the right to pollute the concept of peace and no one should.
It is known that the roots of the increasingly dirty war in Turkey today go back to the first years of the Republic. And who is responsible for the period between 1925 and 1938 when the identity and rights of the Kurdish people were denied and the experiments of brutal genocide were put into practice? Who is the architect of the policies of the Republic of Turkey which aimed at denying and exterminating Kurds from history? What is it, if not hypocrisy, to pronounce the name of the person who is the godfather of today’s dirty war together with the word ‘peace’ and to organize a peace prize in his name? No!...No!... No one should have the right to abuse a mighty concept like peace in such a way. In fact the reason for which Nelson Mandela, who became a symbol by fighting against racist discrimination in South Africa, refused to accept the International Atatürk Peace Award is this hypocrisy and the inhuman policies pursued against the Kurds.
A committee consisting, inter alia, of state officials gave the International Atatürk Peace Award of 1995 to the Red Crescent on 19 May. As its name suggests, it is an international prize. Does not the fact that by giving the prize to a national institution and not to a peace defender outside Turkey, thereby, trying to avoid the risk of being rejected as it was the case with Mandela, demonstrates the helplessness and loss of credibility of the state? Is it not the Red Crescent which ignores the Kurdish villagers who were forced to live in plastic tents in urban shanty towns after their villages have been burned down,  distributing candies to Kurdish children who were forced to shout “How happy I am that I am a Turk” by soldiers during the occupation of Southern Kurdistan. It also acted as a camouflage for the agents of the MIT (The National Intelligence Organisation) who were bribing in Duhok. It is the Red Crescent which was warned and censured several times by the International Red Cross for disregarding the Geneva Conventions. It should not be a surprise if this award is given to the Special War Unit next year. It is a peculiar manifestation of history that while the State of Turkey is lowering itself, peace awards from Denmark, Germany and Vienna are being given to the Diyarbakır MP of the DEP in prison, Leyla Zana, for being a symbol of the Kurdish people’s fight for freedom and democracy. Leyla Zana is also a strong candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. 
Here is the state policy for an unjustified and hypocritical war on one side and the legitimate and just fight for freedom on the other side. These are the two sides of the same medal and their difference reflects itself on the international level. Once more history gives its final judgment: those who try to block the way of the wheel of history will lose and those who are correct and who support peace and freedom will absolutely win.” 7.  On 19 July 1995 the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court filed a bill of indictment charging the applicant under Article 312 § § 2 and 3 of the Criminal Code with incitement to hatred and hostility by making distinctions on the basis of race and region. 8.  In the context of the criminal proceedings against him, the applicant acknowledged that he drafted the article. He further asserted that he expressed his opinions and that his article did not contain any element which could constitute an offence. 9.  On 3 April 1996 the Istanbul State Security Court, composed of three judges including a military judge, found the applicant guilty as charged and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 600,000 Turkish liras. The judgment reasoned as follows:
“Considering the article titled “The International Atatürk Peace Award” in its entirety, the court is of the opinion that the accused committed the offence of incitement to hatred and hostility by making distinctions on the basis of race and region since he stated that people with Kurdish origin living in the eastern and south‑eastern regions of Turkey were subjected to inhuman treatment on the basis of their identity.” 10.  On 3 July 1996 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of the first-instance court.