"Orhan Kemal Cengiz: 'Minds must also change'
The president of the Human Rights Agenda Association, Orhan Kemal Cengiz, explaining the aim of the booklet to the Turkish Daily News in an exclusive interview, made some interesting comments:
Cengiz said that despite the important steps taken in certain human rights areas, standard practice in Turkish courts has not changed. 'The prosecution of writers, artists and journalists who have expressed their non-violent opinions is an everyday occurrence. For this reason, domestic and international organizations that closely monitor the situation in Turkey have reached the common conclusion that human rights problems in Turkey cannot be solved by legal changes alone and that 'minds must also change.' Genuine progress cannot be achieved without a change of mentality. If we look at the historical record of the judiciary in Turkey, we see an unfortunate pattern -- laws are interpreted in such a way as to narrow rather than broaden freedoms, and the values of the 'sacred state' take precedence over the freedoms of the individual.'"
More:From Holland to Kurdistan: Orhan Kemal Cengiz: "Minds must also change"