A reply to supporters of Fazil Say

I know that I am walking a very fine line here but I will and I have to. Recently Fazil Say, the Turkish pianist, faced a sentence of up to one and a half years in prison for the crime of 'openly insulting the sacred values of a certain fraction of the general public'. This lawsuit created a stir in the international media and caused some circles to attack Turkey and Islam in an unjust way either because of not being fully informed about the insults of Fazil Say or overlooking the facts. Although I can understand that there are important concerns that need to be taken into consideration in regards to the betterment of freedoms in Turkey, some circles are misusing this case by making demagoguery and twisting the truth of the matter. Presenting this case as a restriction of freedom of speech by Muslims and/or the government of Turkey is quite far from the truth. First of all I would like to remind everyone that it is not Islam that is punishing Fazil Say. The laws in question were passed a very long time ago, long before Prime Minister Erdogan, long before the AK Party came into power and long before the AK Party even existed. Similar laws exist throughout the very democratic and largely post-Christian and secular EU, including France, the most staunchly secular of all EU nations. Besides there is a separation of powers in Turkey; meaning that the AK Party as a legislative body has nothing to do with the ongoing of the case as an issue of the judiciary. Fazil Say did violate Turkish law. Therefore, the court duly found him guilty of violating the law as it is. Insulting people and their beliefs is considered as a crime not only according to the Turkish law, but in the laws of many democratic, secular countries; such as France, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Italy, Austria, Denmark and so on. Laws banning defamation against religion and faith are being presented as if it is an act against the freedom of thought and peculiar to Turkey or as if it is a sign of under-development causing embarrassment to Turkey. However the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) says otherwise and it has extended the powers of the countries within its entity to ensure the protection of cultural and religious values in order to bring social harmony. What is more, democracy is not the freedom to insult. Democracy teaches us not to display patience in the face of insults but rather to avoid insulting others. One may not have faith in God and can hold a statement or an intellectual argument regarding this or criticise as he likes; this is freely possible but opinion or intellectual criticism is not a matter of hurling insults, curses, libels or slanders; that is why they have completely different meanings in any dictionary you should care to consult. So let us not make demagogic arguments: Fazil Say's case has nothing to do with his being an atheist or expressing his disbelief; his crime is about insulting people, cursing a specific group -in this case all believers- and inciting hatred against them. Fazil Say insulted all believers in God, and that includes Christians, Jews and also theists, in short, whoever believes in a Creator, meaning tens of millions of people; and he confirmed his lengthy insult in front of the court and consciously repeated his indecent remarks several times via social media during the court case. Yes, there must be limitless freedom of thought, but there can be no freedom to slander or insult people or their beliefs publicly. If you have read his insults and still say that it is fine with you, very well; but it is not fine with me. I am an honorable person and I don't accept insults and I seek my right by legal means to protect my honor and dignity. And as a Muslim, I would never get used to being insulted and cursed. Do those who advocate freedom for insults, cursing, libels and slanders imagine what kind of a world would come to pass in that which they advocate? It would be a nightmare. I don't consider any human worthy of that. Sinem Tezyapar is a political analyst. Twitter@SinemTezyapar The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.