Journalist convicted, fined for insulting Turkish premier
ANKARA (AP) - A Turkish court yesterday convicted a newspaper columnist for insulting the prime minister when he compared him to a transvestite. The court fined him 1,481 new Turkish lira ($1,097.891 euros), the journalist said. Halil Eyupoglu of the Zafer newspaper in the southeastern city of Gaziantep accused Erdogan of selling off the country by negotiating on the status of the breakaway state in northern Cyprus. He also suggested that giving up land in Cyprus would eventually lead Turkey to give up vast tracts of land claimed by Kurdish separatists. “Why don’t you sell yourself like a transvestite? Let’s be rid of this perverted behavior. You have no identity, no love of country. You’re neither female nor male. You’re a complete transvestite,” he wrote.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/ ... 11/06/2005
