Turkey: Editor gets prison sentence for Ataturk insult

By Melike Gallenkus

ISTANBUL (AA) - An Istanbul court on Tuesday sentenced a magazine editor to 15 months in jail for insulting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder and first president of modern Turkey.

Mustafa Armagan, the editor-in-chief of Derin Tarih (Deep History) was convicted for including an article on Latife Hanim, Ataturk’s wife in the May issue of the magazine.

He was indicted in May. The indictment said: "It is understood that the article was written with criminal intent to discredit Ataturk."

It added that the article cited a foreign newspaper published in 1926 and a book, but made no reference to historical documents and used information "akin to gossip".

Armagan who attended the trial with his lawyers had pleaded not guilty.