Turkish court acquits biographer in rights case

ISTANBUL, Dec 20 (Reuters) A Turkish court acquitted a writer charged with insulting modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the latest in a series of freedom of expression cases dropped amid European Union criticism.

Ipek Calislar was accused of insulting Ataturk with her bestselling biography of his wife Latife Ussaki, which includes a reference to the republic's founder escaping an assassination attempt by hiding under a traditional women's chador.

''I expected such a decision because in the book there is no such insult,'' Calislar told reporters yesterday outside the court in Istanbul. ''The indictment was rather senseless.'' Calislar was charged under a special law designed to protect the memory of Ataturk, who died in 1938.

The European Union has criticised Turkey for its freedom of expression record and urged it to change a separate law which has allowed dozens of writers, intellectuals and journalists including Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk to be tried for insulting the Turkish identity.

Pamuk's case was dropped on a technicality, while most others have also ended in acquittal. The latest decision could give a boost to Turkey's image in Brussels just as the bloc has suspended almost a quarter of its accession talks because of Ankara's refusal to open its ports to Cyprus.

REUTERS PB ND0918