Angela Merkel Draws Criticism for Allowing Turkey’s Case Against Comic
By ALISON SMALE

BERLIN — Turkey’s president found himself in choice company when he fixed upon an obscure German law to attempt to punish a popular comic who had satirized him in crude terms. The same law, dating from 1871, had also been used to silence critics of the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of Iran and the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Devised during an era of ruffled majesties, the law allows prosecution in Germany for insulting a foreign leader, but only with the consent of the government. It also presented Chancellor Angela Merkel with a dilemma: She could either compromise on cherished values of free speech or risk further roiling relations with a leader she needs to stem another potentially chaotic flood of refugees to Europe again this year.

On Friday, Ms. Merkel gave President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey what he was seeking. She announced that prosecution of the satirist, Jan Böhmermann, could proceed — even as she added that the law allowing it would be repealed.

The attempt to split the difference did little to appease criticism that Ms. Merkel had blinked in the staring contest with Mr. Erdogan. “We just experienced the beginning of the end of Chancellorship #Merkel,” wrote another satirist, Oliver Kalkofe, on Twitter. “I am ashamed by the lack of spine.”

If anything, Ms. Merkel’s decision demonstrated how, by virtue of geography and his swagger, the Turkish president has become all but indispensable to the security of Europe as it tries to calm war-ravaged Syria and deal with the conflict’s overflow of refugees and terrorism.

Ms. Merkel pushed hard for a deal at a European summit meeting last month, in which Turkey agreed — in exchange for billions of euros — to accept the return of illegal migrants and refugees who had made it to Greece.

At the time, the chancellor appeared relieved that the agreement offered a veneer of European unity and eased political pressure at home after months of dispute and German isolation over her refusal to impose a limit on migrants.

But putting key European interests in Mr. Erdogan’s hands came under immediate criticism in Germany, not least for its potential to compromise core European values of human rights and free speech — something jesters such as Mr. Böhmermann were quick to point out.

On March 31, the comic read what he has acknowledged was a crude poem intended to offend the Turkish leader, whose government has brought more than 1,800 criminal cases against Turks for insulting their president.

It was not long before Mr. Erdogan sent his representatives to the German Foreign Ministry with a formal request that Mr. Böhmermann be prosecuted under an obscure 19th-century law once employed, in 1964, to penalize journalists at the newspaper Kölner Stadt Anzeiger for a caricature photo montage criticizing the Shah of Iran.

The shah tried again in 1967 to silence critics through the law, but was dissuaded during a visit to Tehran by the German interior minister, according to the German news media.

In 1977, the Chilean ambassador won a case after claiming he was offended by the banner “Band of Killers” hung outside his embassy in Bonn, at the time the capital of West Germany.

The provision requiring German government approval was designed to protect German diplomatic interests — by explicitly giving the government a say in a legal proceeding.

But it turned into a fateful obligation for the chancellor, said Constantin van Lijnden, a legal expert who writes for several German publications.

Ms. Merkel and her supporters argued that her decision on Friday put the matter back where it belonged — in court. “Not the government, but courts and the legal system will have the final word,” she said.

But even her government — a coalition of her center-right bloc and center-left Social Democrats — was not united, and Ms. Merkel made clear that the choice to let the courts decide the matter was hers.

Foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Justice Minister Heiko Maas, both Social Democrats, stressed the overarching value of free expression, culture and media. Mr. Maas said the chancellor should have simply allowed Mr. Erdogan to proceed with a private lawsuit that he has also brought against Mr. Böhmermann.

Some three million Turks live in Germany — a fact the chancellor stressed in her statement emphasizing close bonds with Turkey, a NATO ally now seeking to join the European Union.

Gökay Sofuoglu, a leader of the Turkish community in Germany, said the chancellor had to choose between “a crisis in her coalition and a crisis affair of state.” The coalition crisis was the easier option, he said.

Mr. Böhmermann has won broad support, particularly from media and cultural figures, while Ms. Merkel was subjected to heavy criticism on Twitter. The comic Harald Schmidt, a mentor of Mr. Böhmermann, mocked up a message saying Moscow was offering exile to the satirist.

Most legal experts consulted by German media in recent weeks have suggested that Mr. Böhmermann is unlikely to go to jail, though he could face up to three years, and that his poem probably qualifies as satire and free speech protected by the constitution.

Mr. van Lijnden, a legal expert based in Düsseldorf, said that Ms. Merkel had faced an impossible choice.

“She said, I am allowing this because I think these things should be resolved by the judiciary, and not by the German executive,” he said. “When the law specifically gives her power to decide, that is a kind of circular reasoning.

“But it would have been an even tougher sell for the public if she had said, ‘I am allowing this because I don’t want to harm relations with Turkey even further.’ ”

德諧星挨告 為反梅克爾聲浪添柴？

德國知名諧星波姆曼（Jan Böhmermann）因在電視節目中嘲諷土耳其總統厄多岡，被土耳其政府控告，引起德國輿論激烈爭辯。德國總理梅克爾15日批准土耳其要求，將此案送進法院審理。梅克爾此舉在德國政界和媒體都激起了大規模的反彈。

土耳其政府是依據德國刑事法規103條「侮辱外國政府或代表」提告，此條款調查只能在聯邦政府批准後展開。梅克爾告訴記者，政府經過內部激烈辯論後已做出結論，由法院決定他是否有罪。

梅克爾雖強調德國憲法保障「言論、學術及藝術自由」，但也曾稱這首詩「蓄意污辱」，她保證土耳其的要求會受到「非常謹慎」的評估。不過，梅克爾也宣布，德國將於2018年以前廢除鮮少執行的刑事法規103條。

波姆曼上月底在時事諷刺節目「Neo Magazin Royal」中念了一首「誹謗詩」，指控厄多岡與山羊及綿羊性交，還稱呼厄多岡是戀童癖者。他同時也自承他不把德國法律對言論自由的限制看在眼裡。目前波姆曼的節目已遭停播。

但梅克爾這項決定引發德國譁然，就連德國執政聯盟中社民黨籍的外交部長施泰因邁爾和司法部長馬斯均表態與梅克爾切割，兩人聯名發布聯合聲明指，「社民黨領導下的部門經過慎重思考，反對這一決定。但在表決權上，是由總理說了算」。

德國媒體也憤怒不已。德國「時代」報以「梅克爾對厄多岡卑躬屈膝」為標題，批評梅克爾的決定；德國電視一台諷刺道：「厄多岡先生將他的大使派到德國法庭上去，這樣就能在那裡觀察法治國家是如何運作的」。

德國抗議者還在柏林的土耳其駐德大使館外的廣告燈箱換上了要求赦免波姆曼的海報，上面寫著「沒有幽默感的混蛋」。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/world/europe/germany-turkey-recep-tayyip-erdogan-jan-bohmermann.html

Video：Angela Merkel on German Comedian
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany explained the reasoning for allowing Turkey’s case against a German satirist to proceed.
http://nyti.ms/1SGZZcj

2016-04-17 世界日報 編譯中心