Legal provisions against demonstrators

Turkish Penal Code Articles 220/6

in combination with 314/2 and 314/3

Forming organized groups with the intention of committing a crime

ARTICLE 220-(1) Those who establish or direct an organization for the purpose of committing crimes shall be sentenced to imprisonment of two to six years if the structure of the organization, number of members, equipment and supplies are sufficient to commit the intended crimes. However, at least three members are required for the group to be deemed an organization.

(2) Those who become members of the organization established to commit crimes shall be sentenced to imprisonment of 1 to 3 years.

(3) If the organization is armed, the sentenced stated above will be increased from one fourth to one half.

(4) If crimes are committed within the framework of the organization’s activities, these crimes will also be punished.

(5) The heads of the organization shall also be sentenced as the perpetrators of all crimes committed within the framework of the activities of the organization.

(6) The person who commits a crime on behalf of the organization, although he or she is not a member of the organization, shall be punished as a member of the organization.

(7) A person who aids and abets the organization knowingly and intentionally, although he or she does not belong to the hierarchical structure of the organization, shall be punished as a member of the organization.

(8) A person who makes propaganda for the organization or its objectives shall be sentenced to imprisonment of one to three years. If the said crime is committed through the media and press, the sentence will be increased by half.

Armed organization

ARTICLE 314 -(1) Any person(s) who forms an armed organization to commit the offenses listed in the fourth and fifth sections of this chapter [Section Four: crimes against state security; Section Five: crimes against the constitutional order and its functioning], and commands this group, is punished with imprisonment of 10 to 15 years.

(2) Members of the organization defined in the first paragraph are sentenced to imprisonment of five to 10 years.

(3) Other provisions relating to the offense of forming an organization for the purpose of committing crimes are treated [punished] in the same way as this offense.

Anti-Terror Law

(no. 3713, as amended in July 2006)

Article 2

[not amended].

(1) Any member of an organization founded to attain the aims defined in Article 1 who commits a crime in furtherance of these aims, individually or in concert with others, or any member of such an organization, even if he or she does not commit such a crime, shall be deemed to be a terrorist offender.

(2) A person who is not a member of a terrorist organization, but who commits a crime on behalf of an organization, is also deemed to be a terrorist offender and is punished as a member of the organization.

Article 7

(1) Those who establish, administer or become members of a terrorist organization to commit crimes for the purposes stipulated in Article 1, using force, violence, pressure, fear, intimidation, oppression or threat, shall be punished in accordance with Article 314 of the TPCTurkish Penal Code . Those who organise the activities of the organization shall also be punished as the administrators of the organizations.

(2) A person who makes propaganda for a terrorist organization shall be punished with a prison sentence of one to five years. Where such a crime is committed through the press or media, the penalty shall be increased by half. In addition, a judicial fine of 1,000 to 10,000 days shall be imposed on the owners of such press and media organs. The upper threshold of this punishment shall be 5,000 days for their chief editors. The acts and behaviour stated below shall also be punished according to the provisions of this paragraph:

a) Completely or partially concealing one’s face for the purpose of concealing one’s identity during assemblies and demonstrations that become propaganda for a terrorist organization

b) Carrying the emblem or the signs of a terrorist organization, shouting slogans or broadcasting them through sound systems [loudspeakers] in a way to demonstrate that a person is a member or supporter of the organization, or wearing uniforms on which there emblems and signs belonging to a terrorist organization

Where the crimes stipulated in paragraph two are committed at the buildings, premises, offices or extensions of associations, foundations, political parties, professional or workers' institutions or their affiliates, or at educational institutions or students' dormitories or their extensions, the punishments mentioned in this paragraph shall be doubled.