Professor sentenced for criticising Turkish founder

On November 18, 2006, Yayla spoke on a panel in Izmir organised by the local branch of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) and criticised the era of one-party rule from 1925 to 1945, which was chiefly led by Atatürk until his death in 1938. Yayla said that despite the official propaganda, the single-party era was not as progressive as claimed and was in some respects backward.

According to daily papers, Yayla told the court, “In that speech, I did not speak about Atatürk or his legacy. I talked about Kemalism. I said, ‘The republic is said to have saved us from the medieval ages; this is controversial.’ And as for the controversial nature of this argument, I said, ‘They [the Europeans] will ask us why there are pictures and statues of Atatürk everywhere.’ ”

In his indictment, the prosecutor claimed that Yayla insulted Atatürk’s legacy explicitly by referring to him as “this man.” According to the indictment, there were eight separate complaints about the professor.