Turkey’s government will send to parliament this week
Turkey’s government will send to parliament this week changes to a law restricting freedom of speech which is seen as a key obstacle to its bid to join the European Union, the justice minister said on Monday. Ankara faces intense pressure from the EU to amend or scrap article 301 of the penal code which makes it a crime to insult “Turkishness” and which has been used to prosecute leading Turkish writers.
Turkish officials said last month Turkey would only reform the law once the EU allows its stalled membership talks to resume. Ankara is frustrated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s efforts to block the negotiation process. “The change in article 301 will be discussed in the cabinet today and will be presented to parliament as a proposal this week,” Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin told a news conference.
The government has been considering various reform proposals aimed at easing freedom of expression restrictions, but the specifics of the reform have not been unveiled. Article 301 has been used to prosecute Turkish writers and thinkers, notably for comments on the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 under the Ottoman Empire.
Two years ago Turkey tried Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk under article 301 for his remarks on the events of 1915-16, but he was acquitted on a legal technicality. The European Commission’s annual progress report on Turkey, published in November, called on Ankara to make “significant further efforts” on freedom of expression and religion.
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has recommended that the EU not extend accession talks to the key areas of justice and human rights until the article is changed. javno.com
