Critics find fault with updated rule of law
by Nicholas Birch in Istanbul

South China Morning Post
June 2, 2005

Turkey’s first new criminal code in nearly 80 years went into effect
yesterday in what Ankara hopes will be a major step towards opening
accession proceedings with the European Union in October.

Legal experts see the document as an improvement on its 1926
predecessor, which was heavily indebted to 19th century Italian laws.

Turkish women’s rights activists have expressed overall satisfaction
with new articles criminalising sexual harassment, virginity tests
and rape within marriage.

The code also drops articles prescribing shorter sentences for
so-called honour killings. Every year, scores, if not hundreds,
of Turkish women are murdered by their families for transgressing
traditional codes of behaviour.

In line with their new policy of zero tolerance, MPs have also
increased the maximum penalty for torture from eight to 12 years.

But as Amnesty International points out, time limits on torture cases,
though extended, still stand. Facilitated by a notoriously inefficient
judicial system, the deliberate delaying of trials until they are
dropped is a common tactic.

The new criminal code has been dogged by controversy since last autumn,
when plans to criminalise adultery were dropped amid an international
outcry.

In recent days, government efforts to reduce penalties for illegal
religious courses have sparked a furious debate in Turkey, fiercely
attached to its secular identity.

The controversy has served only to mask far more serious shortcomings
in articles dealing with freedom of expression.

Though plans envisaging higher sentences for “crimes” committed
through the press were dropped last week, journalists still face
prison sentences for reporting on anything from ongoing criminal
investigations to “insult”.

Not only has a notorious article from the former code criminalising
acts that “belittle” state institutions been transferred almost
verbatim into today’s version, critics say, entirely new restrictions
have been added.

Foremost is article 305, which prescribes up to 10 years’ prison for
Turks or foreigners acting “against the fundamental national interest”,
a vague term that could include advocating the withdrawal of Turkish
troops from Cyprus or describing 1915 Armenian massacres as “genocide”.

Laws like this, says lawyer Yusuf Caglayan, “open the door to decisions
that prove not the citizen’s guilt, but the impossibility of proving
his innocence”.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress