Free speech row clouds Turkey’s EU hopes
By Elizabeth Davies

Belfast Telegraph, United Kingdom
Sept 2 2005

02 September 2005 — Turkey faces mounting criticism over its decision
to bring criminal charges against its foremost writer yesterday,
as Europe’s foreign ministers met in Wales to discuss the country’s
prospects for EU membership.

The Turkish government, already under pressure to recognise EU member
Cyprus, is pushing for a date to begin full membership talks and can
ill afford a new row over freedom of speech.

Orhan Pamuk, the internationally acclaimed author of My Name is Red,
could face up to three years in prison for comments made in a Swiss
interview when he condemned the mass killing of Armenians in the
aftermath of the First World War.

Denis MacShane, former Europe minister and Labour MP for Rotherham,
said: “It is a sickening blow to all pro-Turks in Britain and Europe
.. to hear the news that the Turkish authorities seek to persecute.
this great European writer.”

Calling on the European Commission to lobby Turkey to drop the charges,
Mr MacShane added: “I will continue to support and argue for (Turkey’s)
right to start EU membership talks. But if the authorities persist
with this attack on a great European writer then many of us who are
strong supporters of Turkey will be forced to change our minds.”

A Turkish public prosecutor said Mr Pamuk’s comments violated Turkey’s
penal code. The award-winning writer is charged with “denigrating
Turkish identity”. Mr Pamuk is prohibited from commenting on the
charges but his associate and translator Maureen Freely launched a
scathing attack over the charge. “How can Turkey possibly claim to be
a European country if it has such laws on the books and prosecutors
can bring such cases?” she asked.

The row threatens to overshadow the meeting of EU foreign ministers
intended to assess the country’s compliance with conditions to open
membership talks next month.

In recent years, Turkey has had to enact major political and economical
reforms to overcome its reputation as a country that violates human
rights and has a weak, uncompetitive economy.

Abdullah Gul, the Turkish Foreign Minister, said talks should begin
on schedule as Turkey had met all of the objective criteria.

However, preparations for the talks have already hit a major obstacle
over Cyprus. In July, Turkey signed a deal extending a customs union
with the EU to include Cyprus and nine other countries that joined
the bloc in 2004. Turkey upset many EU governments by insisting its
signature on the customs deal did not mean Ankara now recognised the
Cypriot government.

Critics have seized on Cyprus to call for a watered-down associate
member status for Turkey.

Mr Pamuk caused a storm last year when he told the Swiss newspaper
Der Tagesanzeiger that “30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians were
killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it.”

Turkey denies a genocide of Armenians between 1915 and 1923, claiming
instead that hundred of thousands of Armenians died of famine and
disease only.