NO AMENDMENTS TO BE INTRODUCED IN ARTICLE 301
Yerkir
13.04.2006 16:15
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, unveiling a
new reform package prepared by the government, said on Wednesday there
was no problem in the implementation of the new Turkish penal code.
Gul said the reform package did not foresee any amendment to the 301st
article of the Turkish penal code under which several journalists and
authors including Orhan Pamuk have been accused, reported Zaman. The
Foreign Minister said the new reform package would swiftly be brought
on to the parliamentary agenda. The anti-terror bill, which was opened
to the cabinet signature, would not infringe on liberties, Gul added.
To note, the controversial article 301 of the new Turkish Penal Code
(TCK) received criticism by the Council of Europe. The Council’s
Committee of Ministers answering Council of Europe Parliamentary
Assembly (PACE) French deputy Rudy Salles’s question about the new
TCK said they are nervously following the new law after freedom of
expression cases opened about Orhan Pamuk and Ragip Zarakolu.
The subsequent dropping of the Pamuk case and the circular published
by the Ministry of Justice in January stating that “the new TCK
will be implemented in the frame of the European Convention on Human
Rights” have been welcomed in the official answer of the Committee
of Ministers; the Council of Europe’s decision-making body.
The answer says the new law caused concerns in the Council just as in
the world’s opinion, and the Turkish Ministry of Justice’s declaration
that it will interpret the TCK in the frame of European Human Rights
Convention was found positive. The Committee of Ministers asked Turkey
to act in the frame of Convention resolutions in the cases opened for
article 301, and emphasized they will keep a close eye on later cases.
It should be noted that Article 301 provides for punishment for the
“outrage of the Turkish state”. Orham Pamuk and other journalists were
accused for mentioning the Armenian Genocide in their publications.