Peninsula On-line, Qatar
July 13 2006

EU warns Turkey on freedom of expression
Web posted at: 7/13/2006 4:31:5
Source ::: REUTERS

BRUSSELS ~U The European Commission told Turkey yesterday it will
have to rewrite its penal code again to meet EU standards after the
country’s highest court confirmed a sentence against an editor for
insulting "Turkishness".

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the High Court of Appeals
ruling in the case of Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of the bilingual
Turkish and Armenian weekly Agos, showed Turkey’s reformed penal code
still restricted freedom of expression.

"I am disappointed by this judgment, which limits the exercise of
freedom of expression in Turkey," Rehn said in a statement. The ruling
would set a binding precedent for other pending human rights cases,
he said.

"I would therefore urge the Turkish authorities to amend Article 301
and other vaguely formulated articles in order to guarantee freedom of
expression in Turkey," Rehn said, noting that this was a key political
criterion for EU accession.

He said the Commission would review the situation in the light of the
EU’s political criteria in its upcoming progress report in Turkey in
late October or early November.

Dink, a Turkish-born Armenian, was given a six-month suspended prison
sentence last year for an article criticising Article 301, which
allows prosecutors to pursue cases against writers and scholars for
"insulting Turkish identity".

The top court’s sentencing board on Tuesday upheld the suspended
jail sentence.

Dink voiced dismay in a statement sent to Reuters and said he would
make a final appeal to the European Court of Human Rights since his
legal recourse in Turkey had been exhausted.

"I am of course deeply upset by the verdict of Penal Council of Supreme
Court concerning my case but the verdict itself did not surprise me,"
Dink said.

"The verdict of the Supreme Court concerning myself reveals that
Article 301 and the other similar ones can never suit a democratic
Turkey and should be immediately abolished," he said.

The executive European Commission can recommend suspending negotiations
with Turkey in cases of a serious and persistent breach of human rights
or democracy. The Ankara government has repeatedly said writers have
not served time in prison under laws related to freedom of expression.

But Dink and other intellectuals have faced prosecution under Article
301 for calling into question the official Turkish version of what
happened to the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey and EU officials say
the proceedings are themselves an unacceptable form of intimidation
restricting freedom of speech.