EU warns Ankara over ruling on Armenian journalist

Agence France Presse — English
July 12, 2006 Wednesday 10:59 AM GMT

BRUSSELS, July 12 2006 — The European Commission lamented Wednesday
a Turkish court ruling against an ethnic Armenian journalist for
"denigrating the Turkish national identity," warning the case could
cloud Ankara’s EU hopes.

Commenting on an appeal court ruling on Hrant Dink, editor of the
bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, EU Enlargement Commissioner
Olli Rehn called on the Turkish government to bolster freedom of
speech in the country.

"I am disappointed by this judgement which limits the exercise of
freedom of expression in Turkey," he said, following Tuesday’s court
ruling, the first such judgment based on article 301 of Turkey’s new
Penal Code.

He noted that ruling "will set the trend for lower jurisdiction to
follow when applying article 301 in the future," adding: "This is
all the more serious since there are still a number of similar court
cases pending."

"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," he said.

He underlined that freedom of expression is a key principle of the
EU’s so-called Copenhagen political criteria, which Ankara must adhere
to if it one day wants to join the currently 25-nation bloc.

"In any case, the Commission will review the situation in light of
the Copenhagen political criteria in its upcoming Progress Report,"
Rehn said, referring to an annual report on Ankara’s EU preparations
due in October.

Turkey began EU entry talks last October, but the negotiations are
likely to take at least a decade and Ankara has been warned there is
no guarantee of eventual membership.

Dink was convicted in October for an article about the collective
memory of the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire,
which many countries recognize as genocide.

He now faces the risk of going to prison if he commits a similar
offense over the next five years.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress