TURKISH PARLIAMENT MEETING EARLY TO WORK ON EU REFORMS
Joshua Pantesco at 8:12 AM ET

JURIST
Monday, September 18, 2006

[JURIST] The Turkish parliament, the Grand National Assembly [official
website], is scheduled to meet Tuesday, two weeks earlier than usual,
to work on passing reform measures aimed at gaining membership to the
European Union [JURIST news archive]. The EU has cautioned [JURIST
report] Turkey that its EU bid [EU backgrounder] will not be accepted
unless the country improves its record on torture and other human
rights violations, including the restriction of freedom of expression.

EU lawmakers especially oppose Article 301 of the Turkish Penal
Code [Amnesty backgrounder], which makes it a crime to insult
Turkish identity. One Turkish lawmaker said that Article 301, which
has been used to prosecute writers Hrant Dink and Orhan Pamuk for
discussing the alleged Armenian genocide, will be revised to rebut EU
criticism. Earlier this month, the EU Parliament said Turkey has been
slow to deliver promised legal reforms [JURIST report], including
"persistent shortcomings in areas such as freedom of expression,
religious and minority rights, the role of the military, policing,
women’s rights, trade union rights and cultural rights."