Senior EU lawmaker says Turkey must look at freedom of speech provisions
By JAN SLIVA, Associated Press Writer
Associated Press Worldstream
September 20, 2006 Wednesday 10:26 AM GMT
BRUSSELS Belgium — A senior European Union lawmaker said Wednesday
progress could be made soon over freedom of speech provisions in
Turkey’s penal code, a controversial issue hampering the country’s
negotiations with the EU.
Dutch EU deputy Joost Lagendijk, chairman of the parliament’s group
dealing with Turkey, spoke a day after the European Commission said
it was delaying by two weeks a progress report on Turkey’s bid to
join the EU due to what it said were scheduling reasons.
Lagendijk said the delay may have to do with increased efforts to make
progress over article 301 of the penal code, which sets out penalties
for insulting the Turkish Republic, its officials, or "Turkishness,"
and has been used to bring charges against dozens of journalists,
publishers and scholars. The article is strongly criticized by the EU.
"If one listens carefully to Turkish officials … there probably is
a chance to reach progress over article 301," Lagendijk said, adding
that Turkey "may also have come to the conclusion that article 301
is counterproductive."
"Something could happen in the next two months," said Lagendijk,
who will be an observer at the Sept. 21 trial of best-selling Turkish
author Elif Shafak, charged with "insulting Turkishness" in a novel
that deals with the waning years of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey’s parliament convened on Tuesday to begin voting on reforms,
including the strengthening of minority rights, as the government
tries to deflect EU criticism that the pace of change has slowed.
But Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said changing the
law most often used to try authors was not on parliament’s immediate
agenda.
Lagendijk and German deputy Cem Ozdemir called for toning down a
separate report on Turkey by the European Parliament’s foreign affairs
committee, which they said stepped up demands on Turkey to join the EU,
going beyond the conditions originally laid down by the 25-nation bloc.
While Lagendijk and Ozdemir backed the key points of the report,
notably that Turkey must open its sea and air ports to Cypriot ships
and planes, they said a number of amendments to the report go too
far, making it biased against Turkey and damaging the parliament’s
credibility.
The report was approved by the foreign affairs committee earlier this
month and will be debated by the full 732-member assembly during a
plenary session next week in Strasbourg, France.
The report is critical of Turkey’s refusal to recognize the killing of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I as genocide,
and the recommends making such recognition a prerequisite for Turkey
joining the EU.
Lagendijk and Ozdemir argued the EU had not originally set any such
condition. They also said the report unfairly puts pressure on Turkey
over its treatment of other ethnic minorities, such as Assyrians
and Greeks.
They also pressed for return to a blueprint plan to reunite Cyprus
drafted by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which was approved
by Turkish Cypriots, but rejected by Greek Cypriots in separate
referendums in April 2004.
Cyprus has been divided since Turkish troops invaded in 1974 after a
coup attempt by supporters of union with Greece. The Greek Cypriot
south has an internationally recognized government. Only Turkey
recognizes the Turkish Cypriot north.
EU officials hinted in July that entry talks with Turkey begun in
October may crash because of Ankara’s continuing failure to recognize
Cyprus or allow in its ships and airplanes.
But Lagendijk said he does not believe a stalling of talks is imminent.
"A train crash is unlikely. We may have a minicrash, putting aside
some of the negotiating chapters" that have to do with Cyprus or
freedom of speech provisions, he said.
Turkey must complete 35 so-called "negotiating chapters," each dealing
with a different policy field, before it can join the EU, a process
expected to take at least a decade.