TURKISH PRIME MINISTER DEFENDS LAW CRIMINALIZING INSULTS AGAINST TURKEY

Associated Press Worldstream
September 26, 2006 Tuesday

Turkey’s prime minister defended a law that makes it a crime to
insult "Turkishness" or Turkish officials on Tuesday, saying European
countries had similar laws and politicians did not have to stand for
being targets of abuse.

"Yes to criticism, no to insult," Erdogan told parliament on Tuesday
while talking about article 301 of the penal code, which the European
Union insists must be changed or abolished because it limits free
expression in this EU candidate country.

Despite a rash of prominent court cases using article 301 against
authors, academics and journalists, however, Turkish politicians have
been reluctant to amend the law, saying it needs more time to be tested
and that the problems are in implementation, not with the law itself.

Erdogan makes a distinction between criticism, which he says is
democratic and acceptable, and insult, which he says is not. His
lawyers regularly open court cases against journalists who allegedly
insult him.

"Is a politician this country’s whipping child?" he asked rhetorically
on Tuesday. "There are those circles who mix up criticism and insult."

The prime minister added, however, that his government would consider
changing the law as long as the changes ensured it still protected
against insults.

"Just like in European countries, this law stems from need. If in
the end it emerges that there is a problem in implementation which,
while stopping the crime (insults), also limits legitimate rights
and freedoms, then we will amend the law in the necessary way. We
are open to concrete suggestions on this subject."

Most of the charges brought using article 301, including those against
leading Turkish novelists Orhan Pamuk and Elif Shafak, have not led
to convictions, but European Union officials argue even the threat
of legal action limits free expression.

The law is frequently invoked by nationalist lawyers against those
who suggest that Turks were guilty of genocide against Armenians.

On Monday, Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was charged with
"insulting Turkishness" for saying bluntly that Armenians were victims
of genocide. Dink faces up to three years in prison if convicted.