OKTAY EKSI: OUR WEAPON IS FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Hurriyet, Turkey
Oct 12 2006

Has France really surprised us, or has it shown us that the
"freedom-loving" France whose image we have carried for years in
our minds is not the real thing, replaced instead by this fanatic,
anti-freedom of expression, "one truth," despotic country we now
face? It seems that we have seen the king naked for the first time.

And because of this, we are surprised.

France doesn’t see what an embarassment it is to tell people "If
you say that the Armenian genocide didn’t happen, you get 5 years
in prison and up to 45 Euro in fines." What they are saying is,
"even if you know another truth, you may not express it." What an
embarassment this is to civilization.

Look, we are not even saying "There was no slaughter of Armenians."

We do not believe that there was, but we are not going to get into
this subject right now. We are right now just looking at this incident
from the perspective of freedom of expression, and maintaining from
this moment that this bill-if accepted, which it most likely will
be-will not only be a great shame for France, but for the entire EU.

And while on the subject of the EU, I would like to draw your
attention to words spoken this week by the EU’s Commissioner in
charge of Expansion, Olli Rehn: "If this French Parliament votes
to accept this bill, I fear it will create a very non-constructive
atmosphere." Why, I ask, does Olli Rehn, who arrived in Turkey two
weeks ago demanding in no uncertain terms that Ankara remove article
301 from its penal code, water-down his words so blatantly when it
comes to France? Couldn’t he find it in himself somewhere to say
"This bill is completely opposed to freedom of expression"? Or is
the game played differently once a country is already inside the EU?

And by the way, where are the intellectuals who crow so often "Europe
is a union of culture and values"? Where is former President Giscard
d’Estaigne? Why aren’t the columns in Le Monde dealing with this
subject? France is showing that they are no longer of this age,
but have returned to being the French of the age of Inquisition,
the times when Galileo was forbade from saying that the Earth moved
around the Sun.

Don’t think that I am exaggerating. We are obliged to emerge successful
from this fight, which began with the slander about the "Armenian
genocide." This is because if we don’t, the accusation will never
be removed from our official records. And what this means-as I wrote
yesterday in this space-is that we must direct our side of this fight
very well. As Taha Akyol wrote yesterday in his column, what makes
us strong in this fight is the "freedom of expression" weapon.

But Turkey must be careful, before telling others about the shame
of their infraction against freedom of expression, to clean up its
own shames. Firsy and foremost in this realm comes our very own
Turkish Penal Code, and its article 301, forbidding the "insulting
of Turkishness."

In the end, as you can see, "freedom of expression" will be our
salvation.