HAMMARBERG ON ARTICLE 301 OF TCK

Turkish Press
Nov 5 2006

ANKARA – Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for
Human Rights, said that he has got very good messages from Turkish
government officials that problems regarding the Article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code (TCK) will be resolved soon.

Speaking to reporters before he proceeded from Ankara to Istanbul,
Hammarberg indicated that Turkey has taken significant steps in human
rights. However, he stated, there are still some deficiencies because
there are some problems in perception of the related regulation by
the authorities.

He said that an efficient mechanism should be set up in Turkey to
monitor human rights.

Hammarberg qualified the cases filed against novelists Orhan Pamuk
and Elif Safak as "unfortunate", and said that the highest authorities
have told him that some mistakes are being made in implementation of
this article and they will be corrected soon.

According to Hammarberg, the problem regarding Article 301 can be
solved in three ways, including abolition and correction of this
article. The third way is to inform the law enforcers that the way
the article is interpreted is different from the interpretation of
the legislators, he stated.

-FRENCH RESOLUTION-

On the resolution adopted by the French parliament which criminalizes
denial of so-called Armenian genocide allegations, Hammarberg said
that the resolution has not yet been passed from the Senate, and
noted that he does not think it will be adopted by the Senate.

Defining the development as unfortunate, Hammarberg said that this
is not a constructive decision, but a provocative one.

Hammarberg indicated that this decision violates the freedom of
expression.

Commissioner Hammarberg will proceed to Istanbul tonight.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress