TURKEY OFFERS TO AMEND LAW TO AVOID EU CRISIS

Gulf Times, Qatar
Nov 6 2006

ISTANBUL: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that
he is ready to amend a law used to prosecute writers, including Nobel
prize winner Orhan Pamuk, apparently aiming to head off a crisis with
the EU.

The European Commission is expected to sharply rebuke Ankara over
judicial action against journalists, scholars and writers for
expressing peaceful opinions in a progress report on November 8 on
Turkey’s European Union accession process.

The EU says article 301, which makes it a crime to insult Turkish
national identity, unfairly restricts freedom of expression and must
be changed.

It has recently been used to bring charges against Pamuk, later
dropped, and to convict journalist Hrant Dink for articles about the
mass killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

"We are ready for proposals to make article 301 more concrete if
there are problems stemming from it being vague," Erdogan was quoted
by state-run Anatolian news agency as saying.

"In order to prevent a violation of freedoms … we are studying
several options for how we can handle article 301 in harmony with
the spirit of the (EU-oriented) reforms," he said, without elaborating.

Only last week, Erdogan indicated there would be no movement on
301 after earlier this year promising to look into amending it. The
article has raised questions in Europe about the predominantly Muslim
country’s commitment to freedom of speech.

The government has been split, some fearing an amendment would
lessen the centre-right government’s chances of harnessing the rising
nationalist vote in general elections next year.

The Commission, the EU executive body, is about to issue a list of
criticisms of Turkey for failing to carry out reforms as promised,
particularly over Cyprus.

"Turkish-EU relations are based on such common values as democracy,
freedoms and supremacy of law and mutual interests of our peoples. I
therefore believe that our EU process has a depth that will not be
disrupted…" Erdogan said.

The EU has warned that membership talks could be badly damaged if
Ankara continues to refuse to open its ports and airports to traffic
from EU member Cyprus.

The government says the EU must first lift trade restrictions against
the breakaway Turkish Cypriots in northern Cyprus, who are backed
by Ankara.

Efforts to break the deadlock failed last week when EU president
Finland called off talks.

With elections in November 2007, Erdogan’s scope for more reforms has
narrowed, especially given rising euroscepticism among Turks weary
of EU demands and suspicious that the bloc does not really want ever
to take in their large Muslim nation.

One in four Turks is now opposed to EU membership and only 7% trust
the EU, one recent opinion poll indicated.