TURKISH PM OFFERS TO AMEND LAW USED TO PROSECUTE WRITERS

Gulf News, United Arab Emirates
Reuters
Nov 6 2006

Istanbul: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday he was
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 should
be changed.

It has recently been used to bring charges against Pamuk, later
dropped, and to convict journalist Hrant Dink for articles about the
alleged 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
options for how we can handle article 301 in harmony with the spirit
of reforms," he said.

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 country’s commitment
to freedom of speech.

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