ANKARA AIMS TO AMEND ARTICLE 301 BEFORE SUMMIT

Gulf Times, Qatar
Nov 16 2006

ANKARA: Turkey plans to amend a controversial law condemned by the
European Union for curbing freedom of expression in time for an EU
summit in mid-December, officials said yesterday.

Article 301 makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness" or state
institutions. Nationalist lawyers have used it to prosecute writers
and intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, although
most cases have ended in acquittal.

In its annual report on Turkey’s reforms last week, the European
Commission repeated its criticism of the article and urged the
government to amend or repeal it.

"This amendment has to be made and benefit is seen in making it as
soon as possible. We aim to pass the amendment through parliament
in the first week of December," an official from the ruling AK Party
told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

EU leaders will discuss the fate of Turkey’s EU candidacy at a December
14-15 summit after concern over a slowdown in reforms and a row over
Cyprus, whose government Ankara does not recognise. Turkey began EU
entry talks a year ago.

Political analysts say Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who faces
elections next year, hopes that by amending article 301 he can gain
credit in Brussels and make the EU less willing to punish Turkey over
its Cyprus policy.

AK Party sources said they and the Justice Ministry were exploring
new forms of wording that would make it more difficult for politically
motivated lawyers to bring cases to court.

The aim of the amendment will be to protect people’s legitimate right
to criticise while discouraging insults that upset Turkish public
opinion, AK Party officials said.

Non-governmental organisations, including business groups and trade
unions, are also drawing up joint proposals for changes they plan to
submit to the government by tomorrow.

The head of the Turkish Doctors’ Union, one of the NGOs involved, said
his group favoured complete abolition of the article but added: "The
government is not planning change of that magnitude at this point."

Speaking in Stockholm yesterday, Turkey’s EU chief negotiator Ali
Babacan noted the strength of opposition to change inside parliament,
despite the AK Party’s big majority, and said the support of the NGOs
would be crucial.

"If a serious, concrete demand comes from civil society it will be
easier for us to look into this situation," he said.

Pamuk was charged under article 301 over comments he made about the
alleged genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I.

Pamuk’s case collapsed on a technicality.

Turkey strongly denies the genocide claims. It says large numbers
of Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in a partisan conflict
accompanying the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress