NGOS NOT READY YET TO MEET WITH GOV’T ON 301
Fulya Ozerkan

Turkish Daily News
Nov 22 2006

‘We’re keeping up with studies, and dialogue is in place despite a
partial lack of reconciliation among the NGOs,’ says Necdet Okcan,
a lawyer for DİSK

Representatives from leading trade unions and nongovernmental
organizations have no plans to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan as long as they remain divided over possible changes to a
controversial article of the penal code that the European Union says
restricts freedom of expression, said a lawyer for one of the NGOs
actively involved in studies to come up with concrete proposals on
the article in question.

"I don’t think that there will be a meeting [with Erdogan] without
reconciliation among the NGOs on how to change Article 301," Necdet
Okcan, lawyer for the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions
(DİSK), told the Turkish Daily News.

"We’re keeping up with studies, and dialogue is in place despite a
partial lack of reconciliation among the NGOs," he added. Okcan also
said a face-to-face meeting with the government was not the only
option, noting that they could submit proposals in written format
after reaching a compromise among themselves.

Turkey is under EU pressure to amend or scrap Article 301, which
has landed a string of intellectuals in court for denigrating Turkish
identity or "Turkishness" and some for comments on the alleged genocide
of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. In its key report
earlier this month, the EU’s executive arm, the commission, clearly
said it was necessary for Turkey to ensure freedom of expression
without delay "by repealing or amending Article 301."

In a move to bring its legislation in line with European standards,
the government has sought support from NGOs to that effect.

Erdogan has recently met with representatives from leading trade
unions and NGOs to hear their opinions on how to change Article 301.

NGOs are expected to introduce a set of proposals and arrangements
to the government in order to make the law more clear and hinder
any misinterpretation.

"Everyone should draw similar conclusions from laws. It’s not correct
to play with major laws such as those in the penal code; they should
have a sound basis," Okcan added.

DİSK, the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions
(Turk-İş), the Labor Confederation (Hak-İş), the
Turkish Confederation of Employers’ Unions (TİSK), the Turkish
Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB), the Economic
Development Foundation (İKV), the Turkish Industrialists and
Businessmen’s Association (TUSİAD), the Turkish Agriculturalists’
Union, the Turkish Doctors’ Union (TTB) and the Turkish Television
Broadcasters’ Union are actively studying proposals for possible
changes to Article 301.

Press Council Chairman Oktay Ekşi, meanwhile, had earlier sent
a letter to Erdogan, listing in detail the council’s proposals for
amendments to the article.