Gul acknowledged the necessity to make changes in 301st article

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.01.2007 13:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul acknowledged
that changes in penal code article on "Insulting Turkishness" are
necessary. "We know that there are some problems with Article 301
and we see that changes in the article are necessary," he stated.
"We want free expression of thoughts that do not contain any incitement
to violence. We don’t want anyone to go to jail because of expressing
his or her views," said Gul adding that the government was in touch
with non-governmental organizations to obtain their proposals on how
Article 301 should change.

Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code is once again under the spotlight
after the murder of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist who had
been tried and sentenced to a six-month suspended imprisonment for
"insulting Turkishness" under the law.

Meanwhile, the Turkish government has dragged its feet on changing
the law, requesting more time to see how it is implemented and saying
that no one, in the end, has been sent to jail under Article 301. But
Dink, in his last column for his Turkish-Armenian newspaper, Agos,
wrote that imprisonment was not the only punishment that a person
could suffer, complaining that he had come to be known as a person
convicted of insulting Turkishness.

Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, one of the most reluctant figures
within the government to change the law, said on Tuesday that possible
amendments should be discussed at a later stage, after Dink was buried,
Turks.US Daily News reports.

Dink’s funeral took place in Istanbul January 23. Dink’s funeral
drew up to 100 000 people. Some participants carried banners reading
"Murderer 301", "We all are Armenians". The Armenian delegation at
the head of Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakossian had departed
for Istanbul to attend Dink’s funeral.