NGOS PROPOSE CHANGES TO TURKEY’S FREEDOM-CURBING LAW BLAMED FOR JOURNALIST’S SLAYING

AP Worldstream
Feb 08, 2007

A group of activists on Thursday submitted a proposal to the government
to amend Turkey’s infamous article 301 of the penal code, which has
been used to prosecute intellectuals and has been blamed for the
killing of a journalist.

Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk and slain ethnic Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink were both prosecuted under the broad law that
bans the denigration of "Turkishness." Both had spoken out about the
mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century. Numerous other
writers, journalists and academics have also been prosecuted.

Dink, the editor of the minority Agos newspaper, was shot dead outside
his Istanbul office on Jan. 19. His murder revived a debate about
the need to change the problematic article. Many blamed article 301
for his slaying, saying his prosecution had made him a target for
ultranationalist groups.

On Thursday, a group of trade unions and other nongovernmental
organizations proposed a new wording to the article, which they said
sets clearer limits for what would constitute insult and what would
constitute criticism.

There was no immediate reaction from the government, which has said
it is willing to amend the article but is waiting for recommendations
from civil society groups.

Newspapers, however, have criticized the proposed amendment saying
it would not put a stop to the prosecutions.

The proposal, among other things, replaces "insulting Turkishness"
with wording that would translate as "openly abasing and deriding"
Turkishness.

"In its existing form (the article) is too vague and open to
interpretations," said Davut Okutcu, who heads the Istanbul-based
Economic Development Foundation. "There was a need for a wording
purified of vague expressions which would not open the way to
unnecessary prosecution."

Pamuk, who won the Nobel Prize in literature last year, also had
faced trial in Turkey for his comments on the Armenian killings and
had been accused of treason for doing so. His case was thrown out on
a technicality.

Dink’s murder inspired a massive outpouring of support for liberal
values, including freedom of expression, tolerance and reconciliation
between Armenians and Turks,

But the killing also pointed to Turkey’s continuing problems with
extreme nationalism. Most Turks suspect the killing might be linked
to ultranationalist groups.