ABDULLAH GUL WANTS TURKEY INSULT BAN SOFTENED

The Daily Telegraph, UK
Oct 4 2007

The Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, yesterday called for changes
to a law on "insulting Turkishness" that has damaged Turkey’s bid to
join the EU.

Nationalist prosecutors in Turkey have used the law, known as Article
301, against dozens of writers, journalists and scholars, including
the Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk, if they consider that
their work has insulted the state or Turkish identity.

Speaking at the Council for Europe, Mr Gul said he recognised
"problems" in the current law, although he insisted there was an
"unfair perception" that freedom of speech was restricted in Turkey.

advertisement"We know there are problems with Article 301. There is
still room for improvement and there are changes to be enacted in
the period ahead," Mr Gul said.

One of the few writers convicted under the article was the Turkish
Armenian editor Hrant Dink. He was shot dead in Istanbul by a young
ultra-nationalist in January because of his views on the deaths of
Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1915.

Mr Gul, who has previously said the law is damaging Turkey’s image,
told the Council: "No one is going to prison for expressing their
view freely. All forms of discrimination are banned."