TURK PRESIDENT URGES CHANGE IN IDENTITY LAW

Morning Star
October 4, 2007 Thursday

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday that there were
problems with a contentious law that makes it a crime to insult
Turkish identity and it needed to be changed.

Nobel-winning author Orhan Pamuk and murdered ethnic Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink were among those prosecuted under the law.

So far, Turkey’s government resisted those calls.

"We know there are problems with regard to article 301," Mr Gul told
journalists at the Council of Europe. "I support the idea of article
301 to change."

He told parliamentarians that an "unfair perception" prevailed that
people were imprisoned because of article 301 and he insisted there
was freedom of speech in Turkey.