ERDOðAN’S PROPOSAL FOR ARTICLE 301 FAILS TO SATISFY JOURNALISTS
AyÞe Karabat Ankara

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Oct 24 2007

A proposal floated by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan for the
infamous Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), an obstacle to
freedom of expression, has failed to satisfy journalists and human
rights activists.

Erdoðan proposed that the first paragraph of the article, which
suggests "those insulting Turkishness are to be penalized for six
months to three years" should be kept as is. "But the fact that
‘Turkishness’ does not refer to ‘ethnic origin’ but to constitutional
citizenship should be clarified," he said.

Journalist Erdal Þafak from Sabah daily thinks that this
"clarification" will not solve the problem completely. Þafak thinks
that such a clarification will not prevent prosecutors from indicting
people who demand that Armenian claims of genocide be examined by
historians, or those who, at a scientific conference, use expressions
Armenians use. Þafak is of the opinion that accusing a person of
"insulting Turkishness" should be bound to prior authorization by the
Ministry of Justice, a solution already voiced by Cemil Cicek while
he served as the minister of justice in the previous government.

Þafak thinks that going a step further and seeking permission from
the president will be applauded as a much more contemporary solution
that is free from politics.

Human Rights Association (ÝHD) Chairman Husnu Ondul says that no
solution is better than abolishing Article 301 completely. Opposing
Cicek’s view during his term as minister of justice that the problem
could be avoided by the judges during the cases tried under this
law, Ondul thinks that the approach of the judiciary is itself
problematic. "Judges think that this insult is directed toward them
personally. When they preside over Article 301 cases, they think
that they themselves are the state or represent Turkishness," Ondul
complained to Today’s Zaman.

Journalist and sociologist Doðan Týlýc thinks that the government’s
resistance to abolishing Article 301 completely is telling in itself.

"Turkey is moving into a period of extreme sensitivity about national
identity, and the negative perception of the ‘ethnic other’ is at its
all-time peak. In such an atmosphere, a cosmetic change made to the
wording of Article 301 won’t work. It should be abolished completely,"
Týlýc commented to Today’s Zaman.

While Turkey is coping with a seemingly existential terrorist threat,
it seems that the government is not ready to put the country on its
European Union membership track. In an atmosphere where nationalist
sentiments are high and the prestige of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK)
is boosted due to the martyrs lost in the war against terrorism, the
government does not seem to be willing to question the relationship
between criticizing the wrongdoings of some army personnel and
insulting Turkishness. This unwillingness is exactly the reason why
journalists Lale Sarýibrahimoðlu and Ahmet Þýk are going to appear
at the first hearing of a court case against them.

Would a clarification of the meaning of "Turkishness" as
referring to constitutional citizenship, prevent Sarýibrahimoðlu’s
headache? Probably not.

–Boundary_(ID_df9ylr1gt1yVD0pvtN8Ukg)–