EU URGES ‘SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES’ TO TURKISH LAW RESTRICTING FREEDOM OF SPEECH

International Herald Tribune, France
The Associated Press
Oct 24 2007

STRASBOURG, France: The European Union on Wednesday urged Turkey
to make "substantial changes" to a law restricting the freedom of
speech and press ahead with other reforms crucial for its bid to join
the bloc.

Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk and slain ethnic Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink are among those who have been prosecuted under
the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish penal code that make it
a crime to insult Turkish identity or the country’s institutions.

"We regret the lack of progress that has been made, … There have
to be substantial changes to Article 301 and also to other articles
worded in similarly vague terms," said Portugal’s European affairs
minister Manuel Lobo Antunes, speaking on behalf of the EU.

Antunes spoke to the European Parliament ahead of a Nov. 6 report by
the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, on the progress in
Turkey’s membership bid. The European Parliament passed a resolution
Wednesday that also calls for deeper reforms.

Turkish troops shelled Kurdish rebel positions across the border in
Iraq after an ambush that killed 12 soldiers Sunday. The EU condemned
attacks by the Kurdish PKK organization – which it considers a
terrorist group – but reiterated its call on Turkey to resolve the
issue in cooperation with Iraq and by respecting international law.

Pamuk and Dink had both been prosecuted under Article 301 for comments
about the mass killings of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th
century, an issue that has also strained Turkey’s relations with the
United States after a U.S. House of Representatives panel approved
a resolution labeling the killings as genocide.

Turkey’s EU membership talks began in 2005, but human rights, a
dispute over divided Cyprus and other issues have slowed the bid. EU
enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said negotiations in two new policy
areas could be opened "in the coming weeks."

Turkey must implement EU legislation into its national rulebooks in
35 negotiating "chapters," a process expected to take years.

Antunes, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, also urged
Turkey to recognize Cyprus and speed up the improvement of religious,
cultural and women’s rights in Turkey. Better democratic oversight of
the country’s powerful military forces – which have vowed to safeguard
Turkish secularism – was also needed, he said.

Cyprus has been divided between a Greek Cypriot south and a
Turkish-occupied north since 1974, when Turkey invaded after an
abortive Athens-backed coup by supporters of union with Greece. A
U.N. peace blueprint was approved by Turkish Cypriots, but rejected by
Greek Cypriots in 2004, which meant Cyprus joined the EU as a divided
nation – with only the Greek Cypriot south enjoying EU benefits.

Turkey is under intense pressure from the EU to allow Greek Cypriot
planes and vessels to use Turkish ports and airports, but Ankara
has said it will not agree to any concessions on Cyprus until the EU
keeps to a promise to end the isolation of Turkish Cypriots.

The EU assembly said that Turkey’s refusal to comply with the
commitments made when it opened its accession talks with the EU
"will continue to affect seriously the process of negotiations."

But the parliamentary resolution did not address the issue of the
World War I-era killing of 1.5 million Armenians.

"Quite a few feel it was genocide – but in the current situation we
don’t think it’s a subject that should be addressed in a way that would
negatively affect our relations with Turkey," said Dimitris Komodoros,
spokesman for the Socialist group in the European Parliament.