TURKISH GOV’T TO REFORM A LAW CURBING EXPRESSION

Xinhua General News Service
November 6, 2007 Tuesday 1:00 PM EST

Turkish government has finished reforming a law curbing freedom of
expression and the proposal would be brought to parliament in the
coming days for a vote, a Turkish TV channel reported on Tuesday.

The TV channel quoted the Turkish Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin as
saying that its government had finished work on reforming a law which
was criticized by the European Union (EU) for curbing free speech.

Early Tuesday, the EU said in its annual report on Turkey that
it was concerned about the law, which makes it a crime to insult
Turkish identity or the country’s institutions and Turkey must make
"significant further efforts" on freedom of expression and religion
to move forward its bid for EU entry.

The report also noted that the law has been used to prosecute people
for making comments about the mass killings of Armenians by Turks in
the early 20th century.