OLLI REHN: ARTICLE 301 POISONING TURKEY’S RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.12.2007 18:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey is preparing to amend a controversial law on
freedom of speech that has been criticized repeatedly by the European
Union and could slow EU accession talks with Brussels.

The Justice Ministry will hand the draft amendment to article 301 of
the Penal Code, which makes it an offence to "insult Turkishness",
to the cabinet within 15 days, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin told
reporters on Tuesday.

It was not clear when the cabinet would approve the amendment.

The European Commission’s annual progress report on Turkey, published
in November, called on Ankara to make "significant further efforts"
on freedom of expression and religion, and noted that more people
had been prosecuted under article 301 last year than in 2005.

Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has recommended that the EU not
extend accession talks to the key areas of justice and human rights
until the article is changed.

EU officials said the law was poisoning Turkey’s relations with
Armenia.

Ankara began EU accession negotiations in 2005 but the EU suspended
talks last December on eight of the 35 chapters or policy areas into
which EU law is divided after Ankara refused to open its ports and
airports to traffic from Cyprus, Reuters reports.