AMENDMENT OF 301 WILL NOT FREE EVERYTHING: TURKISH JUSTICE MINISTER

NTV MSNBC
April 22 2008
Turkey

Sahin said that the amendments to article 301 of the Turkish Penal
Code could be brought to the parliament next week.

ANKARA – The changes made to the controversial article 301 would
please particularly writers and cartoonists, Justice Minister Mehmet
Ali Sahin said on Tuesday.

However, Sahin said that there was no question of there being unlimited
freedom to criticize.

"No one should think that after the new regulation everything will
be free," Sahin said.

Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code has been widely criticized for
limiting freedom of expression and the European Union called Ankara
to abolish the article.

The article defines the crime of insulting "Turkishness" or Turkish
identity, as well as some of the state’s institutions. Nobel prize
winner Orhan Pamuk was tried under the article and Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrnat Dink, who was murdered in January last year, was
found guilty under the same article With the proposed amendment to
the law placing the authority of whether to open a court case based
on the article with his ministry, Sahin said this would add to the
workload of his office.

However, Sahin said that his ministry was very experienced in this
matter and that it would act like a filter.

The reducing of the maximum sentence under article 301 from three years
in prison to two was at the discretion of the presiding judge, he said,
while sentences could be dropped or that fines could be implemented,
said Sahin.