New Europe, Belgium
May 5 2008

EU cautious over change in `insulting Turkishness’
5 May 2008 – Issue : 780

The European Union has given a wary reception to amendments approved
by the Turkish parliament on its infamous Article 301 of the criminal
code regulating freedom of speech, which made it a serious crime to
`insult Turkishness,’ and had led to the jailing of dissidents and
those who pushed to recognise the Armenian genocide. In a statement
issued on behalf of all 27 EU member states, the bloc’s presidency
called the change, which replaced `insulting Turkishness,’ with
`insulting the Turkish nation,’ as `a constructive step forward.’ `We
look forward to its effective implementation.

This step is both positive for Turkey and an indication of Turkey’s
continuing commitment to the reform process,’ the statement added. The
European executive, the Commission, said it was now looking forward to
`further moves to change similar articles in the penal codes’ so as to
ensure an end to unwarranted prosecutions. `Now the Turkish
authorities need to focus on the implementation of the reform to
guarantee freedom of expression for all Turkish citizens,’ a
commission spokesman said.

The approved amendments also reduce the maximum prison sentence that
courts may inflict on offenders, from three to two years, and makes
the opening of court cases subject to approval by the justice
minister. The EU and human rights groups have long campaigned for
changes to the law, which have been used to prosecute hundreds of
writers and intellectuals. Of these, the most prominent has been Nobel
laureate Orhan Pamuk and ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who
was murdered after being found guilty of `insulting Turkishness.’

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress