RAGIP ZARAKOLU : "TO BE MORE CREDIBLE, THE EU SHOULD BE MORE DEMANDING OF TURKEY."

AZG Armenian Daily
08/10/2008

Europe-Armenia-Turkey

Well known Turkish dissident expresses concern over the EU’s
abandonment of Turkish intellectuals.

Prosecutions have been authorized against 30+ dissidents since the
"reform" of article 301.

At the invitation of the European Armenian Federation, Ragip Zarakolu,
the well known Turkish dissident, paid a visit to Brussels after an
appearance in Amsterdam, where he was honoured with the Freedom of
Expression award, granted by the International Publishers Association
(cf speech here). On the occasion, the European Armenian Federation
organized meetings between Mr Zarakolu and several political leaders of
the European Union – Commission members, representatives of the French
presidency and European MEPs. These meetings gave Mr Zarakolu the
opportunity to share the current reality in Turkey with several members
of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee as well as the presidency of the
EU-Turkey Interparliamentary Delegation (pictures available here).

Mr. Zarakolu stated that the freedom of expression has regressed in
Turkey. He argued that Â" in 1997 and in 2000, people who published
on the Armenian genocide were prosecuted but acquitted Â" while Â"
they are nowadays condemned Â".

He shared that the 7/2 and 8 articles of the anti-terror law are
increasingly being used against the mass media, especially when
the Kurdish question is tackled in term of political, cultural
and collective rights. Regarding article 301, its history "is
intertwined with that of his trial", he reiterated the position of
Turkish intellectuals a who believe that this article is Â"completely
incompatible with democracy and must be completely abrogated".

Regarding the Turkish judiciary system, Ragip Zarakolu and Joost
Lagendijk, the chairperson of the EU-Turkey Interparliamentary
Delegation – the latter being an unconditional supporter of Turkish
accession despite the fact he was prosecuted under article 301 too –
deplored that "the European programme which aims at improving the
judiciary system have worked for magistrates from Eastern Europe but
doesn’t work for Turkish magistrates" and "those who today pronounce
indictments under article 301 are those who still had following
European training courses".

In general, Mr. Zarakolu criticized the Turkish government’s
opportunistic policy that "does not authorize prosecutions when
there is a risk of harming the international image of Turkey" but
that authorizes those against intellectuals who are not well-known
in the Western countries".

Mr. Zarakolu, as the president of the Committee for Freedom of
Publication, also presented the 2008 report on freedom of expression
in Turkey published by the Turkish Association of Publishers, and
revealed that according to official figures from the Turkish Minister
of Justice, prosecutions against 36 people have been authorized in
accordance with article 301 since its "reform".

He called on the Union "to be firmer in its principles" and to demand
of Turkey "concrete improvements". Contrary to the media figures
promoted by the Turkish government, he concluded saying that "a stiffer
approach by the Union is the only solution to make Turkey progress"
by criticizing the fact that Turkey "is reluctant to make reforms"
and tries to obtain "special rights in Europe".

"We call on the European Union to give all its support to the struggle
of these men and women – dissidents – prosecuted and threatened with
the Turkish government’s complicity", commented Hilda Tchoboian,
the chairperson of the European Armenian Federation.

The European Armenian Federation is acting in Europe in support of
the important re-examination of the Human Rights situation in Turkey
and Turkey’s breaches of the European Union accession criteria

P.S. Ragip Zarakolu is a publisher and one of the founding members of
the Turkish Association for Human Rights. He was on trial under article
301 for his publications on Turkish taboos (Armenian genocide, Kurdish
question, role of the army in political life, torture…). In June
2008, he was the very first person to be convicted under article 301 of
the Turkish Penal Code, less than a week after "it had been reformed".

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