DUTCH PM REQUESTED SECRETARY OF STATE TO EXPLAIN WHY TURKEY REFUSES TO AMEND ARTICLE 301
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.10.2007 15:02 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ This week Dutch MP Henk Jan Ormel of Christian
Democratic Party (CDA) submitted written questions to the Dutch
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans (Labor Party,
PvdA), about recent conviction of Arat Dink, the son of assassinated
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, for "insulting Turkishness"
under article 301 of Turkish Penal Code. Mr. Ormel asks whether the
Secretary of State can explain why the Turkish government refuses to
amend the notorious article.
A Spokesman for the Federation of Armenain Organization of the
Netherlands, Inge Drost told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that former
Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ben Bot, has reassured the Dutch
parliament on several occasions in the past that article 301 was to be
amended in short term. Then he referred to personal promises made to
him by former Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, now President Gul,
as well as by the Turkish Ambassador in the Netherlands. Unfortunately,
these promises have been never kept. Mr. Ormel wants to know if
Mr. Timmermans is going to urge Turkey again, in the EU context,
to amend article 301.
Arat Dink was given a 1-year suspended sentence for re-publishing
Hrant Dink’s interview, where he spoke of the Armenian Genocide.
Hrant Dink was gunned down outside his newspaper premises in Istanbul
on January 19, 2007 by teenager Ogun Samast.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
