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Freedom of expression still in danger in
Turkey despite article 301 reform
6.5.2008
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May 6, 2008
Amendments to a law punishing insults to Turkish
identity which the Turkish parliament adopted on 30
April are “cosmetic and insufficient,” Reporters
Without Borders said today. Dozens of writers and
journalists have been convicted under the law,
article 301 of the criminal code, since its
introduction in 2005.
“It is wrong to regard this reform as good news,”
the press freedom organisation said. “It is true the
penalties have been reduced,www.ekurd.net
but insults to Turkish
identity has simply been replaced by insults to the
Turkish nation, leaving judges a lot of leeway to
prosecute anyone who publicly broaches sensitive
issues such as the Armenian genocide or the Kurdish
issue.”
Reporters Without Borders added: “Furthermore, this
reform concerns only article 301. Any real
improvement in freedom of expression in Turkey would
have to include a thorough overhaul of all the laws
and regulations that restrict it. The limited nature
of this reform highlights the size of the problem
that free speech poses to the Turkish authorities.”
The national assembly approved the amendments to
article 301 after a stormy debate on 30 April by 250
votes to 65. Article 301, which took effect in May
2005 replacing article 109 of the old criminal code,
made attacks on “Turkish identity” punishable by up
to three years in prison and it was used to
prosecute several thousand people.
According to justice minister Mehmet Ali Sahin,
1,189 people were taken before a court in the first
quarter of 2007 alone for article 301 violations.
Nobel prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk and
Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor Hrant Dink, who
was murdered by ultranationalists in Istanbul on 19
January 2007, were among those prosecuted under the
article.
The reform replaces attacks on “Turkishness” by
attacks on the “Turkish nation” and reduces the
maximum prison sentence from three years to two. And
most trials under article 301 will henceforth take
place before magistrate courts instead of criminal
courts. Article 301 proceedings currently under way
will be dropped, and the cases will be reexamined in
the light of the new provisions.
Article 301 is just one element of the legislative
arsenal restricting free expression in Turkey. Other
laws punish attacks on fundamental national
interests (article 305), inciting hatred, hostility
or humiliation (article 216), attacking the memory
of the Turkish republic’s founder, Atatürk (law 5816
of 25 July 1951) and discouraging the public from
doing military service (article 318). In many cases,
the penalties increase by a half when the media are
used to break the law.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, rsf org
See also
Turkey: Parliament Approves
'Cosmetic' Free-Speech Reform 1.5.2008
** Kurds are not recognized as an official minority
in Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in Big
Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to 25 million ethnic Kurds, a large
Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with
the Kurdish PKK for a Kurdish homeland in the
country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media. The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet has led
to judicial persecution in 2000 and 2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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