Turk parliament approves free speech reform

By Hidir Goktas Reuters - Wednesday, April 30 02:23 pm

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's parliament approved a long-awaited revision of a law criticised by the European Union for limiting free speech in the candidate country, but writers and activists say the reform does not go far enough.

The reform to article 301 of the penal code was approved early on Wednesday with 250 votes for and 65 against amid fierce criticism from the nationalist opposition.

The article has been used to prosecute hundreds of writers, including Nobel Literature Laureate Orhan Pamuk, for "insulting Turkishness".

In Brussels, the European Commission gave a cautious welcome to the amendment and said Turkey would need to change other laws to put a stop to the harrassment of intellectuals for expressing peaceful opinions.

"This amendment is of course a welcome step forward and the Commission now looks forward to further moves that change similar articles in the penal code, because this article was not the only one addressed ... in order to ensure in fact that unwarranted prosecutions stop," a spokesman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.

After the reform, it will be a crime to insult the Turkish nation, rather than Turkishness, and the justice minister's permission will be required to open a case. The maximum sentence will be cut to two years from three.

But writers and publishers fear they will continue to face frequent trials as they argue that the changes are minor while other laws restricting freedom of expression remain intact.

The Slovenian presidency of the 27-nation EU called the revision "a constructive step forward in ensuring freedom of expression" and called for its effective implementation.

TEST

The EU has said easing restrictions on free speech is a test of Turkey's commitment to political reform as Ankara looks to advance slow-moving membership talks which began in 2005.

Rehn had declared changing article 301 his top priority and a compulsory benchmark for opening talks with Turkey on justice and home affairs.

Defending the reform against criticism from the opposition, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said there would still be restrictions on insulting Turkey.

"With this change, it is not a question of letting people insult Turkishness freely," he told parliament.

Sahin's Islamist-rooted AK Party, at odds with Turkey's secular establishment over the role of Islam, faces a court case brought by a prosecutor who is seeking to get it closed down because of Islamist activities.

It has also faced opposition over the free speech reform from nationalists, who delayed the bill several times before it was eventually passed in the middle of the night after eight hours of debate.

Armenian-Turkish editor Hrant Dink, who was shot dead by an ultra-nationalist youth last year, had been convicted under article 301.

The far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) accused the government of betraying the country's identity and pandering to EU demands that it reform laws prohibiting Turks from insulting their nation.

MHP leader Devlet Bahceli told a meeting of his party ahead of the vote the reform would be a "historical mistake".

"Slandering Turkey's honourable history, insulting the Turkish nation and the values of Turkishness has become a habit with the AK Party's political thinking, which lacks a sense of identity," he said.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) also opposed the reform. The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), whose members often end up in court for expressing views on the Kurdish issue, wanted to abolish the article.

Article 301 has notably been used against writers such as Pamuk for comments on the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915-16. Turkey denies claims by Armenians and many Western historians that the killings constituted genocide.

(additional reporting by Paul Taylor in Brussels; Writing by Daren Butler and Emma Ross-Thomas; Editing by Dominic Evans)

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