CHANGES TO CONTROVERSIAL TURKISH LAW ON SPEECH FREEDOM SENT TO PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE

NTV MSNBC
April 14 2008
Turkey

Toptan said he personally believed it would be better if the country’s
Justice Minister, rather than the head of state, be responsible for
authorizing prosecutions under article 301.

– The speaker of Turkey’s parliament has forwarded a draft bill
amending a controversial article of the Turkish penal code critics
claim restricts freedom of expression to the parliamentary committee
on justice for discussion.

The proposals to amend article 301 of the penal code were in compliance
with legal procedures and, following the committee’s deliberations
on the proposed changes to the law, the legislation would be sent to
the general assemble for debate, parliamentary speaker Koksal Toptan
said Monday.

Article 301 covers the crime of insulting "Turkishness" or Turkish
identity and has been used by both state prosecutors and in cases
opened by private citizens to put on trial those accused of belittling
the national character.

Among those taken to court for alleged breaches of article 301 have
been Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, who was gunned down in Istanbul in January 2007.

Under the proposed changes to article 301, the term insulting
Turkishness will be replaced with insulting the Turkish nation.

The draft legislation also proposes that the president be granted
with the sole authority to approve the launching of a prosecution
under the article.

However, that have been signs that the government may back down from
this position, suggesting that the Justice Minister be given the
authority to allow prosecutions under article 301 to go ahead.