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PRESIDENT OF TURKEY DEFENDS RIGHTS RECORD
Reuters
International Herald Tribune, France
Oct 3 2007
STRASBOURG: Abdullah Gul, the president of Turkey, on Wednesday
defended his country's human rights record in a major European forum
but said much remained to be done, including action on a law that
has been used to restrict free speech.
The European Union, which Ankara hopes to join, has urged Turkey to
scrap the law, Article 301 of the country's penal code, which makes
it a crime to insult Turkish national identity or state institutions.
"Nobody is in prison in Turkey today for expressing their ideas,"
Gul said before the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe
in Strasbourg.
"But there are many more things still to do."
Gul later told reporters he wanted to see Article 301 amended, noting
that it had caused much damage to Turkey's image as it negotiates
for membership in the European Union.
Nationalist prosecutors in Turkey have used Article 301 against
dozens of writers, journalists and scholars, including Orhan Pamuk,
who received the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, although cases rarely
end in convictions.
"Even though nobody has been jailed under this article, I would like
to see it changed," Gul said.
"Parliament is now open and I predict some regulations could be made
in connection with this issue."
In Turkey, the government, not the president, makes policy, but
Gul retains influence in the governing AK party, which he served as
foreign minister until Parliament elected him head of state in August.
So far, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government has resisted EU
pressure to scrap or amend Article 301, saying it will proceed with
changes at its own pace.
Human rights campaigners say the law seriously discourages freedom
of expression and feeds a climate of intolerance exploited by
ultranationalists.
One of the few writers to have been convicted under the article was
the Turkish Armenian editor Hrant Dink. Because of his views on the
Ottoman Turkish massacres of Armenians in 1915, Dink was fatally shot
in January in Istanbul by a young ultranationalist.
Responding to questions from members of the European Parliament,
Gul defended Turkey's treatment of its large Kurdish ethnic minority,
saying Kurds had achieved more freedoms in the past few years.
"We see cultural differences as an asset," he said, "but they cannot
justify separation." Gul was apparently referring to Kurdish rebels
fighting Ankara's rule in a conflict that has cost more than 30,000
lives since 1984.
Gul said a new constitution being prepared by the government would
further bolster individual rights and freedoms in Turkey.
Reuters
International Herald Tribune, France
Oct 3 2007
STRASBOURG: Abdullah Gul, the president of Turkey, on Wednesday
defended his country's human rights record in a major European forum
but said much remained to be done, including action on a law that
has been used to restrict free speech.
The European Union, which Ankara hopes to join, has urged Turkey to
scrap the law, Article 301 of the country's penal code, which makes
it a crime to insult Turkish national identity or state institutions.
"Nobody is in prison in Turkey today for expressing their ideas,"
Gul said before the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe
in Strasbourg.
"But there are many more things still to do."
Gul later told reporters he wanted to see Article 301 amended, noting
that it had caused much damage to Turkey's image as it negotiates
for membership in the European Union.
Nationalist prosecutors in Turkey have used Article 301 against
dozens of writers, journalists and scholars, including Orhan Pamuk,
who received the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, although cases rarely
end in convictions.
"Even though nobody has been jailed under this article, I would like
to see it changed," Gul said.
"Parliament is now open and I predict some regulations could be made
in connection with this issue."
In Turkey, the government, not the president, makes policy, but
Gul retains influence in the governing AK party, which he served as
foreign minister until Parliament elected him head of state in August.
So far, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government has resisted EU
pressure to scrap or amend Article 301, saying it will proceed with
changes at its own pace.
Human rights campaigners say the law seriously discourages freedom
of expression and feeds a climate of intolerance exploited by
ultranationalists.
One of the few writers to have been convicted under the article was
the Turkish Armenian editor Hrant Dink. Because of his views on the
Ottoman Turkish massacres of Armenians in 1915, Dink was fatally shot
in January in Istanbul by a young ultranationalist.
Responding to questions from members of the European Parliament,
Gul defended Turkey's treatment of its large Kurdish ethnic minority,
saying Kurds had achieved more freedoms in the past few years.
"We see cultural differences as an asset," he said, "but they cannot
justify separation." Gul was apparently referring to Kurdish rebels
fighting Ankara's rule in a conflict that has cost more than 30,000
lives since 1984.
Gul said a new constitution being prepared by the government would
further bolster individual rights and freedoms in Turkey.