EAFJD: article 301 amendment is nothing but manipulation of words

PanARMENIAN.Net - On Wednesday, April 30, 2008, the Turkish Parliament adopted the AKP bill which "amends" the disturbing article 301 that penalizes freedom of expression in Turkey. The amendment, which consists only of replacing the crime of "insulting Turkishness" with that of "insulting the Turkish nation," was adopted by 250 votes for and 65 against. In addition, prosecutions will now have to be pre-approved by the Ministry of Justice and the maximum penalty will be reduced from three to two years imprisonment.



For several years now, article 301, in its initial form, has been widely invoked to prosecute any author of dissident opinions on Turkish taboos such as the Armenian Genocide and its acknowledgment, the Kurdish issue or the occupation of Cyprus. A segment of the Turkish public opinion considers that the charges against journalist Hrant Dink, at that time, for his article led to his tragic assassination in January 2007.



Throughout Europe and even in Turkey, a number of entities have denounced this parody of reform and have demanded a complete abolition of article 301 and other clauses.



The general view is that the "reform" adopted will not change anything with respect to the critical situation regarding freedom of expression in Turkey and intellectuals will still be prosecuted. Indeed, the Turkish Minister of Justice intervened during the debates in Parliament to make clear that "with this law, there is no question of letting people freely insult the "Turkish identity".



"This so-called reform is a joke", declared Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian Federation. "It curiously resembles the manipulation of article 305, which remained absolutely identical in its punitive clauses, but from which the Turkish Parliament just removed the statement of motives that cited the Armenian Genocide and the occupation of Cyprus," she explained.



"The European Union should not let itself be anaesthetized by this gross manipulation of words," stated Hilda Tchoboian.



The European Armenian Federation reminds that, in the hope of significant reform, the report on Turkey introduced by the MEP from EPP group (CDA - Christian Democrat - Netherlands), Ria Oomen-Ruijten, and adopted on April 21st 2008, used for the second consecutive year a complacent and flattering tone on the situation, however critical, of Human Rights in Turkey.



The Federation takes note, with admiration, of the official declaration in Turkey by two intellectuals - Eren Keskin and Erdogan Aydin, affirming and recognizing the Armenian Genocide.



"When we see the courage of these persons, we cannot accept that MEPs betray them by accepting this official trickery. The Parliament should also not accept "the omerta" (code of silence) imposed by Ankara on the Genocide in the report that will be adopted in plenary session in the coming weeks," concluded Hilda Tchoboian.