OSCE representative slams Article 301

PanARMENIAN.Net - The OSCE representative on freedom of media has criticized the Turkish government for its stance on controversial Article 301 of the country's Penal Code (TCK), describing it as a sword of Damocles hanging over Turkish democracy, Today's Zaman reported.



Miklos Haraszti, speaking at a conference at Bilgi University in İstanbul, noted the role of Article 301 in preventing further improvements in freedom of speech and democratic standards in the country,



"Despite all the progress, we have observed a reluctance of Turkish authorities to fully liberalize the Turkish media. ... A few years ago the Turkish Penal Code was amended. However, Article 301 has been hanging over media freedom. Why has the government not taken the step of abolishing this article? It knows how the article contradicts liberal democratic principles. I think the reason is political," the newspaper quoted Haraszti as saying.



Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code envisages criminal liability for "insulting the Turkish nation." Before the current government passed an amendment to the article, the crime of "insulting Turkishness" was far more serious and broadly prosecuted, which led to the conviction of many intellectuals, including writer, Nobel Prize Winner Orhan Pamuk and Editor-in-Chief of Turkish-Armenian newspaper Hrant Dink. The former was forced to flee the country to avoid prosecution while the latter was assassinated near his office in Istanbul in January 2007.



OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) is the world's biggest regional organization dealing with security issues. It  unites 56 countries situated in North America, Europe and Central Asia.



The organization's member are: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France Great Britain, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Malta¸ Moldova, Monaco Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Roumania, San-Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United States, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vatican.



Partner countries include: Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Marocco, Mongolia, South Korea, Thailand and Tunisia.



Armenia became an OSCE member state on January 30, 1992.