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TURKEY PLEDGES TO KEEP UP REFORM AFTER EU CRITICISM
Agence France Presse -- English
September 26, 2006 Tuesday
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged Tuesday that Turkey
would stick to the path of democratic reform following European
Union criticism that EU-hopeful Ankara was failing to ensure freedom
of speech.
"We are keeping up the reform process, without slowing down and without
losing our enthusiasm," Erdogan said in a speech to lawmakers from
his Justice and Development Party.
Last week, the EU slammed Ankara for failing to promote free speech
after best-selling novelist Elif Shafak went on trial for insulting
the Turkish nation in a book about the massacres of Armenians under
the Ottoman Empire.
Even though the writer was swiftly acquitted, the European Commission
said "a significant threat to freedom of expression" remains in
Turkish law and urged amendements in the penal code, including the
infamous Article 301, which landed Shafak as well as a string of
other intellectuals in court.
Erdogan reiterated the government was open to proposals to amend
Article 301 in order to "to thicken the line between offence and
criticism."
He said, however, that freedoms cannot be "limitless" and underlined
that enacting higher democracy norms in the country also required
"a change in mentality" among the judiciary, "which does not happen
overnight."
Article 301 sets out up to three years in jail "for denigrating
Turkish national identity" and insulting state institutions.
No one has yet been imprisoned under the provision, but the appeals
court in July confirmed the suspended six-month sentence of a
Turkish-Armenian journalist, setting a precedent for dozens of other
pending cases.
Parliament last week began debating a package of reforms aimed at
further boosting Turkey's accession bid before a crucial European
Commission report on November 8 detailing the country's progress
towards membership.
Erdogan said the government was determined to press ahead with a draft
law expanding the property rights of non-Muslim religious foundations,
brushing aside criticism from the opposition that the planned reform
would grant too broad rights to minorities.
Turkey's EU bid is already complicated by its rejection to open its
sea and air ports to Greek Cypriots on the grounds that international
restrictions on the breakaway Turkish Cypriots statelet should be
simultanously lifted.
From: Baghdasarian
Agence France Presse -- English
September 26, 2006 Tuesday
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged Tuesday that Turkey
would stick to the path of democratic reform following European
Union criticism that EU-hopeful Ankara was failing to ensure freedom
of speech.
"We are keeping up the reform process, without slowing down and without
losing our enthusiasm," Erdogan said in a speech to lawmakers from
his Justice and Development Party.
Last week, the EU slammed Ankara for failing to promote free speech
after best-selling novelist Elif Shafak went on trial for insulting
the Turkish nation in a book about the massacres of Armenians under
the Ottoman Empire.
Even though the writer was swiftly acquitted, the European Commission
said "a significant threat to freedom of expression" remains in
Turkish law and urged amendements in the penal code, including the
infamous Article 301, which landed Shafak as well as a string of
other intellectuals in court.
Erdogan reiterated the government was open to proposals to amend
Article 301 in order to "to thicken the line between offence and
criticism."
He said, however, that freedoms cannot be "limitless" and underlined
that enacting higher democracy norms in the country also required
"a change in mentality" among the judiciary, "which does not happen
overnight."
Article 301 sets out up to three years in jail "for denigrating
Turkish national identity" and insulting state institutions.
No one has yet been imprisoned under the provision, but the appeals
court in July confirmed the suspended six-month sentence of a
Turkish-Armenian journalist, setting a precedent for dozens of other
pending cases.
Parliament last week began debating a package of reforms aimed at
further boosting Turkey's accession bid before a crucial European
Commission report on November 8 detailing the country's progress
towards membership.
Erdogan said the government was determined to press ahead with a draft
law expanding the property rights of non-Muslim religious foundations,
brushing aside criticism from the opposition that the planned reform
would grant too broad rights to minorities.
Turkey's EU bid is already complicated by its rejection to open its
sea and air ports to Greek Cypriots on the grounds that international
restrictions on the breakaway Turkish Cypriots statelet should be
simultanously lifted.
From: Baghdasarian