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Turkey Moves To Amend Controversial Penal Code Text

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  • Turkey Moves To Amend Controversial Penal Code Text

    TURKEY MOVES TO AMEND CONTROVERSIAL PENAL CODE TEXT
    Elena Koinova

    Sofia Echo
    April 18 2008
    Bulgaria

    The European Union adjustment committee of Turkish parliament endorsed
    on April 17 the amendments to a controversial text of the country's
    Penal Code, used to prosecute intellectuals in the country, Turkish
    press reported on April 18.

    Article 301, long criticised by the EU, which Turkey wants to join,
    made Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and Armenian-born journalist
    Hrant Dink subject to legal persecution for their comments on the
    1915-1917 mass killings of Armenians. Dink was shot dead by in January
    2007 in the office of bilingual newspaper Agos, of which he was the
    editor-in-chief.

    The article made denigrating "Turkish identity" a criminal offence,
    punishable by up to three years imprisonment. The amendments replace
    "identity" with "nation" and requires prosecutors to seek the
    approval of the Turkish president to press charges, daily Huriyet
    said. Additionally, the maximum prison term is reduced to two years.

    Parliament is due to vote on the changes on April 22 at the earliest.
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