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ECTHR SAYS AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE 301 STILL GIVES WAY TO PERSECUTION
Today's Zaman
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-260970-ecthr-says-amendment-to-article-301-still-gives-way-to-persecution.html
Oct 25 2011
Turkey
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that a violation
was committed against freedom of expression in the case of a Turkish
professor who has drawn attention for his writings that support the
Armenian claims of genocide and has criticized the latest amendments
made to Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code (TCK) as being insufficient.
The court ruled that academic Taner Akcam still faces the risk of a
case being brought against him, despite amendments having been made to
the infamous Article 301, which makes it a crime to insult Turkishness
and has been used as an excuse to persecute writers and intellectuals
for decades in Turkey. The European court on Tuesday commented on
the final decision and said the article could be instrumental in
turning people like Akcam, who study the Armenian mass killings,
into targets for "extreme nationalist groups" in Turkey, a press
release issued by the court registrar said on Tuesday.
Although the ECtHR decided in favor of Akcam's case and ruled that
his freedom of expression had been abused, it did not compensate the
professor with the requested sum of close to 90,000 euroes.
The EU wants the article to be scrapped to secure basic freedoms and
rights, while the ECtHR has fined the Turkish state enormous amounts
in compensation in similar cases. Although a security clause was
introduced to Article 301 in 2008, which stipulates that authorization
from the Ministry of Justice must be sought before and investigation
can be opened, the court said it was not sufficient, and that "the
safeguards put in place to prevent Article 301 from being abused by
the judiciary did not provide a guarantee of non-prosecution because
any change of political will or of government policy could affect the
Ministry of Justice's interpretation of the law and open the way for
arbitrary prosecutions."
The decision in the Akcam case is also significant in the sense that
it was in a way the first comment from the human rights court on
the amended article, which could still cause people to be convicted
in connection to any "strong statement or sentence" that attracts
attention. "The measures adopted to provide a safeguard against
arbitrary or unjustified prosecutions under Article 301 is not
sufficient," the press release stated. Armenian claims of genocide
have worked both ways for Turkey in its relations with the EU,
since the country has been able to persecute people for supporting
the Armenian theory on the issue, but at the same time has received
pressure from European countries which threatened to make it a crime
to deny the Armenian claims.
Today's Zaman
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-260970-ecthr-says-amendment-to-article-301-still-gives-way-to-persecution.html
Oct 25 2011
Turkey
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that a violation
was committed against freedom of expression in the case of a Turkish
professor who has drawn attention for his writings that support the
Armenian claims of genocide and has criticized the latest amendments
made to Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code (TCK) as being insufficient.
The court ruled that academic Taner Akcam still faces the risk of a
case being brought against him, despite amendments having been made to
the infamous Article 301, which makes it a crime to insult Turkishness
and has been used as an excuse to persecute writers and intellectuals
for decades in Turkey. The European court on Tuesday commented on
the final decision and said the article could be instrumental in
turning people like Akcam, who study the Armenian mass killings,
into targets for "extreme nationalist groups" in Turkey, a press
release issued by the court registrar said on Tuesday.
Although the ECtHR decided in favor of Akcam's case and ruled that
his freedom of expression had been abused, it did not compensate the
professor with the requested sum of close to 90,000 euroes.
The EU wants the article to be scrapped to secure basic freedoms and
rights, while the ECtHR has fined the Turkish state enormous amounts
in compensation in similar cases. Although a security clause was
introduced to Article 301 in 2008, which stipulates that authorization
from the Ministry of Justice must be sought before and investigation
can be opened, the court said it was not sufficient, and that "the
safeguards put in place to prevent Article 301 from being abused by
the judiciary did not provide a guarantee of non-prosecution because
any change of political will or of government policy could affect the
Ministry of Justice's interpretation of the law and open the way for
arbitrary prosecutions."
The decision in the Akcam case is also significant in the sense that
it was in a way the first comment from the human rights court on
the amended article, which could still cause people to be convicted
in connection to any "strong statement or sentence" that attracts
attention. "The measures adopted to provide a safeguard against
arbitrary or unjustified prosecutions under Article 301 is not
sufficient," the press release stated. Armenian claims of genocide
have worked both ways for Turkey in its relations with the EU,
since the country has been able to persecute people for supporting
the Armenian theory on the issue, but at the same time has received
pressure from European countries which threatened to make it a crime
to deny the Armenian claims.