Article 301 Changes Proposed
After years of foot-dragging, the government has submitted a proposal to Parliament to amend the infamous Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which has been used to to prosecute intellectuals, journalists and activists for “insulting Turkishness.” (See my March 21 blog entry on Ms. Erin Keskin’s recent conviction under Article 301.)
Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk was tried under Article 301, and ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was tried and convicted under the same law, then killed in 2007 by a teenage hitman for “insulting Turks”. The government’s unwillingness to change Article 301 despite more than two years of mounting EU and domestic pressure has become a major obstacle for progress in Turkey’s EU accession process and led to questions over the AK Party’s commitment to reform.
The changes before parliament would require permission from the president for future prosecution under Article 301. The president would decide not on whether a crime has been committed, but whether a court trial would be in the public interest. The text of the law is expected to be changed to criminalizing “insulting the Turkish Republic” instead of the vague “insulting Turkishness.” The maximum prison term, currently three years, is expected to be reduced to two years to make it difficult for those prosecuted under Article 301 to serve jail time. Prison sentences of up to two years can be commuted to suspended sentences.
AKP has enough votes in parliament to pass these changes. The nationalist opposition MHP (Nationalist Action Party), which has voted with AKP on some issues, has said they would no longer cooperate with AKP if these changes are passed. The opposition CHP also is in favor of keeping Article 301 as is. (click here)
Told you so. Now this will be touted as a win for democracy when it is obvious that the AKP is doing it out of fear and perhaps against public opinion.
The proposed law itself effectively opens the door for selective prosecution of undesirables under the president’s initiative. I wonder what Meral Tamer, who received a swift (suspended) prison sentence for ‘insulting’ the president after the ‘99 quake, will say about this.