Article 301: Accusation, But No Defense
Under the proposed changes to Article 301 (see my April 19 post), the approval of the justice minister will be necessary for a prosecutor to proceed with a 301-related investigation. If the justice minister does not allow a 301-related probe, the accused might not have legal difficulties, but could still face social pressure for having allegedly insulted the Turkish nation. In the past, those accused under the law have still received threats from ultra-nationalists, even if their cases were dropped. The new proposed version of Article 301 would make it impossible for the accused to defend themselves in court if the justice minister does not agree to continue with the case.
Experts also point out other laws that have lent themselves to being (or could potentially be) used as brakes on free speech in place of Article 301. (click for article) Some of these already are used by ultra-nationalist prosecutors, but are less well known because they do not involve high-profile cases. Ambiguous wording make the laws subject to abuse. These include:
Article 216 criminalizes “inciting people to hatred and hostility.”
Article 288 criminalizes making public declarations about an ongoing court case.
The eighth paragraph of Article 220 criminalizes “propagating an outlawed organization.”
Article 318 criminalizes “discouraging the public from serving in the army.”
Article 305 criminalizes “engaging in deeds against fundamental national benefits.”
Article 304 criminalizes “provoking foreign officials to declare war against the Republic of Turkey or insult it.”
Article 299 criminalizes “uttering insults against the president”
Article 323 criminalizes “printing false news stories”
Article 341 criminalizes “denigrating the flag of a foreign state”
Article 115 criminalizes “declaration of religious, social political and philosophical beliefs”
Article 263 criminalizes “education in violation of the law”
Article 125 regulates “crimes against dignity”
Article 217 criminalizes “provoking people to disobey the law”
Article 222 of the TCK, which criminalizes violating a 1925-dated law on the Turkish alphabet, is grounds for prosecuting an individual for using the letters “q,” “x” and “w,” which are not included in the Turkish alphabet.
Two interesting laws that might cut both ways are:
Article 309 criminalizes “attempting to overthrow the regime set forth by the Republic of Turkey”
Article 311 criminalizes “attempting to overthrow by violence the Parliament of the Republic of Turkey”
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