By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

STRASBOURG, France- In his effort to make Turkey more attractive to the European Union, Turkish President Abdullah Gul announced his desire to change article 301 of the Turkish Legal Code.

Article 301 of the Turkish Legal Code was introduced in June 2005.  The purpose of the code is to protect “Turkishness.”  (Amnesty International)  The law prevents the “[p]ublic denigration of Turkishness, . . . the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the judicial institutions of the State, the military or security structures,” and violators of the law can be subject to up to three years of imprisonment.  (Amnesty International)

Article 301 has been used to prosecute many notable Turks for insulting “Turkishness”, including Nobel Laurerate Orhan Pamuk and Armenian news journalist Hrant Dink.  Orhan Pamuk was arrested because of his comment to a Swiss news source that 30,000 Kurds and 1,000,000 Armenians were killed and ignored by the Turkish government.  (AI)  Hrant Dink, editor in chief of the Turkish newspaper Agos, suffered six months of imprisonment and was murdered by a ultra nationalist.

Although President Gul stressed that although no one is currently being detained on article 301 charges, he still believes that the law should be modified. A less restrictive version of the law will encourage a more open critique Turkey’s history and its current conditions. The right of the freedom of expression is a necessary right to protect a state from future impunity and the reform of article 301 may create more public accountability for the government’s actions.  A revision of Article 301 of the Turkish Legal Code could be a major step in the right direction to protect the people of Turkey.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International- Turkey: Article 301 is a threat to freedom of expression and must be repealed now!- 1 December 2005

New York Times (AP)- Turkey’s President Seeks to Change Law That Criminalizes Insults to Turkish Identity- 3 October 2007

International Herald Tribune (Reuters)- President of Turkey defends rights record- 3 October 2007