Will Turkey make any changes in Article 301 because of the prospect of the EU integration?

PanARMENIAN.Net - One of the terms of the Article, which presupposes a bigger penalty in case the convicted has committed the given crime within the borders of Turkey, has been completely excluded from the Article. Another major amendment is that from now to start a criminal case the permission of the President of the country is needed. While gathering evidence the Office of Public Prosecutor must be guided by the appropriate decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights. The accusation must be based on the appearance of the convicted on the whole, and not on the separate words and expression only.

Article 301 perhaps is one of the very few ones in the existing legislations in the in the entire world, which is strongly against the freedom of speech. Bill of Rights, which respects the freedom and speech and says that a human may say whatever he thinks is right to say, may be considered the opposition of Article 301. But Article 301, in some sense, is exceptional, since those who insult the nation will be sentenced to imprisonment, while this is the nation which refuses the Armenian Genocide, as well as the Genocides of the Pontiac Greeks, Assyrians, and Kurds.

Europe is seriously concerned with the existence of Article 301 in Turkey. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis published the article "the modern democratic needs and the progress should be protected by progressive measure" in Turkish magazines Turkish Daily News and Radikal on April 1. The main issue discussed in the article is the problem of freedom and speech and Article 301. The Secretary General reminded that the laureate the Nobel Prize writer Orhan Pamuk and the Editor-in-Chief of the Armenian-Turkish magazine "Agos" Hrant Dink have been brought to criminal responsibility.

"The role of the Council of Europe is to help the member countries to help to fulfill their responsibilities in the sphere of human rights and democratic standards adopted by Europe. I think that the Turkish society and the democracy are mature enough to flourish without Article 301 and other restrictions of freedom. I also think that this is the best way to protect the inheritance of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. He understood himself that the modern democratic needs and progress may not be reached by out-dated methods," writes Terry Davis.

With Article 301 many writers and historians, who make comments on mass killings in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, are being chased. The annual report of the European Commission, published in November, calls on Ankara to respect the freedom of speech and says that many people were chased in 2006 and 2005." European Commissioner for Enlargement, Ollie Rehn advised the EU not to continue the negotiations with Turkey in the sphere of human rights unless Article 301 is amended. He also emphasized that Article 301 has a negative influence on the Armenian - Turkish relationship.

Meanwhile, several Turkish lawyers think that amendments suggested by the government, carry "redecorating" character and they are not sufficient for Turkey to become a European country. As the lawyer of the family of Hrant Dink thinks, the amendments aren't of very serious character. "Even if we change the Article, we cannot change the phenomenon of racism and discrimination. I think that neither the Turkish Nation, nor the Turkish government need this Article, "he mentioned. Another lawyer thinks that in the revised version of the Article only words are changed, the sense it contains is still the same.

It is quite possible that the amendments are realized. In this case one question rises: will Orhan Pamuk, Taner Akcam and many others be able to come back to their motherland without any fear of being imprisoned, or simply shot like Hrant Dink?