http://www.guardian.co.uk/turkey/story/0,,1939482,00.html
Turkey vows to loosen laws on free speech Turkey's foreign minister Abdullah Gul vowed yesterday to end problems stemming from an article in the country's penal code that is used to charge writers, journalists and academics for expressing their opinions, Europe's human rights watchdog said. "The key message was very clear, 'this will end'," Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, said after meeting Mr Gul in Ankara. But Mr Hammarberg said the minister had not specified how the change would be made. It was the first indication by the Turkish government that it would change the problematic article, number 301 in the penal code. Turkish authorities were not available for comment. Until now, the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been resisting change, arguing that despite the trials, no one has ended up in prison for expressing opinions. This year's Nobel prize-winner, Orhan Pamuk, and novelist Elif Shafak, were among a long list of writers, journalists and academics who have been prosecuted under article 301. Charges of insulting Turkishness against Pamuk were dropped over a technicality earlier this year, and Shafak was acquitted. Critics say the trials and threat of prosecution act as a deterrent to free speech and are unacceptable. Mr Hammarberg said permanently abolishing the article, amending it or attaching an explanatory note for prosecutors about its real intent would be possible options to correct it. "I think he [Mr Gul] deliberately did not want to mention the precise route," Mr Hammarberg said. The EU is expected to chide Turkey in a progress report due next week for slipping in its reform program and not acting to change laws that have been used to curb freedoms. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
