Journalists Associations Agree on 301 Reform

They urge for a change on the definition of "Turkishness", deduction in foreseen penalties and condition of permission from the Ministry of Justice for investigations to be opened with reference to this article.

Press Council chair Oktay Eksi and Council Supreme Committee member lawyer Turgut Kazan have met yesterday with Minister of Justice Cemil Çiçek and main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal to present their reform proposal.

Talking to the press following the meeting, Eksi said the government continuously refused to listen to the criticisms and warnings about the possible consequences of the article in the past.

Deniz Baykal has opposed to a reform on the law while government considers a mild change, which is not approved by NGO's and journalists associations.

Lawyer Kazan explained their reform proposal in detail. Accordingly, they propose the term "Turkish nation" instead of "Turkishness" as well as the precondition of "causing harm to respectability, seriousness of the act to reach to a point to threat public peace and security" to be considered as a crime.

Kazan also proposes to replace the ambiguous term of "degradation" with "defamation".

In a previous account, the Journalists' Association of Turkey (TGC) and Turkish Association of Criminal Law handed a joint-proposal to the Ministry of Justice with similar bids. (EÖ/EÜ)