In the last two and a half years, around 120 journalists, writers and human rights activists have faced prison sentences under Article 301. The international community’s attention was drawn to the violations of the freedom of expression in Turkey.
The government’s initiative to finally change the article comes shortly before the first anniversary of the murder of Hrant Dink, who was made into a target when being tried for “denigrading Turkishness” under said article.
Signals of change?
The trial of Eren Keskin, lawyer and former president of the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD), has been postponed in order to await the changes in the article.
In the most recent case, the Supreme Court of Appeals emphasised freedom of expression by overturning the sentence of trade unionist Mehmet Hanifi Bekmezci.
Changes foreseen
Planned changes to the article, which is to be presented to parliament this week, included changing the phrase “denigrading Turkishness” to “denigrading the Turkish nation” and “denigrading the Republic” to “denigrading the Turkish Republic.” In addition, there are plans to make prosecution dependent on permission given by the Ministry of Justice.Furthermore, the third and fourth parts of the article, which foresee an increased punishment if “Turkishness is denigraded by a Turk abroad” (3) and allow for criticism to be exempt from punishment, are likely to be abolished.
A further likely change is that of reducing the maximum sentence from three to two years.
However, it is not clear yet whether any of these changes will lead to more freedom of expression. Some lawyers have called for a complete abolition of the article, while others have said that the real problem lies in the application of the law. (EÖ/TK/AG)
