301 Doesnt Exist Europe

At an international conference organised by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation's Turkish office at Bilgi University in Istanbul, it became clear that the reforms passed in Turkey since 2001 have not been really put into practice by the judiciary.

The title of the conference was "Freedom of Expression and Its Limits, Penal Law and Freedom of Expression in Turkey and the European Union".

Ilkiz: Turkey going backwards

Communication lawyer Fikret Ilkiz stated that although the judiciary was emphasizing freedom of speech, Turkey was going backwards. He questioned whether there was real support for freedom of expression.

Summarizing the legal reforms which have taken place since 2001 in the framework of EU admission negotiations, Ilkiz pointed out that since 2004, the Supreme Court of Appeal's General Penal Committee had decreed against three journalists, Selahattin Aydar, Mehmet Sevket Eygi, and Hrant Dink.

Tarhanli: Limits of freedom of expression need to be discussed

The Dean of the Law Faculty at Bilgi University, Prof. Dr. Turgut Tarhanli, pointed out that freedom of expression had become a controversial topic in Europe too, citing the "Mohammed caricature crisis" and the "Law against the Denial of the Armenian Genocide" as examples. After 11 September there were new influences on the freedom of speech, and the limits to it needed to be discussed.

Schmidt: Democracy develops with debate

The General Secretary of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Dr. Roland Schmidt, reminded the audience that Turkey was a member of the European Council and had recognised the European Human Rights Agreement. He added that democracy could only grow in an environment where the culture of discussion was developed.

Ilkiz: Humane rather than authoritarian law

Ilkiz informed the audience that Turkey had been convicted 308 times by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) from 1995 to 2003, and that in 132 other cases a friendly settlement was reached.

According to Ilkiz, the Law on the Press, which was passed in 2004, was particularly relevant because it defined press freedom in a modern way and guaranteed the safety of news sources.

Reactions to Minister of Justice

Several speakers reacted to Minister of Justice Cemil Cicek, who had once declared that Europe had similar articles to Article 301, the controversial article of the Turkish penal code, which has often been used to try writers, journalists and academics.

Prof. Dr. Friedrich-Christian Schröder, the vice president of the Penal Code Union German National Committee, said that as a reaction to the Third Reich, the penal code had very few articles protecting government institutions, and that there were very few verdicts against defendants. He added that the heaviest sanctions in Germany were against anyone defending mass killings, crimes against humanity or genocide.

Dr. Cristina Pavarani of Parma and Florence Universities said that Article 21 of the Italian constitution guaranteed freedom of the press and of expression, but that Italy had sometimes fallen short in its application, and thus been convicted by the ECHR. In 2006 there were reforms to the penal code in order to reduce the penalties for "denigrating the Republic" or "crimes against the Italian flag" to a symbolic level. (EÖ/EÜ/AG/EÜ)