EU/TURKEY: The European Commission told Turkey yesterday it would have to rewrite its penal code again to meet EU standards after the state's highest court confirmed a sentence against an editor for insulting "Turkishness".
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the ruling in the case of Hrant Dink, editor of a bilingual Turkish and Armenian weekly, showed Turkey's reformed penal code still restricted freedom of expression.
"I am disappointed by this judgment, which limits the exercise of freedom of expression in Turkey," Mr Rehn said. "I would therefore urge the Turkish authorities to amend article 301 and other vaguely formulated articles in order to guarantee freedom of expression in Turkey."
He said the commission would review the situation in the light of the EU's political criteria in its upcoming progress report in Turkey in late October or early November.
Mr Dink, a Turkish-born Armenian, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence last year for an article criticising article 301, which allows the prosecution of writers and scholars for "insulting Turkish identity". On Tuesday the state's highest court upheld the sentence.
In a statement, Mr Dink said he would make a final appeal to the European Court of Human Rights since his legal recourse in Turkey had been exhausted.
Mr Dink and other intellectuals have faced prosecution under article 301 for calling into question the official Turkish version of what happened to the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey and maintaining that they were subjected to genocide in the course of the first World War. - (Reuters)