Changes in 301 Presented to Cabinet within 15 Days

Minister of Justice Mehmet Ali Sahin has made a statement concerning Article 301, the controversial article which penalises the "denigration of Turkishness, the Republic, the State and its organs."

He has promised that changes in the article will be presented to the cabinet within the next fifteen days.

According to the NTV news, changes in the article include:

• The phrase "Turkishness" is to replaced by "the state of the Republic of Turkey".
• The phrase "denigrating Turkishness" is to be replaced by "denigrating the Turkish people".
• The last clause is to be taken out of the article.

Rights organisations have long argued that Article 301 violates the freedom of press and expression because of ambiguous phrases. They have lobbied for the abolition of the article.

Current content of article 

Currently, Article 301 reads:

1.  A person who publicly denigrates Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and three years.
2.  A person who publicly denigrates the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the judicial institutions of the State, the military or security organizations shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and two years.
3.  In cases where denigration of Turkishness is committed by a Turkish citizen in another country the punishment shall be increased by one third.
4. Expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime.

Recent 301 case overturned

Incidentally, the Supreme Court of Appeals has overturned the sentencing of trade unionist Mehmet Hanifi Bekmezci, arguing that his utterances were "heavy criticism".

On 29 September 2005, when president of the educational trade union Egitim-Sen in Tunceli, Bekmezci had made a statement concerning the murder of Hasan Sahin in Tunceli, as well as the murder of taxi driver Hasan Akdag by a police officer.

He claimed that the police started random arrests after the events and obstructed press statements relating to these murders: "On the command of the General Staff, civilian fascist powers were mobilised and the planned lynching attempts and attacks in several parts of our country are still fresh in our memory."

Bekmezci was then sentenced by the Tunceli Criminal Court of Peace, which cited Article 301 and sentenced him to five months in prison, later converted to a legal fine. Bekmezci's lawyer Baris Yildirim appealed, citing decisions by the European Court of Human Rights.

On 6 November 2007, the Supreme Court of Appeals overruled the local court's sentence, stating there was no crime committed. (TK/AG)