Top Turkish press group says government lacks will to tackle limits on free expression

By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press (AP) Writer - January 4, 2006

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Turkeys top press organization said Wednesday the government lacked the political will to change laws hindering free expression, despite warnings from European Union officials that those laws could jeopardize Turkeys EU membership bid.

Oktay Eksi, chairman of the Turkish Press Council and chief writer at Hurriyet, one of the countrys largest newspapers, said the group had made numerous calls on the government to address the laws.

"But we dont think the government has the will to listen to these calls," he said, warning that the more than 70 cases opened since June were "just the tip of the iceberg."

EU officials have increased their pressure on Turkey to expand freedom of expression and strongly urged the country to drop charges against renowned novelist Orhan Pamuk. The Justice Ministry, which has the final say in whether to proceed with the trial against Pamuk, was expected to announce its decision soon.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul acknowledged the Pamuk case had tarnished the countrys image abroad, and said that laws limiting freedom of expression may be changed if needed.

The two laws most often used to prosecute speech - article 301 on insulting the Republic, its organs and officials, or "Turkishness," and article 288 on attempting to influence the judiciary - were only two among more than 10 penal code articles that should be amended, Eksi said.

Other laws endangering free expression, such as laws carrying jail sentences for offenses against national interests or invasions into private life, had not yet been applied, but when they were, "the corridors of the courts will be filled," Eksi said in a press conference in Istanbul.

The council asked that several of the laws be rewritten, and that fines for any speech or thought violation be changed from jail sentences to fines.

Eksi said the council had sent forms to all Turkish press organizations asking for a count of how many of their journalists were under prosecution or investigation.

"Well let everyone see whether the press in Turkey is free or not," Eksi said.

The council said it had the support of more than 80 lawyers to defend journalists against accusations stemming from the laws.

Pamuk was charged under article 301, which makes insulting Turkey a crime, after a Swiss newspaper in February quoted him as saying: "30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it."

The trial was halted by a judge on Dec. 16, the day it began.

Pamuks remarks referred to two of the most painful episodes in recent Turkish history: the massacre of Armenians during World War I, which Turkey insists was not a planned genocide, and recent guerrilla fighting in Turkeys overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast.