Freedom of speech under continuing attack in Turkey

Article 301 is a highly controversial law that has been used to penalise many writers, journalists, publishers and even translators and editors. Amnesty International has called for the repeal of Article 301, which was first introduced as part of the legislative reforms of June 1, 2005, and poses a direct threat to the fundamental right to freedom of expression.

The article states that anyone who “publicly denigrates Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and three years.” If the public “denigration” is directed against Turkey’s government, the judicial institutions of the state, the military or security organisations, punishment is up to two years. One of the most recent cases involving Article 301 involved the Turkish writer and recent Nobel Literature Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, who was charged for speaking out openly on the massacre of Armenians by Turkey at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The case launched against Chomsky’s publishers in Turkey, the Aram Yayincilik Publishing House, its owner Fatih Tas, editors Omer Faruk Kurhan and Lutfu Taylan Tosun and translator Ender Abadoglu accuses them of openly humiliating Turkish identity, the Turkish Republic and parliament, as well as spreading public hatred and enmity by publishing this book. If convicted, the defendants face jail sentences of between one-and-a-half and six years.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/oct2006/turk-o27.shtml