Turkey debates a proposal to soften its free speech ban

But skeptics warn that reform of Article 301 does not go far enough

A Turkish MP reads a book about penal code Article 301 during a meeting of the Justice Commission to debate amending article in the Turkish parliament in Ankara yesterday.

ISTANBUL (AP) – “Happy is he who says, ‘I am a Turk.’” The nationalist motto was coined by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Its display in schools, hospitals and military barracks helps explain why Turkey is struggling to meet a key demand for membership in the European Union: overhaul of a law that bars insults to Turkish identity.

Yesterday, Parliament’s justice panel began debating a government proposal to soften Article 301 of Turkey’s penal code, which has been used to prosecute Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and other intellectuals. Europe says the law should be abolished because it restricts freedom of speech; many Turks resent what they view as interference in their affairs.

The governing party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to approve the amendment of Article 301 when Parliament votes as early as Tuesday. Critics say the plan is a halfhearted gesture, an attempt to placate staunch opponents of the law without alienating its supporters.

Cengiz Aktar, an EU expert at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, said he believed the expected amendment would have a “minimal” impact on Turkey’s bid to join the European club. He also noted there were at least 20 other articles in Turkey’s penal code that have “the same mentality of killing freedom of speech.” Under Article 301, the maximum sentence for denigrating Turkish identity or insulting the country’s institutions is three years in prison. The government proposal would reduce the time to two years, triggering a suspension for first-time offenders.

Under the plan, the president would have to approve prosecutions under Article 301. Also, the article would refer to the crime of denigrating the “Turkish nation,” a term viewed as more narrow than the vague “Turkishness.” In a statement, New York-based Human Rights Watch said the law should be repealed.

“The government’s proposal merely tinkers with the wording of the law, while maintaining its most problematic features,” the group said. It cited other legal restrictions on freedom of speech, including Turkey’s anti-terror law and laws on crimes against the national founder.

Ataturk designed his nationalist motto in an effort to build a strong Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, a network of territories in Europe, Africa and the Middle East that had been unified by force or in the name of Islam. He largely succeeded, amid war, slaughter and pressure from Western powers. Today, many Turks believe their nationhood faces the same threats that it did nearly a century ago. The military has etched Ataturk’s slogan on hillsides in southeast Turkey, where it is fighting an insurgency by Kurdish separatists. Many students must intone the Turkish-language version – “Ne mutlu Turkum diyene” – before class. The slogan is inscribed below statues of Ataturk at universities and at roadsides.

The opposition Nationalist Action Party has launched a television ad campaign against any changes to Article 301 that includes the refrain: “Wake up Turkey! It is time for unity.”