A bill has been recently approved in Turkey  as a countermeasure against indecent broadcasting and online gambling. This measure will give  the national Information technology Security Agency the authority to block any broadcast that is believed to threaten state security, as stated in Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.

  As reported on  January 4th by the Turkish  web newspaper Yeni Safak,  the approval of the bill has re-opened the debate about  freedom of expression on the Internet in Turkey  because according to the new draft , the IT Security Agency will work as a sort of “huge eyes” with the task of suing any violation of the controversial Article 301.

The Article 301 took effect in June 1st, 2005 as part of a package of penal-law reform that were introduced to bring Turkey up to EU standards. It  basically makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness", as it states that:

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.  

Penalties for the transgressors have been summarized into 5 main points (Source: BBC Monitoring European):

1. Insulting the president according to Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code: between one and four years' imprisonment. If committed via the press then add one third.

2. Broadcasts made over the internet in contravention of Article 301 "Denigrating Turkishness, the republic, the institutions and organs of the state," which so many famous people have been tried under: between six months and three years in prison.

3. Crimes in Chapter 4 of the Turkish Penal Code headed "Crimes Against State Security" if committed via the internet can be punished by up to life imprisonment.

4. Crimes committed against the constitutional regime if committed via the internet will be punished according to Articles 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315 and 316 of the Turkish Penal Code and can include life imprisonment.

5. Publishing via the internet terrorist organization announcements and statements according to Article 6 of the Counter- Terrorism Law will incur between one and three years in prison.   

Amnesty International considers that the attempt to draw a distinction between criticism and denigration is highly problematic...especially on the Internet, where people is used to express their opinion quite “freely” in forums, blogs and other digital spaces.
Turkish web surfers are now  seriously threatened by constant intrusions in their private “digital life” and they could be persecuted for any action that in some way could be considered as against “Turkishness”.

We definitely hope that this will not happen, but considering that since this Article became law, charges have been brought in more than 60 cases, we feel quite pessimistic about it. 

Among the cases opened under article 301 there are a number of journalists and publishers, and students such as Fatih Tas i a 26-year-old student of Communications and Journalism at Istanbul University and the owner of a publishing house.

 Orhan Pamuk (prize winner novelist), is one of these cases.

Comments Index (Total Messages: 5)

Regarding 301 Written by Guest on 2007-01-09 05:42:11 Re: by FLeTCh Written by Guest on 2007-01-23 15:06:38 Re: Re: by FLeTCh Written by Guest on 2007-01-24 15:56:51 Re: Re: Re: by FLeTCh Written by Guest on 2007-03-10 23:12:51 Re: Regarding 301 Written by Guest on 2007-03-17 10:58:06

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