http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/139113.html
Turkey to ease curbs on free speech
ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 9 The Turkish government says it will change a
controversial law used to prosecute anyone who denigrates Turkish
identity.
Article 301 of Turkey's penal code has been a stumbling bloc to the
country's efforts to join the European Union, the New Anatolian newspaper
said Thursday. Intellectuals and writers, such as Nobel Prize-winning
author
Orhan Pamuk, have been prosecuted under the law.
The government's announcement of the change came hours after the EU
criticized the law as too strong a curb on free speech.
"It is not acceptable that writers, journalists, academics and other
intellectuals ... are prosecuted for simply expressing a critical but
completely nonviolent opinion," EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn
said.
"The infamous Article 301 must be repealed or amended without delay."
