Rehn condemns Turkey court ruling

Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has criticised the judgment by the Court of Cassation on July 12 against Hrant Dink for insulting Turkishness.

THe Turkish Court of Cassation confirmed the prison sentence given to Dink.

In a statement, Olli Rehn said the following.

“Yesterday, the Court of Cassation decided to confirm the prison sentence for Mr Hrant Dink on the grounds that he insulted “Turkishness” on the basis of article 301 of the new Penal Code.

I am disappointed by this judgement which limits the exercise of freedom of expression in Turkey.

This judgement is the first final judgement by the highest jurisdiction in Turkey about the interpretation of article 301. In this sense, it establishes a binding case law that will set the trend for lower jurisdiction to follow when applying article 301 in the future.

It also shows that in the current situation, courts have not succeeded in establishing a positive case law when interpreting the provisions of the new Penal Code in line with the relevant EU standards.

This is all the more serious since there are still a number of similar court cases pending.

I would therefore urge the Turkish authorities to amend article 301 and other vaguely formulated articles in order to guarantee freedom of expression in Turkey.

I should like to recall that freedom of expression is a key principle under the Copenhagen Political criteria and constitutes the core of democracy.

In any case, the Commission will review the situation in light of the Copenhagen political criteria in its upcoming Progress Report expected for the autumn.”