In a written statement issued on Friday, the council’s secretary general Terry Davis said that the changes to article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code were to be welcomed. These amendments testified to Turkey’s willingness to review their legislation against the background of their obligations as a member of the Council of Europe and a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, he said.
“However, although an analysis of the new wording indicates some progress in this respect, it does not alleviate all concerns about excessive restrictions of the freedom of expression, as guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights,” Davis wrote.
The amendments to article 301, which previously covered the crime of insulting “Turkishness”, were passed by the Turkish parliament on Tuesday.
Under the new version of the law, the term Turkishness has been replaced with the phrase “the Turkish nation”, while the word “Republic” was clarified as “the State of the Republic of Turkey”.
The Justice Minister was also given sole authority to approve the opening of prosecutions under article 301.
According to Davis, interpretation of the new article 301 by the Turkish courts will be monitored closely by the Council of Europe to see if it complies with the council’s standards.
