ANKARA TDN Parliament Bureau


The Republican People's Party (CHP) has nixed the plans of the ultra-nationalist opposition party to annul amendments to Article 301 of the penal code.

“From the legal point of view I can say that taking the amendment to the Constitutional Court is useless since it has been changed on the basis of earlier rulings of the Supreme Court of Appeals” the CHP's Hakkı Süha Okay told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) employed strong language to slam the government over the amendment and sought the other opposition party's backing to take it to court since it doesn't have enough seats in Parliament to do so on its own.

Under the amendment the word “Turkishness” – a term criticized as too broad and vague – was replaced with “Turkish nation” and the envisaged prison term was reduced from three to two years thus allowing for the sentence to be suspended or converted to a cash fine. In a bid to make prosecution based on the article more difficult the provision now requires the justice minister's approval before prosecutors can launch cases.

“We would have a cause to take the amendment to court if the amendment would stipulate president's approval for prosecutors to launch cases” Okay said. He also said “not going to court would not mean that the party is not against the amendment.”

The amendment strengthened Turaaa's hands in membership negotiations with the European Union which has accused the government of restricting free speech in the country.