Turkish parliamentary committee adopts Article 301 amendment

18/04/2008

ANKARA, Turkey -- Parliament's EU integration committee adopted a bill late Wednesday (April 16th) that would amend Article 301, the most controversial and long-debated section of Turkey's penal code. The vote was preceded by heated debate, and representatives of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party ended up walking out. Under the proposed amendment, the phrase "denigrating Turkish identity" is replaced with "denigrating the Turkish nation" in an effort to eliminate the elusive definition of Turkish identity. The draft law also stipulates that the president must approve the launch of any Article 301 case. It has been used repeatedly to prosecute Turkish intellectuals, writers and journalists, despite criticism by the EU.

In other news Thursday, parliament adopted a key reform aimed at restructuring the costly social security system. A total of 225 MPs supported the bill, while 55 voted against it. The major change -- over decades -- would be gradually increasing the retirement age to 65 from the current 48 for men and 44 for women. Unions oppose the reforms, but the IMF says they are fiscally necessary. (Zaman, Hurriyet - 18/04/08; NTV, Reuters - 17/04/08)